Before computers replaced most of what is sent through the Postal System, mail was the primary way applicants and prospective employers communicated. Certain hand-written notes remain very important. . .and can help you land a job.
Maryanne Rainone, senior vice president and managing director of one of the premier PR recruiting firms, Heyman Associates, Inc., passes along the following advice that she and her colleagues share with prospective candidates.
You’ve just finished a successful interview — you were prepared and had current news on your prospective company to discuss, your key skills seemed to be a perfect fit for the position and the interview was comfortable and interesting. Now what do you do?
A thank-you note gives you the opportunity to keep yourself top-of-mind with your interviewer a few days after your interview, when they’ve most likely already met with other candidates. It lets you remind them of how well your interview went and the pertinent topics you discussed.
A great thank-you note should:
Be specific to your interview. If you send a generic “thank you for meeting with me” note, you may be seen as half-hearted, as if you’re sending the note only out of obligation. With that generic note, you also are missing a great opportunity to make your interview stand out among many by mentioning specific topics that only you discussed with your interviewer. Be sure to mention one or two of these topics along with a thank-you for their time that is as specific as possible (“Thank you for taking the time to meet with me on the day of such an important investor presentation — I hope it went well”).
Provide additional information if possible. A way to stand out is to include additional relevant information with your thank-you. For example, if you discussed a specific interesting web site or business resource, provide the URL or phone number. One of our candidates made a great follow-up impression by including a specific magazine article that came up during the interview with their note.
Include no typos or grammatical errors. This is crucial because the best thank-you note can be seen as a liability if it includes “your” instead of “you’re,” or the classic then/than mix up.
Great advice. I’ve found thank you notes to be that extra touch that has made me memorable. There are even a few people who have helped me out in my career that I send holiday cards to. They reacted very well to it. The only catch is you have to make sure they actually celebrate the holidays.
A reader just passed along an excellent post from ablog from Express Employment Professionals called Movin’ On Up. The post contains some excellent suggestions on how to best follow-up after an interview. Here’s the link: http://blog.expresspersonnel.com/movinonup/2008/12/post-interview.html