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Interview Thank You Letters

Sending interview thank you letters is a must! Everyone knows this should be done but the reality is that very few job candidates actually send thank you letters. Make sure you set yourself apart by sending a professionally written and well structured thank you note.

Make sure you have the correct names, titles and contact details of the person or people who interviewed you.

Write individual letters to each person who interviewed you, keeping the essentials the same but briefly personalizing each one. You can also include anyone who helped you with setting up the interview.

Sample Interview Thank You Letters

Thank You Letter - Formal

Thank You Letter - Informal

Thank You Letter - Internship

Send the thank you letter within 24 hours of the job interview. Find out the best way to reach the recipient- e-mail, post, hand delivery etc. You can get this information from the receptionist or human resources. The faster the letter gets to its destination the greater the chance of creating a positive impression. You can use an express postal service rather than regular mail to ensure speedy delivery.

If you are concerned about the time the post may take you can e-mail a short, simple thank-you message and follow up with a more formal letter in the post. E-mailing your thanks is usually not as impressive as a formal, posted letter. However, if the company tends to do business by e-mail and if most of your contact has been through e-mail, then it is probably an acceptable form of communication. Faxing should be a last resort.

Hand-write the letter only if you have legible handwriting. Typing and signing the thank you letter is usually a better option. Use good quality paper and envelopes. Avoid colored stationary - it looks unprofessional. If you have letterhead stationary use it.

Spell check and proof read all your correspondence. You can also ask someone else to proof it for you. That way you will be sure it's all correct. Spelling and grammatical errors are the easiest way to make a bad impression.

All interview thank you letters should:

be short and to the point

express appreciation for the interviewer's time and interest

State briefly what you enjoyed about the interview, the company and the job

show enthusiasm for the position and reiterate your desire to take the next step

reiterate briefly your suitability by touching on specific job-related strengths. However don't oversell yourself, this distracts from the fact that it is a thank you letter and can make you look desperate.

mention anything pertinent that you forgot to discuss in the interview, but the focus should be on thanking the interviewer

How you address the interviewer will be based on the tone set during the job interview.

Use the formal salutation "Dear Mr/Ms/Mrs Smith," unless you were told during the job interview, "Call me John/Jane." Then your salutation should be the more informal "Dear John,".
However always address the letter to a specific name and not to the "Sales Manager" for example.

How you close your interview thank you letters is your choice. Acceptable closings include: "Sincerely," "Respectfully yours," "Kind regards," and "Yours truly,".

Go through the sample interview thank you letters in the table above. Each is applicable to a different job interview situation. You can use the examples as a guide to develop your own, personal thank you letter.

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