Is it important to send a thank you email or letter after a face-to-face or telephone interview ?

As the resident RP curmudgeon, my experience has shown it's irrelevant. Once the interview is complete for the position, no one cares. The letter MAY be read by an administrative assistant though.

Hi, Colonel Burroughs.

The thank you letter, in any form, is an imperative part of the interview process, for a couple of reasons. It's a show of respect, but also it distinguishes the candidate from those that didn't write one.

I usually send thank you notes to people for extending their time associating with me above and beyond their ordinary duties. Thank you notes should be a handwritten note that is tangible and concise. I have written notes to people with whom I interviewed and people with whom have made an impact in my life in one way or another. Emails to express gratitude are impersonal, but it depends on the situation.

I've been on the team that has reviewed candidates for positions. While I strongly agree with a followup contact, snail mail is so rare now that if I received a thank you letter, I would immediately expect I was being gamed.

In my opinion, a followup email is acceptable, unless you interviewed with someone in their 70s, who might be more comfortable with an actual letter.

Thank you emails should be a standard. If someone takes the extra step to go with a handwritten note, that says something!

Yes, I think it's important to follow-up. A thank you note might be the thread that keeps the connection alive.

That said, I need to get one into cybermail outbox myself!

I think it depends on the type of job your applying for, for government jobs, it's un-necessary. I think for civilian jobs it may be nice, sort of puts you back into their thoughts maybe.

So here is the deal as I was taught. Resumes if you have less than 10 years experience need to be limited to a single page, more than 10 years experience 2 pages. If you think about it, beyond 2 pages and your experience is not really relevant any longer because it happened so long ago. Cover letters are to be used to emphasize the highlights of the resume that sells yourself where you want to cover more detail beyond a summary. Your right though, they are optional these days and not a lot of folks use cover letters anymore. Thank you notes I send out when I have the contact information and sometimes the HR or Recruiter does not leave the contact info even when asked. So in those circumstances I don't send a Thankyou note. However if the Recruiter goes above and beyond for you the candidate.........I always send a thank you note. My very first example of direct hire by EDS when I was a Senior in College the EDS Recruiter went through a rough sketch of how the hiring interview would go. Believe it or not she asked "How much are you going to ask for in Salary?" to my surprise. I told her and she said...."your worth more than that and I would bump that up by $5-7,000 annually". I did as she asked and she was right. The Hiring Manager pulled the used car salesman trick after I told him my asking, got up and started to leave the room "Well I have to talk to my manager to see if we can offer that" (lol). Because I had been coached it had zero impact and I got the salary I was asking for and a little extra. So definitely in that case I sent her a thank you note. That was back in early 1991, my first career job after college. Now if it is someone in HR and I find myself helping them through the interview because they are clueless in areas.......no thank you note for that crap. Or if they refuse to leave their contact email I just extend a verbal thankyou at the end of the phone call.

A thank you letter is not just the right thing to do, but it also shows a level of maturity. The letter serves another purpose it is another chance to make your name stick in the interviewers head. So when they are thumbing through the application of hundreds. Your name could spark a memory. A lot like cramming for a multiple choice quiz. The answer seems to pop out. So send a thank you and make your application pop.

I think it is very important. Especially phone interviews. I have phone interviews sharing information about my published book,
Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World. They didn't have to call. They didn't have to allow you to plug something. I think it is only right to thank them both with an e-mail and a letter.