The thank-you email after an interview: what to write
The Cvizo team3 min read
Send one when you have a specific thing to add. Thanks on their own do not move a decision, because the decision rests on what you said in the room. A message that supplies a missing answer sometimes does, and that is the only kind worth writing.
In short
- Gratitude alone changes nothing. One fact you did not get to say occasionally does.
- In the US a note within a day is part of the process at many companies and its absence is noticed.
- In Poland and much of continental Europe it is optional and nobody records that it did not arrive.
- If you cannot name the one fact the message carries, there is no message to send.
Send one when you have a specific thing to add. Thanks on their own do not move a decision, because the decision rests on what you said in the room. A message that supplies a missing answer or the example you did not reach sometimes does move it, and that is the only kind worth writing.
Whether skipping it is noticed is a separate question, and the answer depends on which side of the Atlantic you are applying.
The market split
In the US, a note within about a day is treated as part of the process at a good number of companies, and its absence gets remarked on. It is not a strong signal and it will not rescue a weak interview, but it is cheap and its absence is not free.
In Poland and much of continental Europe it is optional, and nobody records that it did not arrive. Some recruiters read an effusive one as slightly odd.
If the company is American, or is a local office where hiring is run from a US headquarters, send one regardless and keep it to three sentences. Everywhere else, send one only when you have something to say.
What a message that works contains
An answer to the question you fumbled. Everyone leaves an interview with one. Two sentences, and no apologising for how it went at the time. Just the answer, thought through.
The specific thing they asked for that you did not have. A link, a figure, the name of the tool that would not come to you. This is the strongest reason to write, because it closes something that was left open in front of them.
A question about the next step, if nobody named one. One question, concrete. “When should I expect to hear” beats “is there anything else you need from me”.
If none of the three applies, you have no message. A note with no content only reminds them that you exist.
Length and address
Four or five sentences. Put the role in the subject line, because the recruiter is running several processes and will not place you by first name in an inbox.
Reply to the person who interviewed you rather than to a general address. If there were two of them, the one who led is enough.
The one-fact test
Read your draft and delete every sentence of thanks and courtesy.
What remains is your message. If nothing remains, you are sending a pleasantry. If one sentence remains and it carries a fact, you have exactly as much as you need.
What not to do
Do not send a second message when the first went unanswered for a few days. It speeds nothing up and it changes how you are read, from interested to pressing.
Do not go around the recruiter to the hiring manager on LinkedIn either. It looks like bypassing the person running the process, and that person sees your message in the summary anyway.
