Re: thank-you notes

["Tanja Rosteck" <tsr -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Hi Maggie,

I'm a great believer in thank-you notes, primarily as a standard act of
courtesy (to at least thank the person for their time, even if the interview
didn't go well or I wasn't interested in the job) but also as a polite and
gentle way to help 'close the sale'.

However, if the writer of the note isn't going to be sincere or polite, it's
better to not write one at all. In my former life as a tech-support manager
doing recruiting, I once had a candidate send me a 'thank-you note' (if you
can call it that) that said simply, "I'm waiting for your call to offer me
the job."  No 'thank you', 'I enjoyed meeting you', or even a more
creatively-worded sales pitch. Needless to say, he's still waiting for my
call.

I'll bet other listers with recruiting experience can attest to this - when
you're interviewing 6 or 7 similar candidates in one day for the same job,
it really can be difficult at the end of the day to remember some of the
differences between those 6 or 7 folks (regardless of how good your
interview notes are). But if one of those people sends me a short note the
next morning saying he enjoyed meeting with me and he believes his extensive
experience in XYZ software and customer service makes him the ideal
candidate for the position, he's making my job easier by summarizing his top
skills for me (as well as demonstrating firsthand his customer service
skills, by showing he knows what customer 'follow-up' means). If done right,
it can leave a great impression and really *can* make the decision swing in
your favour a week later, when memories of the other interviews get
decidedly foggy. :^)

Anyways, I tend to follow a formula in writing these notes, and I usually
send them out at the end of the day or the next morning. I like to be
polite, but not phony or super-formal (or too casual either).

(1) Formal or semi-formal salutation (depends on how well we got along
during the meeting)
(2) I appreciate you taking the time to meet with me today/yesterday about
the XYZ position with [Company]
(3) The position sounds <insert appropriate adjective here>
(4) My extensive experience in ZYX software and customer service make me an
excellent fit for this position
(6) Please don't hesitate to contact me at (phone #, email address) in case
you require any further information
(7) Looking forward to speaking with you soon
(8) Semi-formal closing (such as kind regards, sincerely, etc.)

That about covers it. I try to keep them short, sincere and to-the-point.

--
*TsR

Tanja Rosteck
Tanjerine Communications
web www.tsr-writing.com
email tsr -at- videotron -dot- ca



> -----Original Message-----
> From: bounce-techwr-l-68038 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
> [mailto:bounce-techwr-l-68038 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com]On Behalf Of Maggie
> Secara
> Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2001 1:09 AM
> To: TECHWR-L
> Subject: Thank you notes

> So my question is: when you do this, what do you write?


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