Thank You Email After Interview [Examples and How To Guide]

Jul 2

Many people will tell you that thank you emails almost always get deleted after arriving in a hiring manager’s inbox. I don’t think the problem is in writing a thank you note after an interview. Rather, I think the real problem lies in how we write them. Most thank-you emails offer little value and waste words.

Today, I want to discuss when to send a thank you email, how to send it, how to write it, who to send it to, and how it could impact your potential job offer.

If you replicate this thank you email process, you’re much more likely to reinforce your transferable skills like attention to detail, follow through, and communication as well as have an opportunity to correct part of your interview that, well, maybe didn’t go so well.

Should I Send a Thank You Email After An Interview

I’m often asked if it is necessary to send thank you emails after an interview, especially when most hiring managers won’t respond. And good luck finding any consensus on this topic from career coaches or recruiters. I’ve seen some individuals say it is a waste of time because you’re simply adding to the email clutter of managers. After all, the average person receives 121 emails every day. That is a lot of emails.

Others will tell you it makes a world of difference.

A few years ago I ran a resume writing business that also did some coaching. I did a survey of our clients and found the average response to a thank you email after an interview was around 30% and the highest response rate I could find was 48%.

The facts seem clear. The majority of employers won’t reply to your thank you email, even if a coach helped you craft it. So if no one is responding, why send a thank you at all?

Well, here are some good reasons.

It shows your character and how you would treat relationships in other situations.
It can reinforce your interview by recapping highlights and reinforcing your written communication, follow-through, and attention to detail. It gives you another chance to show these things rather than just tell them. Actions speak louder than words.
It can be an opportunity to correct an error from your interview.
It doesn’t matter if anyone responds. You are only in control of your actions.

Will a Thank You Email Change Anyone’s Mind

The cold hard truth is that skills land jobs, not thank-you notes. But that doesn’t mean you can’t reinforce those skills with a strategic thank you note or provide further clarification on a topic that you might have missed during the interview itself.

In my 10+ years in recruiting, working with hundreds of employers and thousands of candidates, I’ve never seen anyone change their mind based on a thank you note. If your interview was terrible or you aren’t qualified for the job, a thank you email won’t change that.

But I have seen people change their minds due to a lack of a thank you. I have seen situations with two equally qualified candidates, where one sends a thank you and one doesn’t, and the one who sent the thank you note gets picked for the job.

Thank you emails after an interview show character and how you would treat other situations. Imagine if you were a salesperson and stopped sending thank you notes and emails after meetings with prospects simply because they didn’t reply to your email. That would be a terrible salesperson.

If follow-through is an important skill for the job, the lack of sending a thank you email could harm you. You as a candidate should be looking for every opportunity to show employers your skills. You can tell them about your skills all day long in a resume or an interview, but actions always speak louder than words.

How to Write a Thank You Email After an Interview

If you’ve decided that sending a thank you email after an interview is in your best interest, you’re probably wondering, what do I write? Simply writing thank you may not be impactful enough in many situations. It’s a competitive job market out there. Here is a formula for writing a thank you email.

Email Thank You After Interview Subject Line

Subject lines are important. Many people will decide whether to open an email based on the subject line alone. Most people just put “thank you” in their subject line. Here’s the problem with that.

First, it’s not specific enough. The person interviewing you probably has a 50-hour work week outside of interviewing and may not know what your email is about by just reading it. Or they may think it’s spam.

Second, it’s not unique and doesn’t stand out. Even if I know what it is, I’m not enticed to click on it. It’s just a standard thank you email from one of the many candidates.

When I write thank you email subject lines, I like to do two things.

I like to make things more casual and human, while still being professional. And I like to sound different than all the others.

Here are some examples of thank you email subject lines that have worked.

Thank You For the Great Conversation Earlier
I Appreciate Your Insight Earlier
I Really Enjoyed Our Chat
Thank You For the Lively Interview

Say Thank You

Yes, you actually do need to say the words thank you and you should do it at the beginning of the email. It could look something like this:

Thank you for the time spent with me earlier today. I thought it was a very productive conversation about your needs for the Staff Accountant opening and my background. It was very refreshing to have such an open and candid conversation.

You don’t have to say that much, but you get the idea.

Connect the Dots For Them

Not only did I thank them in the example above, but I also was specific in referring to the job opening that I interviewed for. Hiring managers are pulled in hundreds of different directions each day. Don’t make them think about the role you interviewed for and don’t assume they will remember you.

Convey Excitement About Something Specific

I always tell people to write with intention. Most likely you and this individual spent a significant amount of time together discussing the company, the job, and your background. I’m assuming that there’s something about the opportunity that interests you if you’re taking the time to write a thank you email. Tell them what it was and be specific about it.

Not only do people want to know you’re excited to work with them, but they’ll also be impressed by your authenticity. And you can be authentic without being specific. Here is an example of what that could look like:

I really appreciated what you had to say about what types of people do well in this role and what types of individuals don’t. When you mentioned that people who have X typically thrive, that solidified my interest in working with you knowing that I would most likely excel at this job.

Reinforce Skills and Your Value Proposition

If there was an experience or skill that you wish you would have communicated better during the interview, this is the time to do so. If not, this is an opportunity to simply reinforce an important skill, experience, or character trait that was discussed during the interview.

You could also recap one of the challenges the department is facing that came up during your interview as well. You can even tie together an example of how you’ve solved similar problems and challenges in the past for other employers.

Close the Email

When I say close the email, I don’t mean give them a strong call to action as you read in those pesky sales emails asking for their next best date and time to conduct a final interview. Please don’t do that.

Instead, close with optimism and keep the line of communication open.

Too many people view job interviews, thank you notes, and the whole process as an all-or-nothing game. It’s not. Sending this thank you note isn’t about getting the job offer or getting anything right now.

It’s about showing your professionalism, building on the connection (however small it may be right now), and keeping the line of communication open for the future - especially if your interview went well.

This could be your next best networking partner in the future.

Add a P.S. to Make a Deeper Connection

Madeline Mann of Self Made Millennial suggests adding a P.S. line to your thank you emails to share a resource that the hiring manager may find useful. Madeline suggests things like a podcast link that you think they’d like or a restaurant recommendation if they suggest they like a certain type of food.

It can be professional or personal. Either way, it will help you make a better connection with the manager and show that you are a thoughtful person.

Tips For Writing Thank You Notes After an Interview

Now that we’ve covered the important pieces of a thank you email, here is some additional advice.

Plan Right Before You Write

Trying to recall the necessary information to write a thank you email can be challenging, especially if you delay. On any given day, the average person is bombarded with over 10,000 messages between apps, billboards, social media, this article, and more.

If you finished an in-person interview, take a few minutes in your car to take notes about the interview before you leave. If you finished a virtual interview, take a few notes before you leave your computer or phone (just make sure the camera is turned off and you’ve left the interview first).

Some things you may wish to recall later include:

The company or hiring manager’s goals for the quarter or the year;
The challenges the hiring manager mentioned that stand between them and their goals;
The skills the manager thought would be needed to accomplish those goals;
What the hiring manager was looking for in a candidate including key pieces of knowledge, experience, or traits; and
Anything in the interview that you wished you had answered differently or elaborated on more.

Keep Your Email Short, Brief, and On Message

Know what you want to communicate, have a controlling message for your email, and don’t make the reader spend too many brain calories following along.

Convey Value

Show that you are unique and a person of economic value to their organization.

Show Your Skills

Remember that the way you write is just as important as what you write. Show off skills like energy, personalization, communication, attention to detail, and helpfulness. Words have meaning; make them count.

Be Strategic

Share last-minute information or correct things that weren’t quite clear during the interview. Combatting interview nerves is hard. Sometimes things are clearer to us after the fact. This is your chance to make it clear to them too.

Tailor Your Email

This may be intuitive if you’re following my writing formula above, but just in case it’s not, you shouldn’t be sending the same thank you email to everyone. That doesn’t make sense. That doesn’t convey value and a generic thank you probably won’t be effective. Reference specific things from your interview.

Be Your Authentic Professional Self

Write as you would talk. Don’t overthink it. Don’t write things like “I hope this finds you well.” Be you. Write conversationally (that usually works best) unless you’re interviewing at a super conservative organization where they still call people Mr. and Miss.

Proof Your Email

Check your grammar and spelling before you send it. If written communication isn’t your strongest skill, have a friend read it over before you send it. I’ve even had candidates send their thank you emails to me (their recruiter) first to proofread before they send it to the hiring manager. Keep in mind that I was a third-party recruiter so I got paid when someone got the job. That strategy may not work well with internal recruiters.

Post Interview Thank You Email Example

Hi Cole,

I'm writing to say thank you again for meeting with me to discuss the project manager opening on your team.

It was great meeting you and after hearing more about your plans to launch 3 new capital projects this year, I continue to believe that to accomplish all 3 within your 12-month timeline you'll need someone who has experience proactively anticipating bottlenecks in the CPG space and leveraging resources appropriately to deliver them on time and within budget - if not under budget.

To reiterate from the interview, when I was at Johnson & Johnson, I was able to use those skill sets to deliver 4 capital projects with cumulative budgets of $58M on time and within budget and I very much look forward to bringing those skills to your team.

I'm sure you have quite a bit on your plate right now running the department and trying to fill this opening, but I sincerely hope to hear from you soon, and regardless of your decision, hope to stay in touch over the long term.

I was very impressed with what you have built at Optim Consumer Goods.

Sincerely,

Johnny Rose

How to Send a Thank You Email After an Interview

Send a thank you email to anyone who participated in the interview. It’s always best to email them at their work email address.

If you emailed virtually, check the Zoom, Teams, or Google Meet invite to find their email addresses.

If your email was in person and you don’t know the manager’s email, you can try a couple of things.

First, you can use a tool like Hunter to find an email. I would say it works 80% of the time. If you know the company’s website address and the full name of the manager, you can often get their email from this web tool.

If that doesn’t work and you know someone else’s email address, you can usually copy the format to come up with the manager’s email. For example, if the recruiter’s email is cole.sperry@company.com, you can assume that the other email address will also be firstname.lastname@company.com. It doesn’t always work, but most of the time it does.

It Doesn’t Have to Be an Email

If you really want to impress people, I always say do the opposite of what everyone else is doing. Everyone is emailing everyone these days, but few write handwritten notes anymore. Now before you laugh me off your screen, hear me out.

I’ve gotten so many responses from people and so have others because of a well-thought-out handwritten note. People just don’t do this stuff anymore so when it does happen, we’re excited to read it.

I get emails all day. But when a handwritten note arrives on my desk, I’m actually happy to read it most days.

Now I wouldn’t do this for every job. It does cost a bit more money. But if there is a job you are really excited about, write your thank you by hand on personalized stationery and either drop it off in person at the front desk or send it by snail mail.

I use this personalized stationery from Amazon. I think it looks super sharp and professional and you custom print your name and job on the outside.

When to Send Thank You Email After Interview

It’s a best practice to send a thank you email within 24 hours of your interview. The sooner you send it, the more likely the manager is to remember you and your conversation in more detail.

What About a Thank You Email After Zoom Interview

Unless it was a quick screening call done via Zoom by a source or recruiter, I would still send a thank you note. Many managers are still interviewing candidates via remote technology up until the final round interview, even for in-office roles.

Send a thank you email after a Zoom interview.

Thank You Email After Interview Recommended Reading

How to Gauge the Success of Your Interview

20 Good Questions to Ask at the End of an Interview

24 Signs You Will Get the Job

Cole Sperry has been a recruiter and resume writer since 2015, working with tens of thousands of job seekers, and hundreds of employers. Today Cole runs a boutique advisory firm consulting with dozens of recruiting firms and is the Managing Editor at OptimCareers.com.