6 Things to Include in The Perfect Thank You E-mail

tip: make sure you leave the interview with their contact information!

This will be extremely important when it comes to following up!

If you were not in correspondence with your interviewer before meeting with them, make sure you leave the interview with some mode of contact information.

If possible, you should get their business card. If not, you can take matters into your own hands with a bit of research. For example, use the structure of publicly available e-mails from current employees of the company as a guideline and form an educated guess based on that. You can also use services like Rocket Reach to make this a bit easier.

Thank them for their time

Start your note by thanking your interviewer for their time. Expressing your gratitude is extremely important. Regardless of the outcome of your interview, this person did sacrifice a significant portion of their day in order to meet with you; It is important to show your appreciation!

keep it concise

Again, your interviewer is likely busy working with other candidates and the other day to day requirements of their job. Though it’s important to express how grateful you are for this fantastic opportunity, be considerate of their situation by keeping your e-mail brief!

A paragraph or two will do the trick! If you feel yourself writing an essay, rambling about your qualifications, try to take a step back and revise your work. Your interview should have provided most of the critical information, your thank you note just represents you sealing the deal!

highlight something interesting that you spoke about

As much as you remember every minute of your conversation, your interviewer may have interviewed a few candidates on the same day. Things could be a blur! Help them out by inserting a few salient topics that you discussed in your note.

If there was something, you mentioned that they reacted positively too, bring it up again in your e-mail!. The same applies to the reverse situation. If they said something that was specifically of interest to you and led the conversation in an exciting direction, mention it again by asking one (two max) follow up questions.

remind them of your top skills

You probably covered your strengths in the interview; if you’ve reflected and perhaps done your SWOT analysis – answering this should have been a breeze. (If you need some additional help with speaking about your abilities during the interview, we’ve prepared an extensive guide to help you with this!)

related: How to Assess your Personal Brand using SWOT Analysis

Remind your interviewer why you’d be a top candidate by mentioning the skills you consider to be an asset! Your e-mail is extremely helpful if you forgot to mention one of your assets during the interview. This message is your chance to give yourself one last pat on the back without being overbearing

timeliness

The proper follow-up etiquette is to send this note within 24 hours, while you are still fresh on your interviewers’ mind. If your interview ends in the evening and it’s late at night when you sit down to draft your e-mail, schedule it for the next morning so that you don’t forget. By scheduling your e-mail to be sent around 8 AM, it also ensures that it makes it to the top of your interviewers’ inbox before getting buried with the other messages they receive throughout the day.

A good signature

Interviews, aside you should prioritize a well-crafted e-mail signature as a means of boosting your overall e-mail etiquette. Your signature sends the message that your professional image is important to you and also gives you the chance to get more eyes on your professional online profiles.

You will want to include:

• your name
• current title/ school name
• Expected graduation year (if applicable)
• Links to Linkedin or professional twitter/Instagram accounts (use your discretion here)

Note: These profiles should showcase your portfolios or thought leadership if applicable – when in doubt, stick to LinkedIn