This is one of those things that I am ambivalent about. I can say with 100% certainty that I never hired anyone because of their thank you note. I also never skipped anyone over because they didn’t send me a note.

And personally, I hate writing the damn things.

If someone sends them, it doesn’t hurt (except maybe the environment, but it also helps keep postal workers in business). HR has bigger fish to fry when it comes to issues of scale.

So, here’s where I straddle the fence. If you know my blog (and, why you would I have no idea…), I’ve written a couple of posts on how much I prefer a thank you note after the interview. It shows some attention to detail, courtesy, and enthusiasm - those count to me. Frankly, they may not count to every interviewer/ recruiter, but that doesn’t matter - it’s the ones who it matters to who notice the absence. The ones who don’t care, don’t care if they get one. Basically Pascal’s wager.

Fact is today in my office, our CFO was talking about a candidate we met last week that he thinks is a shoe-in for a role we have open. But, he closed with “the one thing that bothers me is, I never got a thank you note - not even an e-mail. Neither did (the hiring manager). That lack of attention to details is not a good sign.”

Or… so I thought

We’ve been interviewing an exceptional software engineer recently - PhD out of one of the top CS programs in the country, 10 years in corporate America actually delivering product, great personality. And, man does this guy send thank you notes - hell, he sent me a thank you note just for setting up the tech phone screen with one of our engineers.

He told me he’d read my blog, and took the hint. Turns out? Engineers hate getting hand-written thank you notes. They can barely tolerate a two-sentence “thanks” e-mail. Now they’re all worried he might be creepy.

My bad.

As a job seeker in southeast Michigan (#1 in the nation for unemployment three years running…woohoo!), I avidly scan blogs for discussion such as this.

I usually go Old School on the matter of thank you notes. I hand write them when possible. Sometimes, I send an email. Occasionally, I’ll leave an after-hours voice mail. I do try to sincerely express my appreciation at being considered for a position, without being creepy or pushy. There is, indeed a fine line.

The frustrating part for me is the age-old complaint that even after my best, most polite efforts, I often hear nothing from a potential employer. It makes it difficult to soldier on.\

I actually looked down upon someone sending me a thank you note after an interview. My thoughts are that if I wanted to hire you, I already would have based on your skills. The thank you note is a suck-up/brown nosing technique and I am not moved by it, rather actually annoyed. Save a tree, and save my time- don’t send a thank you!

Could this be a generational thing? I’m Gen X/Y borderline and I can imagine my grandma would say you must send a thank you card!

P.S. The word wrongheaded always makes me laugh…I imagine my childhood barbie dolls where I used to switch their heads and they never looked right after the first time you switch them.

“…although an e-mail is fine, it just doesn’t express a personal sentiment the same way the written variety does.”

I disagree. In my view, one who sends a a handwritten note is in essence saying “I’m out of touch with modern technology.” It is the equivalent of submitting a resume that has been typed on a typewritter. It screams “Old School!”

The Fort Worth HR Management Association recently hosted Colleen Rickenbacher. Ms. Rickenbacher is an etiquette coach to international business professionals and what she has to say makes a lot of sense, even to a elbows-on-the-table, napkin-in-the-collar Texas boy like me.

Letter writing gave way to emailing which is giving way to text messages and Twitter. We are moving at such a break-neck speed that taking the time for simple good manners may make an applicant stand out among his peers.

Dear Gen Xers/Gen Yers -

Good manners never go out of style. Of course, your idea of good manners is light years different from someone who was born before technology took the place of good manners. Instead of berating you for your obvious lack of experience, I would encourage you to ask yourself how you would want to be treated if you were the one interviewing for a job. Oh yeah — that’s old school, too. It’s called the Golden Rule.

Thank you notes are a sign of class in a world where reality shows spew foul language bleeps more often than dialogue. Thank you notes are a sign of consideration in a world where people are shot for looking the wrong way at the wrong time. Thank you notes are a message of respect in a world that values a bargain more than a human life.

Breanne and Michael, I don’t know you, and you’re probably pretty okay young people. And no, you shouldn’t hire someone simply because they took the time to exhibit good manners in a commonly acceptable form. BUT to view a thank you note as an Old School symbol of brown-nosing exhibits a distinct lack of class and portrays a sad picture of the cynicism rampant in our culture today.

Signed,

An Old School Broad with Good Manners because she had a mother who made her write thank you notes.

If you look down upon someone for caring about putting together a good resume, preparing well for an interview or sending a thank you note, then perhaps you should consider alternative positions to human resources.

One of HR’s jobs is to be able to (on behalf of their company) understand what to look for in a star candidate - including virtues.

Have you considered that when YOU look for your next position, potential employers may Google your name(s) and find these posts? So, by the time you realize that the courtesy of sending a thank you note isn’t a BAD thing, it may be too late.

What’s up with all you neighsayers? Yikes, a thank you note is nothing more than a polite civilized gesture extended to the individual to tell them thanks for taking time to speak with me. And, although some might call this brown nosing, the correct term is FOLLOW UP. If you can’t follow up with a potential employer for something that must be highly important to you, what are you going to do as a representive for the organization? The written note is a dying art and totally underrated. And you say old school like it’s a bad thing. BTW, if you send an email and it is dumped in spam, does that still count? I’d say no. A thank you note won’t guarantee you the job, however without one, you might not get the job. That’s all I’m saying.

I work at a One-Stop Career Center where I teach workshops on resume, cover letter, and thank you letter writing, among other subjects.

Two things I always tell the participants:

1. I work with one colleague who got her job as a result of the thank you letter she wrote. It was a tie; her thank you note put her over the top.

2. Thank you letters are a chance for job seekers to reiterate their strengths and revisit questions they might have answered weakly.