Thank You Letters 101

Sometimes, what makes or breaks your job interview isn’t your performance, prior work experience or knowledge, skills and abilities.

Sometimes, it’s all down to a simple e-mail to set you aside from other candidates and close the deal.

Thank-you letters - or e-mails - are a necessary part of almost every job interview. “Sending a thank you letter is as important as interview preparation,” writes Judy Perkins, the founder of VisionQuest.

This is why it’s so depressing that 90% of all candidates get them dead wrong (and the other 10% don’t bother sending one in the first place). Most simply fire off a brief, three-sentence e-mail thanking the HR for the meeting.

While courteous, this letter doesn’t really do anything for you. To be sure, you come across as polite - but that’s about it. And this is not what a good thank-you letter is about.

Instead, thank-you letters should be used as an opportunity to accomplish the following:

• Demonstrate once again that your skills and experiences match the requirements of the job
• Highlight certain skills that you may have omitted to mention or discuss at length during the interview
• Address any issues that may have been raised during the interview and that you do not feel were sufficiently addressed or resolved
• Provide feedback on the interview - for example, by telling the company that you really liked the culture you observed, or the assignment sounds even more interesting than you had anticipated
• Reaffirm your interest in the vacancy

Despite the name, the purpose of a thank-you letter is not to merely thank the interview, but to also close the deal by providing positive feedback on the interview and settling any unresolved issues that may have cropped up during the meeting. Try to sound as enthusiastic as possible - remember, you’ve already met these people, so you can afford to be somewhat more casual than before!