Thank You Letters - Why Send Them and to Whom?

Thank You Letters  – Send thank you letters to everyone who assists you in your search.
     I repeat . . . . EVERYONE!  

Thank you letters should ALWAYS be sent following any helpful interaction, including interviews.  Use a formal format, if you are sending a typed standard letter, or a less formal format for an e-mail or a hand-written note-card.

Your letter shows you to be not only appreciative, but gives you an opportunity to maintain high visibility and to sell yourself, and your capabilities, one more time.

Send thank you letters to:
        1.  Interviewers - 
Send a separate and slightly different letter to each individual interviewer.
        2.  Network contacts -
Thank your network for any advice, tips, leads, introductions, and information they offer to you.  Following a networking meeting (in which, of course, you bought, or at least offered to buy, the coffee) send a more detailed thank you stating appreciation for the meeting, for the advice and suggestions offered, and anything else you found particularly helpful.  
        3.  Referrals –
Thank any person to whom you are referred, following any interaction you have with them from a helpful e-mail to phone conversation to in-person meeting.
        4.  Rejections -
Follow-up a rejection with a thank you letter.  Sounds strange doesn't it . . . . . to send a letter of thanks to an interviewer who rejects you!?  However, thanking the members of the interview team who rejected you does more than show you to be a good sport!  It allows you to re-state both your interest in the firm that selected another candidate for the position, as well as your qualifications.  Why?  In case the candidate who was hired doesn't work out, you have made yourself visible as a candidate who can fill the position and is ready to go!

    In short, send a Thank You to anyone and everyone who helps you in your effort to find a new position!

For additional information on marketing yourself and your capabilities, please refer to the many articles found under the Articles tabs of the AJC–Career Strategy website.
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