Interview thank you letters - good or bad idea?

Grumpy_chap

Interview thank you letters - good or bad idea?

Good idea if you want the job, bad idea if you don't.
I have never been turned down for a contract after such a communication.
My wife was made redundant after lockdown and got 2 interviews.  Sent a thank you note after 1 interview and started there last Thursday.
It certainly doesn't do any harm, so long as well-worded and not just desperate.  Obviously, don't bother if you know you totally blew it anyway.

AskAsk

[Deleted User] said:

AskAsk said:

Mr_Maths said:

@AskAsk I would question how many people really mean it when the interviewee puts a lot more time and effort into it than the interviewer.

i never put any effort into interviews, i just turn up and wing it, lol.  i may go on the employer's website to look at what they do, but that is about it.  i never do any preparation or think about it until i am actually travelling there.  so for me, it is all about the actual interview itself.

This might work for you, but I don't think it's a good idea. Fail to prepare...and all that.

i find for me it is best not to think about it until i have to as it would just make me nervous and worried, which would have a negative effect.  my approach to an interview is to detach myself from the process so that there is no emotion involved.  this makes me less nervous or worried, and helps me perform better at the interview.

it is also difficult to prepare for an interview as you don't really know what is going to come up.  most of the time it is just about them getting to know you a little and seeing how you would fit into their organisation.  they ask you to go over your experience and ask how you would approach certain situations, which can be dealt with at the interview itself.

Grumpy_chap

Judging from the OP's other thread, he is being successful at securing interviews but not quite able to "seal the deal" so doing follow-up communication can't harm.  It may be worth the OP looking for some training in interview technique, maybe through a local college, Job Centre or even the Local Authority.

Takmon

AskAsk said:

Mr_Maths said:

@AskAsk I would question how many people really mean it when the interviewee puts a lot more time and effort into it than the interviewer.

when i thank someone, i always mean it and i think people do recognise this.

i never put any effort into interviews, i just turn up and wing it, lol.  i may go on the employer's website to look at what they do, but that is about it.  i never do any preparation or think about it until i am actually travelling there.  so for me, it is all about the actual interview itself.

It all depends on what kind of job you are applying for. From talking to one person who has been applying for jobs above entry level recently they have been able to wing it for the telephone interview, but to prepare for the main interview they have been asking for all sorts of thins like 90 day plans and business analysis to show they have the skills to do the job. 

AskAsk

Takmon said:

AskAsk said:

Mr_Maths said:

@AskAsk I would question how many people really mean it when the interviewee puts a lot more time and effort into it than the interviewer.

when i thank someone, i always mean it and i think people do recognise this.

i never put any effort into interviews, i just turn up and wing it, lol.  i may go on the employer's website to look at what they do, but that is about it.  i never do any preparation or think about it until i am actually travelling there.  so for me, it is all about the actual interview itself.

It all depends on what kind of job you are applying for. From talking to one person who has been applying for jobs above entry level recently they have been able to wing it for the telephone interview, but to prepare for the main interview they have been asking for all sorts of thins like 90 day plans and business analysis to show they have the skills to do the job. 

in my area of work, they don't ask you to prepare for the interview luckily.  they may give you a technical test at the interview itself.  i did apply for a 12 months contract once, which was not in my main area of work that asked for a 30 minutes presentation on how i would approach the project.  that i did have to prepare for and i found that very time consuming.

pickledonionspaceraider

It is reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally brown nosey.

NOt a chance

ARH_2

I regularly do the first round after HR interview, to decide whether the candidate goes through to the interview with the actual decision maker. Typically graduates or people a few years on. 

I feed back to HR almost immediately after the interview - certainly the same day - so I'm unlikely to read a thank you email unless they've guessed my email address (very achievable) and sent it in the lift on the way out.  If I received something, I wouldn't go running off to HR to change my recommendation. In practice, however, I've never received a thank you letter / email. 

AskAsk

Mr_Maths said:

@AskAsk I wish that was the case with me. Every interview I've had recently has involved some form of assessment, or would have if I'd got past the first stage. It is very time consuming, especially putting together presentations.

i actually don't do well when i am formally assessed so luckily i don't get assessed often in my area of work as the employer rely on experience and trust that if you are working in a certain area, you will know what you are doing.

i tend to fail miserably when i have to do psychometric tests as i can never work out the puzzles, lol  

i do better when i am asked about the work that i do, so when i explain to them the technical details of what i do, they know that i know what i am talking about and they don't need to give me stupid puzzles to assess my ability.

yeah, having to prepare for interviews is very hard work and when you don't get the job it makes it feel bad.  at least if you only turn up at interview and have a chat and they don't choose you, you haven't really lost that much.

Masomnia

Mr_Maths said:

@askask some assessments are pretty bad for assessing people. I've done hackerrank SQL tests before, where you have a time limit and no ability to copy and paste which means you could get zero for having a typo in your script that would have otherwise worked. In reality you're never going to type out things you can copy and paste so it's a terrible way of assessing someones SQL ability.

Generally speaking I think assessments are very useful, it's a lot easier to BS you're way through an interview than it is through an assessment, provided as you say it's actually related to the job!

On the thank you note thing, I agree I think it's more of an American thing, and I can't imagine it would ever count you out of the running here. It may reflect badly, but I doubt that also, depending on what you say (could be a bit cringe). I think just do what feels right. I did send an email after the interview for my current job, but I'd had discussions and emails with the person who interviewed me a few times beforehand, so it wasn't like she was a complete stranger when I met her for the interview.

In that case I had the interview and sent a brief email saying it was nice to meet her and that doing the interview, meeting the team I'd be working with and seeing the offices made me sure it was the right role for me. It felt natural to do that though... and I did get the job. We're a small firm, and like I said we'd been in touch beforehand. I think if I was going to a large corporate and meeting the person interviewing me for the first time at the interview I probably wouldn't do it.

JGB1955

Dreadful idea.  I worked in a school and all candidates would have been told their success/failure on the same day.  We would have had a good laugh at anyone sending a thank you message.  If it asked for feedback on their interview - perfectly fine - anything else... don't expect to be short listed for future jobs.