Interview thank you letters, tips on writing them

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Interview thank you letters - powerful tools to help you zoom ahead of the pack

Sending well-crafted interview thank you letters is the single most important thing to do after interviews. The amazing thing is, most job hunters will NOT send such notes nor do ANY follow up! That's why interview thank you letters can be an important differentiator.

Here's how you can write an effective interview thank you letter.

It should be brief - never more than a page. It's a document that gives them solid reasons to hire you and moves them towards that decision.

What should you put in job interview thank you letters? Use the following points.

* You should express your thanks for their time and efforts. You can use a phrase like: 'It was a pleasure to meet you and (Insert names of all the other interviewers, if there were any). I want to thank you for your time and consideration.'

* If the interviewer raised any reasons why he thought you might not be a suitable candidate (limitations in your knowledge, lack of a specific skill, etc), state briefly why that's not the case.

If the interviewer did not mention any such concerns, do not raise any yourself! In a follow up letter, never try to defend limitations that they themselves have not brought up. If you do so, you will only raise new doubts in their mind.

* Identify specific skills, knowledge or personal qualities in you that were of particular interest to the interviewer. Some would have been obvious from your pre-interview research. And the job interview itself would have given you additional ideas. In the next paragraph state those strengths succinctly.

* Emphasize that you are very interested in the position. Something like: 'I would like you to know that I am extremely interested in the (name the position) position we discussed today. Based on the needs for (insert job title/description) you outlined, I am sure that my strengths outlined above can be of use to you.'

* Talk about the next steps. Perhaps the interviewer said they would take a decision in a week's time. If so, you can say that in line with what they suggested, you'll call them after a week to know where they are in arriving at a decision.

As you can see, writing interview thank you letters need not be very difficult. Do some clear thinking and you'll have a follow up note that's a real winner.

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