The Career Doctor's Cures & Remedies:
"Do I really need to write thank-you letters to employers?"

by Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.

This article is part of a series from The Career Doctor's Cures & Remedies to Quintessentially Perplexing Career and Job-Hunting Ailments. Read more.

The one-word answer: YES!

While career experts differ on whether thank-you notes should be typed or hand-written, mailed or e-mailed, on plain paper or on note paper, they all agree on one thing: that job-seekers who send the thank you notes will have an edge -- however slight -- over job-seekers who do not bother to take the time send one. Amazingly, the majority of job-seekers do not take the time or effort to send thank-you notes.

Sending a thank-you note takes just a few minutes of your time -- and it will show the employer that you are still interested in the position.

What type of thank-you note should you send? My advice is to take the cue from the employer. If all the people you’ve interviewed with have given you their e-mail addresses and the culture seems to be one where people depend on e-mail, then send your thank you electronically -- it will get there faster and have an immediate impact. If the culture seems to be one of more traditional communications methods, then consider either mailing your thank you notes -- or hand-delivering them (yourself or through a messenger service) to the employer. And even with an e-mail thank you, I recommend also sending an actual (hard-copy) thank-you note or letter.

Remember to tailor your letter to the culture of the company and the relationship you established with the person(s) who interviewed you.

Read more in this article from Quintessential Careers: FAQs About Thank You Letters.

You can also find some sample thank-you letters here.

See a list of all the most common college, career, and job questions -- and Dr. Hansen's solutions.

Who is the Career Doctor? Learn more, read his current career column, or browse the column archives when you visit the Career Doctor's homepage.

Dr. Randall S. Hansen is a nationally recognized career and job-search expert. He is Founder and Webmaster of Quintessential Careers, as well as publisher of its electronic newsletter, QuintZine. He writes a biweekly career advice column under the name, The Career Doctor. He is also a tenured, professor of marketing in the School of Business Administration at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida. He can be reached at randall@quintcareers.com. Read more about Dr. Hansen.

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