The Power of Thank You – Write a Note and Reap the Benefits

Many studies have identified the power of saying ‘thank you.’ When you say ‘thank you’ your customers they spend more, they return less, they tell their friends about you and your service delivery. In the workplace employee productivity increases when a sign of appreciation is shown such as ‘thank you.’ Likewise vendors go the extra mile, provide deeper discounts, extend credit, deliver on time and increase consideration. This drives profit, margin and success.

If this is the case in all aspects of business then it would be expected that appreciation has positive benefits in all aspects of life – including job seeking. Research shows that candidates that send a thank you note to a potential employer after an interview have a higher likelihood of being hired. This is a very important part of the hiring process, not only for the candidate but for the recruiter. Imagine the impact to your relationship with your client if every one of your candidates sent in a thank you note?

Candidates are encouraged (should be forced) to send in a ‘thank you’ note in all cases; even if they did not think the interview went well or did not want the job. First and foremost business is about building relationships – all relationships and courtesy and appreciation is the foreground for that development.

However, as important as the ‘thank you’ note is, what is more impactful is what is written. Take the time to recall qualities of the interviewer or highlights of the interview. Show that the interview had meaning to you and the interview had insight. A hand written note is always best; however, time does not always afford this luxury, so email is a readily acceptable method. In a thank you note, less is more - do not lose sight of the authenticity.

Some do not know where to start or how to write an effective ‘thank you’ note. Here is a generic sample note that may be of use:

“Interviewers Name,

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts on the position, expectations and more importantly your experience. Your insight was appreciated and I am excited about the future opportunity of working with you and the team.

Sincerely,

Candidate”

We should not underestimate the power of saying thank you and all candidates should take the time to send a thank you note. There is no downside to the act and the upside is not just a greater likelihood of being hired but the opportunity to start building a strong employee-employer relationship.

Darryl Moore

Executrade – Your Recruitment Specialists

Comment by Elise Reynolds on July 18, 2012 at 3:33pm: This is my advise to candidates that had interviews on thank you notes.

First, I personally favor the email over the snail mail, much faster and speed is important in the interview process.

It should be short and sweet and this is what I recomend to be included in the Thank You message:

1. thanking for the time

2. Where you as a candidate think you can make a strong contribution or the important problem you can solve. It is good to be specific here if you can. Go ahead and discuss how your particular background makes you best suited to solving whatever problem.

3. What interested or impressed the candidate about the company or the positoin. So often hiring managers really want to hire someone who appreciates the company and is in love with the opportunity.

It should be max two paragraphs.

Comment by Amy Ala Miller on July 18, 2012 at 8:15pm: I have a hiring manager who actually waffles on making offers to candidates who don't send thank you's. She will often comment when we review her top picks "I'm surprised Joe didn't send a TY" or "I'm disappointed I didn't get a TY from Jill".

It matters...

Comment by Steven Salter on July 19, 2012 at 1:39am: Although I understand that you personally do not like thank you letters Tiffany, I am not sure I agree that they are a new thing more so found with the younger managers; at least that's not my experience. The concept of a thank you letter and it's values are older than the Recruitment Industry itself. it's s tried and tested sales tool; let's not forget that the interview process is very much a sales process! The candidate is selling the most important thing in the world..... Them! In the current climate we should all be encouraging candidates to go the extra mile if you want something...... That's certainly what I teach my children "future baby boomer managers"

Comment by Tiffany Branch on July 19, 2012 at 10:06am: @Steven, I am not advocating that candidates shouldn't send thank you's, again, just stating my thoughts/experiences with them. I have not done a survey of all recruiting/hiring managers by demographic to prove any type of point. Again, I have just noticed amongst the recruiting/hiring mgrs I have come across over the past few years, the letters seemed to be more important amongst a certain demographic.

Yes, it's a sales tool. All candidates should send one, via email or snail mail, because, yes it could be a make it or break for some.

I will ask the community this...if you have an A+ candidate who didn't send a thank and an A- candidate who did send one, would you hire the A- candidate instead?

Comment by Randall Scasny on July 22, 2012 at 10:10am: I agree with you. When I was younger, I recall getting a job offer due to a thank you letter. I encourage my customers to send out thank you letters. I'm not sure why but the 'thank you' does not appear to work as well these days as it did in the past. Not sure why. My gut feeling is that it's a sincerity problem -- canned thank yous don't work.