How to Send a Thank You Note After the Interview

The art of a hand-written thank you note has been dying. This is how to properly follow up after the interview. 

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A thank you note can get you the job

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

​Alright, let's talk about "the thank you note" after a job interview. Very few people follow up properly, I think. I've been recruiting since 2007 and going "old school" and getting a really nice paper, physical "thank you card" is not so common anymore.

If people do any follow-up thank you at all they send an email, which you should... I mean, but that's not going the
extra mile, is it? What I recommend doing is going and buying the absolute best, most expensive thank you card that you can find. Go to one of those really amazing gift shops... One of those little boutique places not a Hallmark card store.
I'm talking about those thank you cards that are like $5.
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And you bring it with you because oftentimes, you know, they're hiring there in a hurry, and if you put it in the mail, they might not get it for 3 or 4 days. So, what I suggest is, go buy a thank you card. You should have several because you don't know how many people you're going to interview with. They might surprise you might have more than one interview with a different member of human resources.

So, what you should do is you bring several thank you cards with you. You keep them in a safe place. You know, in your little attaché case or whatever you bring. And after the interview, you find a quiet place and you "pen a thank you."
And then you go to the reception, and you give it to those people; and then that way they're going to get it at once.
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It's an "extra touch." It's "going the extra mile". Very, very few people are going to do it. And it's going to, it could give you that little extra "edge." As I've said many times... It's always going to come down to two people, isn't it? It's never going to be a "slam-dunk" with the person they are going to hire. Domestic staffing agents like it too. 

There's going to be two people, and then it will be all of those "little things" that clinch it for you... "Oh, he or she had a really great resume...Her voice was really strong, or his voice was really strong." Right? Because you warmed up your voice before the job interview.  If you saw my other video, I talk about preparing for the interview. The HR manager might say, "They had a thank you note."

All of these little things add up to something very big. And in this ultra, ultra-competitive job market, you cannot leave any stone unturned. Going the extra mile and having a very good attitude -- optimistic, positive, "can-do" attitude... It goes a long way with employers... I'm telling you.

One of the biggest surprises of my life when I became a recruiter... I always have, you know, I'll submit candidates "in rounds," and in the back of my mind, I'll always have... well, this person's going to get it. I've been surprised a lot of times, I got to tell you, because these... these people who are really ambitious, not necessarily young, but people
who are really ambitious, they "dot" every single " I " they cross every single " T " -- They really "go the extra mile," and they make a very, very powerful impression to the people who interviewed them, and it is impossible for them to be forgotten. 

So, when it comes time, when they have that meeting on a Friday and they say, "Who are we calling on Monday? Who's getting the job?" It's going to be the person who "went the extra mile" every time. And a thank you card, a very beautiful
thank you, card can really make a difference. Knock them dead.

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