After sorting through countless resumes and interviewing candidates, it sometimes comes down to the Thank You letter as the deciding factor for some hiring managers. Now you may be thinking why should I send a Thank You letter and how can this possibly decide the outcome of who gets the job, but Thank You letters really have little to do saying thank you (confused yet?). A Thank You letter is your chance to let the people who interviewed you know that you heard what they had to say and to tell them why you are the perfect person for the job. This is when you take everything you heard during the interview process and transform it into a short note to align the job specifics to your background and convince the interviewing manager to hire you.

• Repeat what you heard: You should use part of your Thank You letter to repeat some of the specifics discussed during the interview. Maybe it is points on the “perfect candidate” or possibly items regarding the difficulty of the job. Repeating some of what you heard lets the hiring manager know you were listening to what was said. ==>> Guide to Thank You Letters

• Email or Snail Mail? – Years ago, before Internet email (yes, I am that old), snail mail was the only way to send a Thank You letter (and no one knew what snail mail was). There was a grey area of time when, even with Internet email, it was not considered professional to send a Thank You via email. I don’t really remember when all of that changed, but it is perfectly fine to send a Thank You via email. It saves time and you know it will be delivered to the recipient. You do need to consider format and email etiquette (covered below). ==>>Thank You Letters following an Interview

• Why I’m the Perfect Person for the Job – The core of your Thank You letter is your “sales pitch”. This is your opportunity to tell the hiring manager why you are best choice for the job (assuming of course you are). You need to reference specific achievements from your resume and career that match key job responsibilities and requirements. And, don’t forget to cover any topic where you think the interviewer had some concerns (this is your last chance). So how much do you write? Not a book, but you should include the key points that will help you snag the job.==>> The Eight Most Important Items to Include in Your Thank You Letter

• Formats for Thank You Letters – The format you should use for your Thank You letter depends on a few things. Email versus snail mail, what to include, length, etc. The formats are fairly standard and it is the content that is most important. Sometimes seeing better than explaining, so take a look at some of the Thank You letter formats and samples. ==>> Sample Thank You Letters

• Other Letters You Will Need – So, there are Thank You letters following a job interview, but there are other Thank You letter occasions as well. Such as, when someone introduces you to a potential job lead, referrals or when someone writes a reference letter for you. Then, of course, there may be times that you interview with a potential co-worker. Make sure that the letter matches the event. ==>> Great Job Interview, Have You Said Thank You?

Good luck in your search.

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Graduation is just around the corner. Or maybe you’ve already graduated and are looking for a job. Whatever the reason, your toolkit must be filled with the latest tools (and not missing any).  Yesterday’s post covered off on Resumes and Cover letters. Today is all about links to resources and we pick up where we left off.

References:

• Best College References – This list of links is provided by CollegeGrad.com and provides links to sample reference letters, how to use recommendations, how to present your reference letters and more.

• Tools for a Tough Market: 100 Resources for College Grads – While not specifically just reference letters, this post, by Onlinecollege.com, provides a wide range of links for college grads, from top careers to (yes) references.

• Your Career: Getting Good References for Your Job Hunt – CliffsNotes -

Thank You Letters: You may not think that thank you letters are important, but believe me, they are. The links below provide some advice as well as examples.

• Ten tips to make your thank you note stellar – This article, by USA Today, provides some great tips for you. These are all important points and, believe me, hiring managers are reading these letters to see if you “got the point”, were listening and if you really want the job.

• In Job Searching: thank you letters – About.com comes through again with a number of sample thank you letters. But take a look, there are more than what is showing on the first page, there are additional pages (just click “next” at the bottom of the page).

• How To Write an Interview Thank You Letter – Can’t have a “how to” without howtodothings.com. The post starts off with a very good overview, followed by four steps (with great commentary) and then a sample letter. At the bottom of the page are additional related links which you will find useful.

Good luck in your search.

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• Seven Steps to a Successful Job Search – This resource, prepared and offered by the Borough of Manhattan Communitiy College’s Career Center, is an excellent seven step process for ensuring you have all of the tools and are fully prepared for your job search. While some aspects of this may be more beneficial to students or recent grads, there are many points which can be useful to everyone, especially if you are thinking about changing your career.  Don’t forget your own college career center, many have both on-site and website support.
• Resume writing, cover letters and other job search materials – This article, from Zoomjobs.com, provides useful information for your job hunt. While the information on this site was written as a “why use us” for this website, all of the information is useful in a general sense. You can move from screen to screen by using the “Next” links at the top left and bottom of the screens. The topics cover the “right job” vs. just an okay job, career fields, “plan of attack”, interviewing, networking and so much more.
• Rebounding After a Layoff – This information, provided by quintcareers.com, is timely for many of us. The information on this link provides a tutorial for getting back on track after losing your job. Topics such as finalizing your job search materials (resume, cover letter, elevator speech, and networking), a resume critique and so much more. Additional links are provided on the left hand side of the screen, as well as related tabs at the top of the page. You should explore this entire website  as part of your job search process.
• Job Search Materials -  This link leads to a PowerPoint presentation (not a website). The presentation has been provided by the University of Maryland’s Career Service Center (this link is a website). This is an excellent presentation and provides 34 pages of material on cover letters, resumes, thank you letters and other letters. The presentation provides detailed very useful steps for all of your material and is certainly worth a read. You should also visit their career center (the link above).
• Common Job Search Mistakes and How to Avoid Them – This excellent article is provided via Adobe.com‘s education website.  The article is fairly short, but provides some useful information for your job search. There are additional links on the right hand side of the page which you may find interesting (although not specifically job search related). Lastly, there is a link at the bottom of the page for the Creative Group’s website which specializes in Marketing and Advertising (which makes sense if you are a power user of Adobe’s products) career/job search.

Good luck in your search.

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1. The first is, of course, to thank the individual for taking out time from their busy day to meet with you.
2. You should be able to repeat key parts of your conversation in your letter, like “I enjoyed hearing about . . .” – you get the idea. You should take notes immediately following the interview to ensure you capture key points.
3. The Thank You letter is your opportunity to remind the interviewer why you are the perfect match for the job. You should mention key job requirements and how your experience covers off on those requirements.
4. Lastly, you should let the interviewer know that you are very interested in the position (assuming you are) and that you look forward to hearing from them soon.

Thankfully (no pun intended), the Web is jam packed with advice and examples of interview Thank You letters. Let’s review a few sites for content and a few for sample letters.

• Write Winning Thank-You Letters – This article, from Monster.com’s Career Advice section, is very well written and covers all of the key points regarding Thank You letters. One additional point covered in the article is whether you should use email or snail mail. There are related article links on the page as well.
• Thank You Letters – Boston College’s Career Center offers good advice on Thank You letters. In addition to the points covered above, the BC article also discusses timing, length, when/who to send it, and email versus snail mail. There are  links to additional resources at the bottom of the page.
• Sample Thank You Letters – A number of interview Thank You letter samples from About.com covering just about every situation – interview, second interview, job offer, networking, etc. followed by a link for “Writing Thank You Letters” and a number of other resources.
• Thank-You Letters and Other Job-Search Correspondence – Boise State University’s Career Center has a very good page which provides both guidelines and samples of Thank You letters.

On the lighter side . . .

• 37 WEIRD JOBS THAT YOU CAN ACTUALLY MAKE A LIVING AT – From www.jobprofiles.org, in case you are thinking about changing your career.

Good luck in your search.

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The benefit of sending a Thank Your letter is twofold.  First, it obviously allows you to thank the interviewer for spending the time to meet with you.  But the real benefit, to both you and the interviewer, is to show your interest in the job, show that you listened to specifics raised during the interview, but most importantly, to reiterate why there is a perfect match between the job requirements and your skill set.

While you can use a Thank You note template and repeat some portion of the note, you will need to personalize each note to the person, topics discussed and specifics about the job requirements and your qualifications.

The good news is that, like almost everything covered in this blog, there is an almost endless supply of websites that supply advice and samples of Thank You letters:

• About.com – Thank You Letters – Once again, About.com has very extensive coverage of Thank You letters.  The site provides samples, advice and instructions on writing your own Thank You letter from scratch.  
• Quintcareers.com – In addition to a range of samples, this site provides a number of interesting articles which are subject specific
• Susanireland.com – This site also has samples, but what I found interesting was the topic specific thank you letters.  As an example, there are Thank You letters for the Job Interview, for the Job Offer and, believe it or not, Thank you letters for “the rejection”.  

Good luck with your search.

Related posts:

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2. Job Search Means Always Saying Thank You – 5 Tips for Thank You Letters