Tips for Writing Strong Interview Thank-You Notes

Tips for Writing Strong Interview Thank-You NotesTips for Writing Strong Interview Thank-You Notes Spring is a great time to search for new jobs for a number of reasons. First, budgets are often approved around January/February to hire mora people. Second, the economy is pretty healthy right now and businesses are ready to expand and try to grow their profits. For some companies, this means new hires to support these growth efforts. Lastly, its also the time of year when companies often revisit their products, services and technologies, working on improvements to keep competitive in the market. Often, companies will hire new employees or teams to work on these changes.If youre ready to job search, or perhaps youve already started, heres one skill you should sharpen writing thank-you musikbedrngnises. A powerful thank-you note can land you the job - weve seen it happen frequently with the candidates we place. (And on the flip side, weve seen bad thank-you notes dama ge a candidacy.) Here are four tips from our recruiters for writing the kind of thank-you note that impresses hiring managers .This tactic isnt just about looking (and being) more engaged in the interview - though that certainly wins you points. Its also about writing a better thank-you note later. Mark down important points you discuss in the interview. What imperative job functions do your interviewers bring up? Are there any problems theyre facing as a company that you could help with? Do they pose any questions that you might be more able to answer after a bit more thought? These are the kinds of things to add to your thank-you note later. Time and again, we find that a generic thank-you note - one that feels like its copied from a template - will never impress hiring managers like a thank-you note that makes reference to specifics from the interview. In fact, in some cases, a generic thank-you note will hurt your candidacy more than help it There are hiring managers tha t think a generic, template-like thank-you note shows so little effort that they think less of a candidate.A thorough, detailed thank-you note thats beautifully written will never make much of an impression if its too late. Especially in some fast-paced fields like the tech industry, healthcare or marketing, time is of the essence. When you finish your interview, head home as soon as you can to write your thank-you note. Sending it the day of the interview (if possible) or within 24 hours is ideal, although sending the note 48 hours later can be acceptable if you get really tied up. If you send the note late, you might find that the hiring manager has already assumed youre not sending it and dinged your candidacy or rejected you for it.If you interview with multiple people, try to get their individual contact info from your recruiters. Writing each of them a note will show a level of care that goes above and beyond what most candidates demonstrate. If you can add a detail to each note that really personalizes it, thats even better. Especially today, the trend is for workplaces to be focused on building a great corporate culture, which often requires teamwork and strong interpersonal skills from all levels of employees. Showing off extra effort in your soft skills can be key for your candidacy. Individual, personalized thank-you notes could make you seem like the kind of team player that hiring managers will love working with. This may not always be necessary. However, if you felt there were concerns or weaknesses brought up in your interview, a thank-you note can be a great place to address that. The key is to keep things positive and, if possible, focus on how youre already working to remedy these potential issues. If you can handle this right, your thank-you note can significantly strengthenyour candidacy, as its your last impression that you leave on a hiring manager before they make their decisionSamantha Keefe is an Interactive Marketing Managerat A VID Technical Resources .AVID Technical Resources is a leading information technology recruiting company with offices around the country.