You know I get this one a lot with my job candidates as they go through their interviewing
process.
We talk about what to do, what to say to an employer when you are done with the job interview.
There's loads of questions about how long it should be, how short it should be, when
you should sent it, what type of medium should you send?
I know there's loads of questions about this because I actually get them every day, I get
them on my blog, I get them on the YouTube channel.
I want to talk about this aspect of the job interviewing process in my opinion, is one
of the single greatest ways that you can separate yourself from the other qualified candidates.
For those of you that have been following me for a while and you've attended some of
my webinars, you've seen some of my videos on the blog.
You know that I always say, "If you are sitting in from an employer and you're in a job interview,
chances are you are qualified."
The employer would not be speaking with you if at least, on paper, you were not qualified
for the job.
That's great but so is everybody else who's interviewing for the job.
One of the things that I think you could do to really, really give yourself a leg up is
how you craft those messages in between the job interviews.
Think about this act for a second, you get to totally control what you say.
It can thoughtful, take your time, blueprint it just the way you want.
An employer can tell an awful lot about what how promptly you responded and what is it
that you say.
When I talk about thank you's, there's really two major things you've got to consider, one
are the elements what the thank you is about, and two the content that specifically goes
into the thank you.
We're going to talk about both of those and then we're going to talk about all the mistakes
that I think I see people making.
The first thing is the elements, I always think you need to back a thousand for these
two elements, every thank you, actually every communication that you have with the employer
even if it's just an email.
Speed and thoughtfulness, speed and thoughtfulness, how quickly you respond that's speed, and
how thoughtful you are that's the content and the care in which you put into what you
say, and value that those words have.
Let's talk about speed, speed is simply when, so how quickly do you respond?
24 hours or less no longer, if you go beyond the 24 hours, I really find it hard to believe
that anybody needs longer than 24 hours to sit down for five or ten minutes to type a
few lines in an email to an employer.
You should be able to do that, that's when expect it, it looses it's muster if you go
beyond that time frame.
That includes Saturdays and Sundays, so if you interview on a Friday at five o'clock
that means by Saturday at five o'clock you should have that email in their inbox.
That's the first thing, second thing is the thoughtfulness, the care in the quality of
the words that you put in, the tandem themselves, if you think about it one without the other.
Sending a one line email right after you walk out of a job interview is fast, that's speedy,
but it's not very thoughtful.
Sending a one page email four days later might be thoughtful, actually I'd call that inconsiderate.
That might be thoughtful as far as the care in which you put into the content that you
developed, but it's not very speedy and it's not going to matter.
You want to make sure it's both quick and there's some care to it, that's number one.
Second thing is what should go into the content itself, so when you think about thanking somebody,
it's not just about thanking somebody.
If you thank them and you tell them that you're excited everybody does that so you're basically
on par with every other job candidate that you're up against.
I always think there are three things that you absolutely need to include in the communication,
and actually I would just stick to these three, I wouldn't go beyond this.
Number one you just want to thank them for your time so you want to show them that you're
grateful and that there's some gratitude.
You can be quick it doesn't have to have a lot of words and it definitely should not
be obsequious.
Think about when you get done with an interview, I don't care who it is, thank them for their
time, that's all you need to do in the first part.
Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with me I really enjoyed our conversation,
that's it.
You don't need to say, "I know how busy you are."
Everybody's busy, you're busy, I'm busy, everybody's busy you don't need to be obsequious just
thank them for their time.
The second thing that should go into the thank you, this is the money paragraph.
It is your unique value that you offer to that employer.
This is where you get to sell yourself, you could confirm something that you discussed
in the interview and remind them of that and how you aligned to the job.
Or you can use it as an opportunity to add something that might be germain that you didn't
get the chance to stick into the interview because you ran out of time, or maybe forgot,
or whatever the reason.
Use the middle section to say, "I feel like I'd be a fantastic match for this position
because."
Then give them the reason.
If you don't have that one item in there your thank you is effective useless.
You've really taken away the potency if you're not going to take the time to tell them why
you're the right person for the job.
Think about this, so number two why you're the right person.
Number three your interest, your attitude, your enthusiasm, so I'm even more interested
in the opportunity after meeting you because.
Don't just say you're more interested tell them exactly why.
Now you're giving them something of yours that you took away from the discussion, something
they said, something they did, something you saw, something you learned.
That has raised your enthusiasm, and that's it.
Thank them for their time, here's why I'm the person for the job I can't wait to see
what the next steps are.
I'm so enthused, I'm so interested and here's why.
Now I have a thank you template with instruction on it, on blog or we've got it somewhere Cara
you might want to toss up the download in the chat people can grab it.
Those are the three parts and if you want to think about a lot of the mistakes that
can occur with the speed and thoughtfulness and the three components that go into it.
Sometimes I see candidates send a one liner and they just say, "Thanks for your time I'm
looking forward to next steps."
Simply because the employer might have said, "Hey, you know we're going to bring you back,
we want you to talk to so and so."
Big mistake folks, it's a waste of time, don't do it, don't do it from your iPhone, don't
write him a one line thank you card mail it.
Make sure that you're putting some thought and energy into it, they will appreciate it
more, especially if it's timely.
Second thing is I see people writing a one page thank you.
This is not good, this is not good, this is also inconsiderate.
No one wants to relive the interview again after they've already spoken with you.
No one wants you to give them all the things you probably should have given them during
the interview, they don't want to see that.
For all you analytical types I actually did a little experiment a couple of years ago.
I know what I like as far as the length of the thank you email.
If you're wondering if you're email is too long or too short think one third of a 8.5
by 11 page.
If it goes down longe than 3.66 inches it's too long, and you can muck around with the
font if you want.
That's ideal and if you break it up in sections intuitively they will remember that you pulled
out that middle paragraph that talked about why you were unique.
That is a big honking deal, and if you don't have that, and every sales person that's out
there, or every marketer that's out there, or everybody who is expected to be a closer.
If you don't do that, if you didn't send me a thank you that said that, I would immediately
eliminate you from the process because what are you going to be like when you're interacting
with your customers.
The mistakes, don't send a one liner, don't send a one pager forgetting that middle section,
waiting more than 24 hours.
Here's another one, but wait I need to take a shot of espresso before I tell you this
one, a number of you I know you go to group interviews.
You go to group interviews and you're talking to two people, three people, six people, it
makes not difference, do not, do not, send a group thank you email.
It does nothing to connect you to the individuals themselves.
They will feel like one of many, you will have made them feel like one of many.
Instead here's what I would do.
Take that three part thank you, make the first paragraph and the third paragraph identical
for all of them, for all of them, that's okay.
The middle paragraph try to sight something that you connected with that particular interviewer
on and mention something that was unique, a bond between you and him or her.
Just make that little paragraph in the middle unique, that's enough.
You should be copying the human resources director, vice president, whoever it is, or
the recruiter or whoever is organizing your interviews.
If you get out of an interview and you do not have contact information for anybody,
send an email to whoever it is that is organizing this for you and ask for that.
That's what I would do.
Now I what I like to do in my thank you process is I would email everybody individually, I'd
copy HR and then I would also mail everybody a thank you card.
The thank you card is a great touch, it really drives it home, it's a physical piece that
will go on their desk, that they will be floored that they actually received a piece of mail
from you.
There is something that goes with their memory and your thoughtfulness, when they have to
physically open something and you've physically made them do something.
Actually Vinnika you're on here, she sent me one of the nicest Christmas cards and I'll
never forget her for that and we've never met.
Thank you for that, it's still sitting on my desk.
I hope that helps on the thank you's.