Tips for Thank You Letters
Send Thank You letters to anyone who has
- referred you to employers
- interviewed you for employment
- offered you a position
- rejected you for employment
- provided you with general information
- written recommendations for you
Timing
Try to send the letters within 24 hours of the interviews, a maximum of two days later.
Length of your letter
Keep it to a brief page. Don't stress over it--it's more important to send something quickly than to delay doing it for days.
Personalize each letter
When interviewing with several people at one organization, take a few seconds between interviews to jot down some notes about each conversation. Use these notes when writing individualized thank you letters to each interviewer.
When sending letters to several people at an organization, each letter does not need to be completely different from the rest. But try not to send identical letters to several people.
Content of your letter
Thank the interviewer for his or her time, and reiterate your interest in the job and your enthusiasm for the company.
Whenever possible, say something that will help your interviewer remember you as an individual from amongst all the candidates
- Address a topic of particular interest (to your interviewer or to you) that arose during the conversation, especially where that topic reflects favorably on your job-related skills (for example, you talked for 15 minutes about the mountaineering trip you led last summer or your research on the health care industry).
- Address an interviewer's specific concern in greater detail than was possible during the actual interview (for example, the interviewer seemed concerned that you did not have the quantitative skills necessary for the job).
- Re-emphasize a skill or strength important to that interviewer (for example, the interviewer showed a particular interest in your detail-oriented skills).
- Insert a little humor into the process.
Other tips
- Ask for your interviewers' business cards, or write down the interviewers' titles and the proper spelling of their names before leaving the interview site.
- Carefully proofread each letter and have one other person do so, too.
- Print each letter on a high-quality linen or bond paper (available at most copy centers), in white, off-white, cream or light gray, and mail them in matching envelopes.