According to a post written by a young hiring manager at BI, sending handwritten Thank You Notes after job interviews felt “old” to her. “Ancient!” So not 2012!
In an earlier post she stated the biggest mistake job applicants made was not sending her a Thank You Note after she interviewed them for job openings. This omission led her to surmise candidates really didn’t want the job or were disorganized and weak in follow up. Additionally she said she would forget them quicker than those who thanked her. Her comments ignited a barrage of hostile replies. Thank You Notes, some said, were strictly ass kissing, demeaning, for suck-ups and emotionally needy managers. She also came under fire for her “arrogance, petty expectations” and “moronic ego”” Why, asked another reader, didn’t she simply ask job applicants to “jump through flaming hoops” for her.
Readers from Australia and the UK also chimed in to say they had never heard of job applicants writing Thank You Notes during the hiring process. Peculiar to the US, the custom is apparently not practiced in other countries.
In the young hiring manager’s post about handwritten Vs email Thank You Notes, comments poured in from both sides of the aisle and they weren’t all age-biased. While much of the younger set preferred to email Thank You Notes, some of them also applauded handwritten notes — hand delivered to boot.
A surprising number of responders saw Thank You Notes in a negative light — as meaningless, signs of desperation or as phony flattery designed to score an advantage. One cynical responder saw the whole hiring process as a pure power play. To send a Thank You Note to an Interviewer was a sign of weakness, a sure way to show who was in control and had the power.
I didn’t do an official count of those who preferred email to handwritten to no Thank You Notes at all, but the best expressed preferences seem to chose the pen over the keyboard. Why? If you were among hundreds vying for the same job, standing out from the crowd was essential. Most applicants chose the easier route and emailed their Thank You Notes. Handwritten ones on quality paper were rarer, reflecting a high level of professionalism and courtesy often lacking in today’s workforce.
Going that extra distance could also be an advantage in any tiebreaker situation. With so many highly qualified people in the current job market, what if two, or even three, applicants all come out equally well qualified for a position at the end of the interview process. A classy hand written note could be the tipping point in one’s favor.
As someone who’s sat on both sides of the hiring desk, I prefer looking at every situation separately and taking my cues from the person conducting the interview. Given their industry and personality, what’s their expectation? Are they old school? Creatives? No nonsense engineer types? High tech nerdies? If your interviewer is inscrutable, you could always do both. Hit them with an immediate email thank you, then follow up with a note handwritten in your own words (especially important) free of imitative boilerplate language.
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- When Does an Internship Become a Slave Ship?
- A Flub, a Flare Up and a Firing
- Does Beauty Boost a Resumé to Top of the Pile?
- Fired! Again!
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