[Anonymous]

After 8 interviews and at lest 20 thank you notes only one person has ever responded. Is this normal?

[TNCPA16]

What kind of response are you expecting? A thank you for your thank you note?

[cool_kid]

Yes this seems to be normal. I've only received a response once so far.

[Son]

I would actually expect one too. In a thank you note one would thank the interviewer for his time and opportunity. It's only natural that the response should acknowledge the fact that interviewee also spent time and effort to apply and come to the interview. If your boss doesn't value your time or appreciate your effort in trivial and effortless things like this, I would seriously question how they would treat you once you've started working.

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[Anonymous]

Having been on the other side of the desk, if/how to respond is a very confusing topic, and easily avoided by just not replying. Do you reply and thank them for coming to interview? They'll be reading into every word you say, so if you say “It was a pleasure to meet you”, they'll think they've got the job; if you don't say that, they'll think they lost the job, etc. We were making a decision very quickly after the interviews, so though we didn't reply to the (emailed) thank you notes officially, we did make it a point to promptly email the candidates who had sent thank you notes but weren't chosen, which was within a couple days of when they'd sent the thank you notes. The others were informed of our choice via the formal letter in the mail.

From the interviewee side of things, I've only gotten a reply to one, which was from a very personable chatty sort of guy who replied something along the lines of “You gave a great interview and I hope to see you again soon”, but it was a group interview and I didn't get a reply from the others in the group. It was a government job that had funding issues a week or so later, so I got an email informing us all that from another member of the group, but the one who had emailed back did look at my LinkedIn recently. They anticipated the funding would be re-established sometime “early in the year”, so it may mean they're looking to hire again. If that is why he looked up my LinkedIn recently, then it would seem to confirm my feeling leaving the interview that the guy was particularly impressed with me, so that is likely the only reason that he sent a reply to my thank you note.

[mla1169]

I've probably sent over 400 thank you notes over the last 4-5 years. Only ever got a response once, and he is my boss now.

Most people don't have enough hours in a day to respond to each and every thank you they get. If they had that much free time it's probably not a place you want to work

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Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[Anonymous]

I used to send thank you notes after each interview I had. I never get any replies either so I stopped even looking back to those job interviews I had in the past. I would simply move on. According to the experts which I read from somewhere, sending thank you notes is not really advisable. I kept applying online and watch every opening that pops up in Indeed.com every hour. Until one day, I encountered this very nice and smart recruiter from a staffing agency. She helped me fix my resume. My resume got “overhauled” and since then I began getting many responses. I used to be getting only phone interviews, which I really hate.

Just apply without ceasing. Be ready and be clever to pick the better offer when you end up one day getting two offers at the same time.

[TNCPA16]

Not advisable?? I'm not so sure about this expert you are referring to, Amor D! Always, always, always send a thank you note. Always! Every time my colleagues and I interview someone, we make note if they did/did not send a thank you note. While sending a thank you alone will not get you a job, it is definitely noticed when candidates do not send one. Coincidently, everyone we have hired thus far has been someone who has sent a thank you.

A thank you note is not about getting a response back, it's about thanking a (presumably) busy person for taking time out of their day to speak with you. I have never replied to a thank you note I received. This is usually because if we liked the candidate, we will contact them pretty quickly to set up the next round of interviews or if we didn't like them, then it's just awkward to try to reply to their note.

[mla1169]

Sending a thank you is practically mandatory. Whoever said it wasnot advisable was not an expert or you took it out of context.

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[KBinMN]

Thank you notes are a racket. Its funny to me that people expect a thank you note for doing their job. And then won't return the courtesy. Lot of irony there.

[spinfuzer]

Sending a thank you note won't help you, but not sending one can hurt you.

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[mla1169]

KB, they don't expect anything lol. The point is to somehow make yourself stand out among the dozens of interviewees for every position, the candidate applied to the job so their interest level is perfectly clear. If I interview someone who follows up with a thoughtful and personalized thank you, all of the sudden they're the object of my attention while I'm reading. If you actually want that job the more the interviewer is exposed to you,

There is no circumstance in life where a person is obligated to reply to a sincere thanks. If you expect a reply, your thank you note was not at all sincere.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[KBinMN]

I get that, all of it.

Still think they are a stupid waste of time. Just like birthday cards or most cards, really.

[Kimboroni]

If you want the job, they aren't a waste of time. But don't expect responses to them.

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[AScott89]

I've only ever had responses to my thank you notes from one interview. Two of the three people I interviewed with responded so I was really surprised as no one had responded before. Still didn't get the job though. I don't think whether they respond or not is an indicator of if you got the job, but response or not it's still good to send one.

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A - 72, 68, 84
R - 72, 82
F - 55, 79

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AUD-72(8 '14); 68(11 '14)
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[Son]

“A thank you note is not about getting a response back, it's about thanking a (presumably) busy person for taking time out of their day to speak with you. “

Jilly Beans, you see, that is exactly the attitude that I disagree with. You presume that candidate's time is less valuable than yours – why is that, you consider yourself a better person or professional simply because they are looking for a job, and you already have it? I fundamentally disagree with that.

I personally assume that every person I see at a recruitment event or interview is my future colleague, client or maybe even my boss. First off, tables can turn very quickly, and before you know it that same person whom you've brushed off or didn't consider as important as yourself will be interviewing you. I had a situation when a manager from my former Big 4 employer got hired into industry. Her new boss was a senior whom she supervised before and who left the firm a couple years before her. Second, every candidate deserves to be treated with some basic respect, and responding with a two-line email doesn't take that long. And finally, there's such simple thing as etiquette.

I often feel discouraged to hear that so many employers forget that interview is a two-way street: while you're evaluating the candidate, she is evaluating you. I think the labor market would be a much better place if people kept that in mind.

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[Author]

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