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I always got the job after I sent a thank you note. They often told me I was the only one who did this and they really appreciated me for doing that. So I know from experience it works. I would continue to send them if I decide to apply for any jobs.
To me it sounds like the guy on a date...he says, " Hi special, I picked you out from across the floor, because of your long legs" So, for years, I think, it was my long legs that did it. Then a few years later, I see him with his new girlfriend, and she has short legs, but long hair.
Sooo, i think, he was lying to me, his bottom line is not long legs, but long hair.
bottom line people are complicated, complex individuals... they tell one person one thing and another person another thing.
and basically, you should take anything you hear with a grain of salt!
imo
p.s. common sense tells me that out of 50 people applying for a job, there will be at least 2 people who will send a thank you card...and one or both of them will not get the position.
Again, my thought is that if they hire you, they would have without or with the card. You wowed them in the interview. You showed up looking kick ass, and your resume was spectacular. You went to a top school and had top grades. You speak two or three languages and showed up to the interview 15 minutes earlyl You waited for 15 mintues for the hiring partner and didn't make faces at the receptionist. You spoke eloquently during the interview and gave eye contact to the four people in the room. You then firmly but graciously thanked each of them for their time and expressed your admiration of their company. You then followed up in two weeks if you haven't heard from them, with an email or letter or card letting them know of your continued interest and thanking them for their time. All of these will give you an edge, not just one thing.
I send a thank you email and got a nice response.
Yesterday the lady called and I did not get the job.
I know why (they were only offering a few hours a week and I slipped up and said I was looking for more of a full time position).
They hired someone with a part time job already, which seemed a bit wrong in my opinion but what can you do?
I have to keep on truckin' as they say. They would have been lucky to get me and I hope the other person does well.
There are better things out there for all of us. Hang in there...thank you letters, bright yellow resumes, crazy 'gags' to wow the interviewers...whatever...
Nope, doesn't mean you are going to get the job. Actually doesn't mean you will even get a you're welcome in response. Thats not why you are supposed to do it!
It's called common courtesy, one does it because one has manners. We are civilized, when two dogs are fighting over a bone, no, the one that gets it doesn't reach out his paw and say thank you. He walks off, as an animal does, and eats his meal. Thats what animals do, instinctive reactions for survival in the jungle. No manners, no courtesy, no consideration. Is that what we've become, selfish vain instinctive, I'll only do it if, there's something in it for me. I've got manners if, someone's watching, and I get a reward, I won't speed if there's a cop watching, I won't be late for work, if they have a timeclock. See this kind of thinking is what employers are watching for. People don't understand the subtle little things that could mean so much. Some HR people judge you on these things, not all, but some. They feel that these types of people only act good if they are monitored, therefore, if they put them in a job where they have privileges, they take advantage of them, ergo, you don't get hired.
So, call me "Miss Manners" or preferably, "Mr. Manners" but I refer to everyone as Sir, Ma'am, and respectfully try and follow-thru with as much courteous professionalism as possible. Because I've seen companies that have watched candidates from the second their car pulled onto their parking lot and started assessing them right then and there until they drove off.
It's not?!? Oh, forget it - I'm not sending them anymore!
I think that was a great post. I feel like a broken record sometimes in my postings, but people have to come to the realization that when it comes to interviewing, there is no such thing as a "sure thing." No guaranteeds. The only thing we can do as a interviewee is to maintain constant professionalism and do what we can to seperate us from the rest. That can be either through our experience, education, and even how we present ourselves during the process. This does not only refer to your face-to-face interview. This includes your conversations on the phone and your messages via email. This is why we go out and buy new "interview suits" and make sure our shirts are dry cleaned. In following that same professionalism, is why many prefer to send a thank you note to people they have met. Will sending you guarantee you a job or even a call back? Maybe. Maybe not. But by doing so can seperate you from the others.
I agree with Sin that you are evaluated from the start. From the moment that HR calls you to schedule a interview, to your responses that you may send via email, to the interview itself. If you think it's a waste of your 5 minutes to send a thank you note, that's your decision and your entitled to it. But if the other candidates send one, and you didn't - will it hurt your chances? Again, maybe. Maybe not. But besides the argument of a waste of your time (which I can not envision this taking more than 5-10 minutes of your time), I don't see why you would not send one?
If your expecting a "guaranteed" of a job because you sent a thank you note - then why do you bother going to interviews? There are no guaranteeds when you go for a interview. Your living proof that you can go to a interview many times and not receive a offer. So why do you continue to go to every one that calls you? Because you need a job, right? And although going to a interview will not make that guarantee, you still go and hope to receive that callback or a offer - so why not spend the additional 5 minutes to help your chances, instead of thinking that it's not worth it?
Do you mind telling me did they say how long the wait will be for the background check and when you will actually start? Also, have you worked for the federgal government before or are any of those preferential categories. Also, what kind of job is it?
thanks!
Hello there! I will be working as an auditor trainee (with the likely promotion to auditor, and then senior auditor, and then so on as the years progress) working for the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) in Northern Virginia. I just e-mailed the human resources assistant who originally sent me the tentative offer today to confirm she had received my completed OF-306, and she gave me a likely reporting date of some time in the month of June (at which point I go to Memphis for training). It will have taken me nearly a full month between accepting the job offer and receiving my package in the mail via FedEx (she said I should expect it in about another week). I've worked in retail since I was 16 and am now 22, so I've never held a government job before.
I just wanted to add as an aside that I always try to be as humble and gracious as I possibly can be by sending very well-composed "Thank you" notes because I'm not only representing myself as a potential job candidate but also my college. Just today I sent a second "Thank you" to the woman who came up here to our campus to interview us, letting her know that I was offered a position with the DCAA and to thank her for taking the time and effort to drive up to our close-knit campus to consider us for such a great opportunity. Hopefully now this agency will return to King's College next year (and in subsequent years) to interview the next graduating class as well.
My one professor told us of one firm in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania that will no longer come to interview on our campus because one graduate that they hired turned out to be very unprofessional; her misconduct reflected poorly upon the college as an entire entity (after all, several professors probably wrote letters of recommendation for her), and she ruined the chances for future classes here at King's to interview on-campus with this firm (not to mention the potential bias AGAINST our school that may now exist for those who willingly drive the hour down to interview with that firm on their own accord). I would never want to be a contributing factor to future graduating classes not having the same sort of opportunities to snag a position that I had.
Good advice from ScranBarre, but just be careful about humor, especially in writing - it should be gentle and low key. Avoid sarcasm as a humor style, as not everyone can read or appreciate it.
I'm rather conservative with my tone and can often convey properly when I'm trying to elicit a smile as opposed to the risk of hurting someone's feelings. In the case of my interview I poked some innocent fun at myself, and making them laugh could have "sold" them on me that day. I also believe that my keen attention to detail during the prior night's lengthy informational seminar (in which the one interviewer near-constantly retained eye contact with me as I nodded from time to time to show interest) helped me enormously when I came back the next day to face the same two individuals.
One little trick I had up my sleeve as well (which I hate to admit) is that I had befriended the office secretary prior to the interview. She and I conversed, joked, laughed, and had an all-out wonderful time together talking about a wide array of topics right on up until the interviewers came out to greet me and welcome me back into their office---I made sure that they noticed the secretary and I being chummy and sharing laughs as they passed several times running last-minute errands before my interview. I put myself in the shoes of the interviewer---someone who is able to easily get along with people who work on the "front lines" is someone who'd be a great asset to have in a position where you'd often deal with the public.
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I will be working as an auditor trainee (with the likely promotion to auditor, and then senior auditor, and then so on as the years progress) working for the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) in Northern Virginia. I just e-mailed the human resources assistant who originally sent me the tentative offer today to confirm she had received my completed OF-306, and she gave me a likely reporting date of some time in the month of June (at which point I go to Memphis for training). It will have taken me nearly a full month between accepting the job offer and receiving my package in the mail via FedEx (she said I should expect it in about another week). I've worked in retail since I was 16 and am now 22, so I've never held a government job before. 
