Are you wondering if you need to send a thank you email after an interview? The answer is always yes. A hiring manager has never said, “I was considering hiring this candidate but she sent a thank you email after I interviewed her and I’m no longer interested in moving forward.” It’s never happened. However, that is not to say you will not be judged or that it could not be used against you in the hiring process, but your thank you email would have to be egregious for it to negatively impact your hiring process.
It’s very common for a thank you email to be weighed in the application process. In some cases, it’s a dealbreaker.
This blog will cover the key components of a thank you email after an interview, provide a sample thank you email, and review frequently asked questions.
Before the interviewer even reads your email, all they will see in their inbox is your subject line. Given the number of emails we all receive daily, make sure you are clear and direct in the subject line.
Thank you – [job title] interview
Thank you – [job title]
Thank you – [first name, last name] interview
Depending on the organization, company culture, and how the interview went, you may greet with a formal salutation, or greet with them their first name. Either way, the greeting should be personalized. A simple “Hey” or “Hi there” is not sufficient.
Pro-tip: During your interview, address them using a formal salutation and be attentive to their reaction. Some may say, “oh please call me [first name]” in which case, you know their preference.
Begin by thanking the interviewer for their time. This is a very simple sentence.
Examples:
First, I wanted to thank you again for taking the time to speak with me today.
Thank you for interviewing me this morning.
After thanking the interviewer, express your excitement for learning about the role and company. Reiterate your interest in the job. An interview is a time for the company to see if you are a good fit for the role, but you should also be attentive to learning if you think the company and role is a good fit for you. Not sending a thank you email could be interpreted as a lack of interest in the role. It’s also important to align yourself with the company’s mission, values, and culture.
It’s always great to create a conversation during an interview, instead of having it be more of a Q&A. Beyond your qualifications, interviewers are gauging if you are a fit for the company culture. If you are able to have an engaging conversation with them outside of interview questions, it shows you are able to get along with people on the team quickly. Whenever you engage in a conversation, it helps you stand out from the pool of candidates. This one sentence is optional but highly recommended. It’ll highlight any topic that was discussed in the interview unique to you. Maybe the two of you connected over the same hometown, college, hobby, volunteering service, etc. This is a nice thing to bring up in your follow up email to remind the interviewer of the pleasant time they had speaking with you. Lastly, this sentence could also be blended with the portion on reiterating your interest in the company.
Wrap up your thank you email and express your eagerness to hear back.
First, this should never happen and to be sure it does not please review the following steps. When completing an in-person interview, ask for each interviewer’s business card. If you completed a panel interview and cannot put a face to a name, you will at least have their business cards to find online and refresh your memory.
Now, if you already had your interview and can’t remember your interviewer’s name, use the internet to your advantage. Start off with checking everything you already have, was this person CC’d on an email with you, or were they included on a calendar invite? You may already have the email in which case you could probably copy and paste into Google to search for first name and last name. The email itself may jog your memory to remember their name. If it contains the last name, you can greet the interviewer in the thank you email with a formal greeting. Scroll through the company’s Meet the Team webpage and hopefully, your memory will be triggered by reading names and sifting through headshots. Another strategy is to visit the company’s LinkedIn page and review their employees. If it’s a large company with hundreds of employees, try filtering the employees by title. If you do not remember the interviewer’s job title, search for human resources, recruiter, and manager. Lastly, call the office and kindly ask their receptionist.
If you do not have their email address in the calendar invite, a previous email, or didn’t request it during the interview, you can try calling their front desk receptionist. If they have a front desk receptionist or an administrative assistant, call and ask them very kindly for the email of the person you interviewed with. Explain that you had an interview with them and would like to thank them for their time.
If you had an in-person interview with multiple people, send a follow-up email to each interviewer, separately. Do not send one email and CC all of the interviewers. These are short and simple. No more than 200 words. Do your best to include details specific to your interview, a detail that would allow each of them to remember who you are.
ASAP. After your interview, review your notes, sort through your memory, and draft an email. It’s best to send the thank you email immediately since the experience is fresh on your mind and theirs. Send the thank you email within 1-2 business days of having your interview. Preferably the same day. Lastly, if your interview is on a Friday, send a thank you email by Monday at the latest.
It depends. If it’s only been a few days, go ahead and send a thank you email anyway. If it’s been a week or more, at this point, it’s best for you to follow up on your application status and include a thank you message.