I’ve been a LinkedIn user for a very long time, but mostly as a place to build out my professional profile, connect with people I’ve met through work, as well as for things like hiring and exploring new opportunities.
I never got into posting or consuming much content on there, even though it seems many now find it to be a great place to share content and interact with the people they’re connected to.
Interestingly enough though, every time I go to LinkedIn, and think of checking out some of the content people are sharing, I’ll come across some version of the following idea being posted by someone, with a ton of comments on it.
If a candidate doesn’t take the time to send a thank you note to the interviewer after a job interview, they won’t hire them and will dismiss their candidacy!
It always surprises me how many people hold the above opinion, and how many people agree with them.
What surprises me even more is that people apply this very generally to all kinds of positions and scenarios.
I never took the time to respond to any of these posts on LinkedIn, but it’s always been something that nagged at me and annoyed me, as I couldn’t disagree more with this generic rule.
Before I go any further into why I completely disagree with it, I’d like to start by mentioning cases where I think this rule can actually apply to some extent.
If someone is applying for a sales, business development or marketing type job, or a position where a big part of their role and success at it, hinges on their ability to follow up on an opportunity, continue to push a certain message, and help seal a deal, then by all means, the kinds of actions they do after the interview, can be used to evaluate how good they’ll be at doing that job.
However for anyone else, for any other type of job, I believe it’s absolutely unnecessary!
At a job interview there are two main parties involved, the interviewer and the interviewee; both of them are equally dedicating a chunk of their precious time, before and during the interview, to go through the process.
Both of them need each other; the interviewer is looking for a great candidate to fill a position that will make their life easier; and the interviewee is considering an opportunity, to see if it’ll be a good choice for their next career step.
That’s what the whole process needs to be focused on: if both sides are a good fit for each other, so the required work can get done to a satisfactory degree or better, and for progress and growth to be made on both fronts.
In most cases, the candidate has gone through a number of options and selected that company to apply to, and on the other hand, the hiring manager has gone through a number of candidates to choose whom to talk to.
They should both be equally thankful to the other for the time they’re putting into it and for choosing them over other options.
That definitely should be expressed during the interview, and at the end of it, as it’s being wrapped up; and that is more than enough.
The idea that the interviewee owes the interviewer an extra thank you after that, for some weird reason, is just absurd and unreasonable.
It implies that the interviewer somehow holds some extra importance or dominance over the interviewee, which is quite an old-fashioned view and an imbalanced equation, that doesn’t reflect the reality of how these interactions and relationships should be structured.
As a hiring manager myself, who has had to hire for different roles on engineering or product teams over the years, I’ve never expected a thank you note from anyone after an interview.
As soon as I meet them, I start by thanking them for their interest in the position and for taking the time to meet with me, and then as we get to the end of the interview, I thank them again for their time. They do the same on their end, and that is more than enough.
In fact, the few times I’ve gotten follow up thank you notes, I found it a bit weird, and didn’t find it to add any real value to the interaction, nor give me any more information than I had already gotten.
On the other side of things, in cases where I was a candidate for an opportunity, I’ve also never seen the point in sending thank you notes after interviews. I make sure to express my interest in the role, and thank everyone who takes the time to meet with me during the interview, and at the end of it, and feel that’s enough to show my appreciation and respect.
If someone feels like they need that thank you note from me after the interview, or else they won’t even consider hiring me, regardless of my skills, experience or what I bring to the table, then I most probably wouldn’t want to work with them in the first place!
Now, there are certain cases where someone might’ve forgotten to mention something they feel is important or relevant to the conversation, or where they might’ve remembered a point or example they feel would better demonstrate their fit for the role; those are of course cases where a follow up email could be worthwhile and helpful.
This also doesn’t include cases where someone is just following up on the status of their application to know where they stand, as they might be evaluating other options in parallel.
But sending a message just to say thank you one more time, is a step above and beyond what is necessary, and an extra display of politeness. That someone would feel entitled to that, and be willing to dismiss someone’s candidacy for a job, regardless of how perfect a fit they might be, in the case they don’t get it, is just mind-boggling to me and utterly ridiculous.
Hire the best person for the job, value their time as much as yours, evaluate their experience and skills, not their ability to go through a set of motions that are forced and void of any real substance.
