How To Write An Interview Thank You Email
A surprisingly small percentage of interview candidates take the time to write a thank you email. In my experience, less than 50%. This has happened to me both as a hiring manager and when I'm interviewing peer candidates. My hypothesis is that once people get to mid-career, they expect that their experience speaks for itself and so the thank you note is not important. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Thank you emails are not just about etiquette. Interview thank you emails are a real chance to make another positive impression and influence the hiring decision making process. This isn’t a two line email you dash off as an afterthought. It’s a strategic communication deigned to position you as the clear and obvious candidate for the job.
3 ways to make your interview thank you note more impactful
Personalize to stand out
Just by sending the thank you note, you’ve set yourself apart because not everyone does it. But that’s not enough. To really stand out, your ‘thank you’ needs to be personalized to the conversation you had in the interview. Mention something specific that the interviewer said that was helpful and why. This shows that you were paying attention and it helps the interviewer recall the conversation. When there are multiple candidates in the running, and there almost always are, being memorable becomes important.
Improve on your answers and show your expertise
Everyone has had that experience of leaving an interview and replaying it in their mind on repeat thinking of all of the better answers they could have said. Guess what? It’s not too late. The thank you email is an opportunity to expand on your answer from the interview or even fix one that you flubbed. You can also demonstrate that you are in tune with the market by sharing an industry article that aligns with something you discussed. Another way to leverage the interaction to show your expertise is to forward a sample of your work as supporting evidence of your skill.
Reinforce your interest in the job and why you’re a good fit
This may seem obvious to you, why would you be interviewing if you weren't interested in the job? Do you really have to say it? Yes. You should also remind them why your skills and background are a good fit. When there is more than one equally qualified candidate after the interviews are over, the question of motivation and fit becomes criteria for differentiation.
Barriers and Questions
You don't have the interviewer’s email address.
If the HR recruiter has scheduled the interview, you may not know the email address of the interviewer. Ask for it in the wrap up questions at the end of the interview. Most companies have a consistent naming convention for email, something like firstname.lastname@companyname.com. If that's the case, you could say something like "I want to be sure I have your email address correct, is it mary.smith@xyzcompany.com?" This is a very efficient way to ask. The benefit of this approach is that you're directly connected to the interviewer. Alternatively you could ask the HR recruiter for the email address of the interviewer. The recruiter may not offer up the email address readily and instead offer to pass along your thank you email. In this case you would lose the benefit of any back and forth exchange or being able to follow up with the interviewer later.
You're not sure when to send it
Send it within 24 hours. You never know how many candidates were in that round of interviews and if you wait much longer than that, it will be tougher for them to recall your conversation and the higher likelihood that the deciding parties will have already had a conversation about the candidates. It's not like when you get a romantic interest's phone number and you want to keep them in a little suspense. It's ok to send the thank you on the same day if you'd like.
You interviewed with multiple people and you're note sure who to send a thank you to
Everyone.
You have writer’s block and can't think of what to put in the email
Use a template. A google search will turn up a variety of free templates, or use the one below designed to hit the three points above. The key is to customize it to the conversation, but there is nothing wrong with using a template as a starting point.
[name],
Thank you for your time in interviewing me for the [job title] role. Your insights about [topic] were particularly helpful to me because [reason].
Something that I wanted to share as a follow up to our discussion is the attached summary of a project that I led for [xyz company]. It’s a good example of [skill discussed in interview] because it involved [1-2 sentence description].
After speaking with you, I'm even more enthusiastic about the potential to leverage my skills to help [company] achieve their goals of [describe goal].
Sincerely,
[your name]
Conclusion
Following an interview, you should send a thank you email. Maximize the value of this touchpoint by making it personal to the discussion you had and adding to the conversation. Thank the interviewer with a specific reference to something that they said. Expand on your answers or provide additional evidence of your qualifications. Close with reinforcing your interest and fit for the role.
Bonus Tip: Thank you emails are not just for interviews. When you network, send a follow up email using the strategies above to make yourself memorable and helpful to the person you're networking with.
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