Posted on 02/24/2012 7:36:02 AM PST by Responsibility2nd
I'm the Managing Editor of Business Insider, which means I'm responsible for all of the editorial hiring here.
So I'm constantly meeting people of all different levels, from interns to senior editors.
Lately, the majority of people I interview have one thing in common.
They're all messing up on something that I think is very important when trying to get a job: the Thank You Email.
Whether we spent thirty minutes meeting in the offices; we Skyped because you're abroad for your Junior spring semester; or we did a quick first-round phone interview, too many people are forgetting to follow up later that day or the next day with a quick email.
It doesn't have to be anything too involved. Truthfully, the shorter the better.
The Thank You Email should say a few simple things:
-Thank you for meeting (or talking) with me.
-I really want this job.
-Quick plug about why I'm perfect for it.
If I DON'T get a Thank You Email, here's what happens:
-I assume you don't want the job
-I think you're disorganized and forgot about following up
-There is a much higher shot I'll forget about you
Here's an example of a good Thank You Email:
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Very, very true. I had the unfortunate situtation of being at a social setting and ran into an ex-employee that was fired for cause. He still sends an email nearly every day asking about his status to job postings he has applied for. I try my best not to be rude as he is friends with another close friend of mine, but it is getting old. Our HR is very good about keeping distances between managers and candidates but this guy is well beyond any normal boundaries.
Just Damn. Your experience at Dell was brutal. But this has been the case for many companies for many years.
The only options for potential employees is to game the system as best they can. I would follow up with the position, but after a couple of weeks - if not offered a job - I would forget about that company and move on.
What ineffable twaddle.
Are you looking for someone who can write and edit copy, or interviewing candidates for the Queen and Her Court Rose Parade float?
If someone bothers to meet with you, they want the job. A “thank-you” at the end of the interview suffices.
Anything else is just sucking up and a sop to your outsized ego.
Many moons ago, with college graduation a month or two away, I drove 500 miles (round trip) to interview at a small company. Part of the agreement was that the company would reimburse me for my gas - regardless of whether I got the job. I’m still waiting to hear if I got the position (this was in 1987), but they DID send me a check for gas - two weeks after the check expired. Two years later, I drove nine hours, one way, to interview at yet another small company. I must have REALLY bombed the thing, though; I’m still waiting to hear back from them, one way or the other.
Get this, I interviewed for a position WITHIN my company and NEVER received a follow up - even though the manager and HR person were one builiding over. Furthermore, when asked for a status from the manager via company instant messaging, my instant message was closed by the manager.
Yeh, ok, lady,....what comes around goes around. I’ll have my day with you.
I think the social mores have changed. While some managers may like a thank you note, I think most would see it as a waste of their time. About being convinced that somebody *really* wants the job...in this economy, everybody really wants the job.
However, it's not hard to write a thank you note, and in my experience HR people are needy illiterates. So it may help you land the job if you throw them a bone thanking them for their precious time and consideration. Certainly don't mention all the mistakes and incongruencies in the job ad (one of my fav's was "Must Have Masters - prefer Bachelors").
ML/NJ
Send a thank you note by snail mail. That’ll really impress them because no one really does that anymore.
lolol
That probably means they want a candidate with a Masters.
But they will only pay based on a Bachelors.
Or maybe they mean bachelor as in no married people.
lololol
I used to tell people directly that I wasn't interested in them and why. I realized that they had traveled to come see me and I would offer to answer their questions if they had any.
ML/NJ
Back in the ‘80s I was in programming and for a while had to do the Resume routine. One day I got the idea to add a second page, usually a no-no. I titled it “Technical Addendum”. Programming to me was nothing more than a problem-solving job, once solved you moved on to the next one, and other than remembering a new technique, forgot about it.
I started listing the jobs I had done and after about the third one, I thought, “Damn, I’d hire me!”. There was some neat, money-saving programs/systems I had produced. I stapled it to the resume and added a little note saying something to the effect that all resumes were suspected of having a lot of Blue Smoke and Mirrors, so if the Employment Guy would just pass the Addendum to the guy I would be working for (positive thinking), he could tell in a minute whether I was B/Sing or not.
Always got a positive response and always got the job, so maybe it would still help today.
Email thank-you letters are impersonal and often unread.
If you really want the job, nothing beats a personalized, hand-written thank-you card, send via US Mail.
I dealt with that many moons ago. The prospective employer deliberately distorted something I said and then used it as an excuse not to hire me. (I found out later he had hired a pretty grad student from the university department he was out of...)
If you want the job, then you should display good manners and professionalism by writing a thank you note to the person who interviews you.
The comments on this post as well as the comments on the article’s site are eye-opening. Since when is being polite something to be disparaged?
I have not, and will not, extend an offer of employment to anyone who does not send a thank you (which basically tells me that you want the job.)
When I have hired, I have had a lot of qualified people applying and I am looking for reasons to easily eliminate some of them to get the list down to a reasonable number and then to decide between the last three or four candidates. Little stuff like this can make a difference in those situations. I’m more likely to extend an offer to someone who lets me know they want the job enough to say so in a followup.
Anymore, I’m overjoyed to see applicants that can put together a resume and cover letter in passable English. Most resumes and letters all look the same anyway, but I’m really narrowing on written communication skill. I will sometimes follow up with an e-mail of my own, if only to prompt them to write a few more sentences just to see if they can do it.
Most of the people on this thread are technical engineering types. The rules are different for them. There is very little BS factor in these types of positions.
Good to know, thanks. Although employed, in almost every instance where I have applied this it seems to have had no impact, but that’s just my limited anecdotal perspective. I’m more inclined to view the significance of sending a follow-up if a candidate advances past any initial interview first cut.
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