How To Write A Thank You Email After An Interview? Steps To Write An Effective Thank You Email.
Job interviews can be exciting as well as nerve-wracking. Suppose you just had your interview with your dream company. You would definitely want to make a lasting impression or make-up for some of the nervousness during the interview. A thank you email after the interview would be the best way to do so.
If you are looking for ways to make a final, positive impression after the interview, a thank you email is where your search ends. It is quite important to extend a formal “thank you” to the company and interviewer. Although some people might disagree with this, hiring managers and interviewers have revealed that a short and sweet thank you letter after an interview can do so much more than you imagine. It might even make way for you to land your dream job.
But it’s not as simple as it sounds. With hundreds of interviews going on every day, interviewers and hiring managers receive tons of thank-yous. You need to make sure that your gratitude or thank you email does not sound like that of other candidates. For this purpose, you need to write your interviewer a compelling thank you message with a tone that is both professional and personal.
If you are thinking about how to write your thank you email after your interview and make it a good one, this guide has got you covered. Follow this guide on how to write a thank you email after an interview. This article will also cover significant details like what to include and what not to include in a thank you letter to your interviewer.
What is a thank you email?
A thank you email is just what it sounds like; a note that expresses gratitude and appreciation. There are many occasions to send a thank you email but this article is all about the thank you email sent after an interview.
A thank you email after an interview is a form of follow-up after a lengthy conversation. It is a note that refreshes the interviewer’s memory and demonstrates that you were fully attentive during the interview. So basically, a thank you email is your chance to demonstrate your interest in the role you were interviewed for.
Behavior has the power to do what words cannot. A thank you email showcases your polite and generous behavior. It can also fill the spots that were left empty during the interview. At the times when automation and distance is prevailing, employers want to work with genuine and thoughtful humans. And you can demonstrate these traits by sending a thank you email.
According to a recent survey by Zety, employers and hiring managers look for conscientiousness and gratitude in potential candidates throughout the hiring process. Let’s take a look at some more reasons to write a thank you email.
Etiquettes for writing a digital thank you note
The idea of sending a thank you note through an email is relatively new. In the past, people had to go through the hassle of finding stamps, putting them on their thank you letters, and finally handing the letter to the postman or leaving it in the mailbox. Thankfully, nowadays, most interviewers and employers are fine with digital thank you notes.
However, digital appreciation must be kept professional. Sending an informal thank you message over text or using casual words like “thanx” is strictly considered unprofessional. Even if you have the personal phone number of the interviewer, it is still inappropriate and inconvenient to thank him over the text. It is also not proper etiquette to DM the thank you note to any personal social media account of the interviewer.
One way to send a professional thank you note is through an email. While writing a thank you email, make sure to maintain the right tone since the hiring process is still going on. An important thing to keep in mind is to be concise and clear. You want to cover every important point in a short note so you need to get to the point quickly. Don’t overdo or include anything that is not relevant to the interview, employing organization, or the job role.
Moreover, if you think you can save your time and effort by sending a group email to every interviewer, don’t do it. You need to personalize every thank you email and send every interviewer a different one. The same goes for using templates. Try not to replicate any template for a thank you email. You can take hints from a template but try not to copy it as it is.
Finally, make sure that your appreciation is genuine. You must be completely sincere in writing a thank you email. If it sounds bookish or canned, it might not be able to serve its purpose and might even work against you.
Important elements to include in a thank you email
Thank you emails are written to have an impact and to make yourself memorable in the interviewer’s mind. When you have put all your efforts into having a great interview, you can go ahead and take a further step to send an appreciation note to make a deeper impression on the interviewer. And if your thank you email is well-structured and is composed of the right elements, it can go a long way.
Here’s an overview of the important elements you need to include to grab the employer’s attention.
- Subject line
- Personal greeting that addresses the interviewer
- Expression of appreciation for the interview opportunity
- Affirming your continued interest in the job
- A brief statement to describe your capabilities and what you can bring to the role
- Stating any facts missed during the interview
- Another quick thank you message
- A professional sign-off e.g. Sincerely, Best Regards, etc.
- Contact information
Although it looks like a lot of information to include, you can easily cover it in a few paragraphs. Every above-described element does not need a separate paragraph; these are just the points you need to cover briefly. By doing so, you will be able to keep your email concise while covering all important elements as well.
Why write a thank you email?
There are many who think of it as a waste of time to send a thank you email after you’ve given a job interview but they’ve no idea how far it can take you. Writing a simple thank you is a sweet gesture that comes with a lot of benefits and advantages. From the interviewer’s perspective, it is a perfect combination of good manners and showing interest in the job.
Some might think that giving the job interview is enough for the interviewer to assess your skills and behavior. However, it is highly appreciated if you finish the job interview by thanking those who took the time to interview you. A simple “thank you” after the job interview can show your interpersonal and communication skills, whether you do it by sending a letter in the mail or reaching out to the interviewer through email after the interview.
Moreover, the “thank you” email can also depict that you are serious about the job. While some candidates give interviews just for fun, others are giving tons of interviews at a time. To make sure that the interviewer does not think of you as a non-serious candidate, make sure to convey appreciation for interviewing you through a thank you letter or email.
Suppose the interviewer is not sure of whether you want the job or not, or if there are other candidates that match your qualifications and skills. In such a situation, receiving a “thank you” email from you would help him close in on the candidates and increase your chances of getting the job by bringing you to the forefront of the interviewer’s mind.
When you follow up your interview with a “thank you” letter or email, it shows how courteous you are and how you will treat your colleagues and company clients if given the job opportunity.
Moreover, you can always make up for the nervousness you had during the interview. A follow-up thank you email can include any important facts that you were not able to mention during the interview. You can share whatever you might have missed during the interview.
This way, you can reassure the interviewers and hiring managers of your interest in the position. Through a “thank you” email, you can also ask for feedback on your interview and follow up on some other points discussed in the interview as well.
All the above reasons are enough to justify the importance of writing a thank you email after an interview. Sending a short and sweet thank you letter after an interview can help you stand out from other candidates who did not send one.
When to send a thank you email after an interview?
Wondering about the right time to send a thank you note after an interview? Well, you need to make sure to send the thank you email within 24 hours of finishing the interview. This time frame is important because you are still fresh in the interviewer’s mind. If you wait too long or send your thank you note after 24 have passed, it might not leave the strong impression that you intend to leave.
Just like you shouldn’t send a thank you email too late, you shouldn’t send it too soon as well. Don’t just send it right after hanging up the interview call or returning home after an in-house interview. Rather, you should take time to digest the interview and make notes of everything you need to include in your thank you email before sending it.
Moreover, hiring processes have become more complex over time, involving multiple interactions with the employer company’s personnel. Candidates are required to give multiple interviews with interviewers ranging from HR managers to technical experts. However, an important question is whether to send a thank you email after every new interview or interaction within the same company?
Well, it is courteous to send a thank you note after every interaction, even if it is with someone you have met in the past. You can send a thank you letter and show appreciation even after the initial interaction that simply includes an introduction and interview time finalization.
However, it is important to make sure that your thank you email is well-written and error-free. Only send it when you have the time to ensure its quality. A thank you note will do more harm than good if it is poorly written and its quality is compromised.
How to write a thank you email after an interview?
A balance of professionalism and genuine friendliness is necessary for a thank you email sent after an interview. However, this does not mean that you need to complicate things. A thank you email after an interview can be written through a simple process. The following steps can help you nail a perfect thank you note.
Step 1: Write a subject line
The subject line is a significant part of your thank you email. The probability that the interviewer or employer opens your thank you note is highly dependent on the email’s subject line. That’s why a subject line is very important.
Employers are busy people and they don’t have time to go through each and every email. So, it’s natural that they delete emails with less catchy and unprofessional subject lines without even reading them. You need to write a catchy subject line so that they won’t do the same with your email.
Try to keep the subject line simple, straightforward, and easy to understand. Make sure that it contains the phrase “thank you”. Apart from that, you can add your name or the position you were interviewed for. Adding your name in the subject line can freshen up the interviewer’s memory and odds are that he or she will remember your name while finalizing the candidate for the position. It also increases the chances of the employer actually opening your thank you email to read.
Step 2: Greet appropriately
Once you are done with the subject line, it is time to focus on the next part which is the body of your thank you email. The body must start with an appropriate and professional greeting. It is important to greet your employer properly before jumping to the core of your email. Also, make sure to use their names rather than addressing the employers in a generic way.
For an appropriate greeting, you can use words like “Hello”, “Hi” or “Dear”, followed by the interviewer’s name. It is important to use the name they told you. And if you were provided with a title rather than a name, use that instead. Whether you use their name or title, make sure to address them properly.
Step 3: Express gratitude
This is the main purpose for writing a thank you email after an interview so it must be the first step right after greeting. In this part of the email, you can also mention the job role that you were interviewed for. It is important that you provide a sincere appreciation of the time the interviewer has spent meeting with you, discussing the role, or considering you for the opportunity. This is important to make sure that you are setting off the email with the right tone. However, flattery is not appreciated.
Step 4: Reflect on the interview
A thank you email after an interview is not like any other thank you note as it includes some basic elements of the interview as well. When you are planning to write a thank you email after an interview, the first thing you need to do is to sit back, relax and reflect on the interview. Whether it was a phone screening, a remote interview, or an in-house interview, you must review how everything went during the interview. This way, you can create an effective thank you email according to your interview.
How was the interview overall? What did you and the interviewer talk about most of the time? Was there anything apart from work that made you feel connected with the interviewer? Did you forget to mention any significant points? You need to ask yourself such questions while writing a thank you email after an interview.
When you write the email keeping such details in mind, you are basically helping the interviewer recall your meeting and the key points that were discussed. You want the interviewer to keep reading your thank you note so you need to make it interesting as well.
Step 5: Express your interest in the job
Although you made it clear in the interview that you want the job, the interviewer might still want some reassurance in order to be super clear about your interest in the job. This is the part where you will let the interviewer be sure that you are interested in the job more than any other candidate.
Once you are done appreciating the interviewer for the interview, it is time to reaffirm your interest in the role. Make sure to showcase your eagerness for the opportunity, removing any doubt in their mind as to whether you are really interested or not. This can be done directly by describing your interest or you can do this indirectly by asking for any further updates in the hiring process.
You can also showcase your readiness for the next steps of the process. Make sure to let them know that they can contact you if they have any further questions. You can also include your contact details, even if they already have them. Also, you can tell them that you are always looking forward to any updates about the position. This will further help in reassuring your interest. If it was your final interview with the employer, you can also ask about the timeline for a decision.
All in all, just remember that the hiring process is a two-way street. When an employer has shortlisted you for the interview, make sure to send a thank you email after the interview to make it clear that this is the job you want. Convince them enough so that you are the final candidate selected for the role. You need to make them confident that you will definitely accept the role if it is offered to you.
Step 6: Mention your qualifications and skills once more
When you are done restating your interest, the next step is to showcase yourself as a strong contender. Your qualifications are the key factor in determining your position for the role and this is where you restate them. Even if the employer already knows of your qualifications and skills from the application documents and interview, it wouldn’t hurt to mention them once more. But make sure to be concise and don’t stretch it out too much as it can take an exaggerating turn.
Briefly describe your traits and qualifications that make you the best fit for the job. Mention your skills that can help the company achieve its goals and reach new heights. This is important to mention because employers need to be certain that the new addition will fit in with their current team and that this person will have a positive impact on the company overall. You can also send your work samples if you were not able to send them before the interview.
This is also the part where you can fill the missing spots in your interview. If you forgot to mention some important details during the interview, you can do so here in this part of the thank you email. If you made a mistake in the interview and realized it later on, you can identify that here and provide any relevant details. This will put a positive impression on the interviewer who might even erase that blunder from his record if he had recorded it.
However, this must be done with extreme caution since it doesn’t always turn out to be a smart move. If your employer hadn’t noticed the mistake you are mentioning in your thank you email, he might just notice it now. So unless you have sufficient material to support and overcome your mistake, it is best to avoid it, learn from the experience, and move on without discussing it.
Step 7: Offer further information
When you have appreciated and restated your interest and qualifications, it is time to wrap up the thank you email. The first step towards ending the email would be to offer further information about yourself. Let the employers or interviewers know that you are happy to provide any further information if and when required.
Here, you can also mention any further steps of the interview process. If you are not sure of the next steps, you can ask for clarity or request a timeline for the hiring decision. Simply let the employers know that you are looking forward to hearing from them.
Step 8: Sign off professionally
When it is time to sign off, make sure to thank the interviewer for the opportunity once again. Make sure to wrap up the thank you email nicely with a professional sign-off. For this purpose, you can use the following popular concluding words.
- Sincerely
- Best regards
- Kind regards
Follow it up with your name and contact information. And that’s a wrap.
Conclusion
Ultimately, a thank you email after an interview can make or break your chances of landing the role. Thankfully, writing a thank you note isn’t difficult at all and with the tips described in this article, you can get started to write an effective one easily. Now that you know all the important elements of the post-interview thank you email, it is time to impress the hiring manager one last time.
