Tips for Writing Effective Interview Than You Letters

You’ve just finished interviewing for your dream job.  There’s nothing more you can do than wait for the phone to ring, right?  Wrong.  To really increase your chances of getting a job offer, you need to follow up with an effective interview thank you letter.  If written correctly, an effective interview thank you letter can be used to separate you from your competition.    

Remember, the main point of sending a thank you letter after an interview is help you to stand out in the eyes of an employer.  Most of your competition won’t take the time to send a thank you letter.  Those that do won’t write an effective thank you letter that sells them to an employer.  

Key Points to Consider

Here are some key points to consider when developing your post interview thank you letter:

• Write a thank you letter to each person you met with
• Send your thank you letter as soon as possible - the day of or the day after the interview
• To ensure a timely delivery, e-mail your thank you letter, if possible
• Ask for business cards from each person you meet with during your interview to gather the appropriate e-mail addresses to use with your thank you letters

 What to Include in Your Post Interview Thank You Letter

 As you’re writing your thank you letter, be sure to incorporate the following: 

• Keep your thank you letter to no more than one page
• Start by thanking the interviewer for meeting with you
• Express your interest in the position
• Identify your strongest selling points and reiterate them in your thank you letter
• Cover any key points you forgot to mention in the interview, but know would increase your chances of receiving a job offer
• Close by again thanking the interviewer for their time, expressing your interest in the position, and indicating you hope to hear from them soon

Interview thank you letters can gain you job offers by giving you one more opportunity to present your strongest selling points to a potential employers as well as an opportunity to present important information you forgot to mention during the interview.  Take the time to write a thank you letter after your interview to help you land your dream job.

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Ann Hackett is the founder of Sample Resume Zone.  Go to Sample Resume Zone to view an effective interview thank you letter and 25+ sample resumes