5 Sample Thank You Emails After A Job Interview
August 2, 2024
Going into your job interview, you want to make sure you stand out among other applicants. You’ve prepared extensively. You’ve done all your research. You even know what questions you’ll be asked. And you’re especially aware that there’s just one more thing to do after it’s all done: write the thank you email after the interview. Writing (and sending) the thank you letter after the interview can be what gets you the job in the end. It lets the interviewer know that you care enough to reach out and make sure they feel recognized for their time. Let’s dive into why a simple thank you letter can help you rise above the occasion.
What goes into a thank you letter after a job interview?
Now, what you don’t want to do is write a long, overly personal letter. Think of crafting a simple, clear and respectful thank you letter that isn’t longer than a few paragraphs. Although it might be tempting to reiterate your accomplishments (to have them never forget you), you’ll want to refrain from that. The hiring manager, or whoever has interviewed you, will have your resume on file. They’ll already have talked with you about your experiences during the interview. So you don’t want to necessarily repeat everything you covered.
Instead, focus on brevity and sincerity, but don’t overdo anything. Take a look at the following details you could incorporate into your thank you letter after a job interview. Depending on whether you’re writing a letter to mail or an email, you may need to adjust what you decide to include:
1) Date
If you’re printing a thank you letter on paper, you’ll want to write out the date.
2) Your contact details
It never hurts to include your contact information. You’ll also want to include the contact information of the hiring manager or whoever interviewed you.
3) Greetings and salutations
Always check to make sure the person you’re writing to is the person you’re, well, writing to. Be sure not to switch up or misspell any names. If you addressed your interviewer by first name, it’s fine to write their first name here. What you want to avoid is sounding like a completely different person when they’re reading your thank you letter.
Thank You Email After Interview (Continued)
4) What are you thanking them for?
Writing out what exactly you’re thanking them for right away will save you, and them, time. And they will be grateful for that.
5) During the interview, did they say something special?
If you can recall something special or memorable that they said during the interview, why not mention it? Including an example like this will help you to stand out and have them remember who you are. They’ll know that you actually paid attention to what they were saying, and who wouldn’t appreciate that?
6) Quick summarizing statement about why you’re fit for the role
This doesn’t need to be long, fancy or overdrawn. A simple statement that expresses why you’d be perfect for the job will remind them that you very well might be.
Thank You Email After Interview (Continued)
7) Closing remark
Obviously, you don’t want to sign off your thank you letter after a job interview with something like “Yours forever” or “Please respond quickly.” But do stick to the overall tone of your letter. Ending your letter with “Best” or “Sincerely” are the safest bets.
8) Don’t forget to sign
If you can include a digital signature in your email, then fantastic. If you’re sending a printed letter, then be sure to sign it with a pen.
9) Double, triple check for mistakes
Read your letter out loud. Check for any spelling or grammar errors. Maybe you even added too many spaces between some words. Again, check that you got their name right. Even your own name. Going over your letter with a fine-toothed editor’s comb at the end is the way to go.
Five interview thank you letter samples
Your thank you letter will be personal and authentic, but here are five sample letters that can help you get started. With the guiding details listed above, you really do want to personalize your own thank you letter. But you also don’t want to make it sound like it was written by a bot or simply copied and pasted. Just like writing an essay, the reader can usually tell if it was written by you or someone else. And if they’ve already read some of your writing, they’ll be able to tell right away.
1) A thank you email that mentions the specifics after a job interview
Hi Tracy,
It was wonderful speaking with you today, and I just wanted to thank you again. I had such a great time hearing about Kitchen Living’s milestones and goals for the upcoming marketing campaign in partnership with Home Living. I haven’t stopped thinking about how I could contribute to the marketing campaign, and it’s so inspiring to hear what your team has accomplished.
Although I always knew that Kitchen Living would be a fantastic place to work, I’m all the more convinced that it’s the best place to creatively thrive too. It was exciting to hear about the regular monthly outings and the quarterly trips to the Manhattan office that everyone does. Please know that I’m an absolute believer of Kitchen Living’s mission statement, and I sincerely hope that I’ll be able to contribute to the marketing team with my experience and skills as a designer.
If you need any more information from me, please let me know. I look forward to hearing from you.
Best,
Winona Park
2) A very short and simple thank you email after your job interview
The following is a great option for when you know they’re making a quick decision immediately after your interview:
Hi Lorraine,
Thank you very much for speaking with me this afternoon. It was incredible to hear from you about the expectations of the editorial assistant role. I’m thrilled that I had the opportunity to chat with you, and once again, it would be such a privilege to join Paperzine and help your editorial team reach the upcoming quarterly goals.
Please let me know if I can provide you with any further information, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Jared
3) An overachiever’s thank you email after a job interview
One way to take your thank you letter to the next level is by elaborating more on your potential contribution. This means providing an actual example of something you talked about during your interview, such as a marketing idea or business approach. Let’s take a look at the following thank you letter template:
Hi Steve,
Thank you very much for meeting with me today. It was incredible learning more about your own experience at Working Together and your role in helping to build the company to be what it is today. I was truly impressed to hear about how you envision Working Together’s future over the next five years.
After our conversation, I wanted to follow up and send you three designs of mine that could potentially contribute to the upcoming marketing campaign around sustainability. I’d be more than happy to discuss with you if you find these designs to be useful to the campaign.
From what you shared, Working Together is truly the ideal workplace, and it would be wonderful to make a sustainable impact with your team of hardworking creatives. If there’s anything else I can provide to make your hiring decisions easier, please let me know. I look forward to hearing from you.
Best,
Janet Jeffries
4) A more informal thank you email to send after a job interview
This type of informal thank you letter might be necessary if your interview had a semi-casual style or if you were interviewed by someone you know fairly well. Let’s take a look at the informal thank you letter template:
Hi Elena,
Thank you so much for meeting with me earlier today. Hearing you speak about your expectations for the Arts Editor role was truly inspiring, and it was incredible to hear about your own experience at Gallery One.
This position is just the dream job, and with my master’s degree and four years of experience working at Artists Unlimited, I hope you’ll consider me for the role.
If you need any more information, please contact me anytime. Thank you again for all of your time.
Sincerely,
Jackson
5) A more formal thank you email to send after your job interview
If you find that the tone of your interview was very formal and perhaps bureaucratic, the following template could work well:
Dear Dr. Lee,
Thank you very much for taking the time to meet with me today. It was nothing short of inspiring to hear about your impact on TriStar’s foundation, and I was absolutely inspired by your experience in business development and research around the world.
The insightful information you shared about the business development manager role has led me to confirm that this would be the ideal role for my skills and qualifications. With my five years of experience as a business development manager at TechCon, and my MBA from the University of Chicago, I hope that you would consider me for the position so that I can make a meaningful, lasting contribution to your team.
Please let me know if I can provide you with any more information. I look forward to hearing from you.
All my best,
Richard Trent
A little bit goes a long way – Thank You Email After Interview
Sending a thank you letter after a job interview can make all the difference to get you the job. From a hiring manager’s perspective, you’re going the extra mile to reach out again and leave a positive impression. Compare this to another applicant who never follows up with a thank you letter. Your efforts to send them a thank you letter won’t go unnoticed.
Post Interview Thank You Email – Additional Resources
