Interview Follow-Up: The Thank-You Letter

Consider how greeting card departments brim with thank-you cards. That's because we all know how much we appreciate being thanked for our extra efforts or our generosity. Consider that the person who extends you an interview is making an effort, and providing you a platform, to possibly extend you gainful employment, and putting you on the road to fulfilling your career goals. If this doesn't pull at your heartstrings, consider that every other savvy job seeker is promptly sending out thank-you letters. This is last thing you don't want to be doing. Here are some tips to help you send the kind of thank-you letter that will put one more check in the plus column for your job candidacy!

Be prompt. Send your thank you on the same day of the interview.

Be personal. While you are at the interview, you may request a business card from each person who interviews you. This will assure that you correctly spell each person's name and correctly reference job titles when you include them in the salutations of your thank-you letters. And, of course, these business cards are invaluable for addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.

Be brief. Thank-you letters need to be no longer than a paragraph or two.

Be professional. Thank you letters should go on letterhead that matches the style and format of your resume. If you feel confident that a thank-you email is appropriate, go for a formal, professional tone. No abbreviations or jargon.

Be memorable. You may reference a highlight of the interview, such as: "I was pleased to learn that you are looking for someone with extensive SQL training. As we discussed, my eight years of experience of building and working with these types of databases will help get this on track, quickly."

Be enthusiastic and helpful. By closing with an upbeat sentence, you can reinforce your desire for a job offer. "Please call me on my cell phone if you want to review any additional materials or would like to reach additional people for whom I have worked in the past. Again, thank you so much for your time and willingness to talk with me about the position. Our meeting reinforced my desire to work for you at Alpha Company."

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