Finding a job can be a full time job in itself. Looking for postings, tailoring your resume to specific roles, writing cover letters. And of course, actually going through the interview process. And you still aren’t guaranteed to land the job you want.
According to one tweet, there’s an extra step people should be taking, too.
“Candidates, pro tip: send a thank you note,” is not the take I expected to see on Twitter dot com.
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To be honest, that sounds like a lot of work.
I mean, I did just list all the things you have to do for every job you apply for (including actually searching for them). Writing a thank you note specific to the job you interviewed for seems like… a lot. Especially if you didn’t even get the job.
Twitter had a field day with this one.
A lot of people were pretty critical of the original tweet, and raised really good points on why this isn’t that great of an idea.
Like, some seriously good points.
If I interview for a job, why should I thank them for it? Especially if I had to shape my schedule around the interview and all that.
If anything, employers should thank candidates for their time and effort.
Especially since you’re expected to jump through hoops for the chance to get a new job somewhere.
Unpaid, too!
But you know who does get paid? The people doing the interviewing. Plus, any recruiter who brings a candidate forward gets paid just for doing that.
And why would someone do that if there’s a chance they don’t get a response?
I’ve interviewed for plenty of jobs in my day, and most of those places didn’t even bother to tell me I didn’t get the job. And I know most of you out there have probably experienced the same.
Of course, not everyone was up in arms about this tweet.
After all, the idea that you should send a thank you note had to have come from somewhere , which means some people still do it.
But… it still doesn’t make sense to me.
Have we considered the fact that, while some employers may expect it, most others… probably don’t want thank you notes? It seems like a thing of the past, to be honest.
Gratitude should come after being hired, not before.
A job interview is pure business. You should probably say thank you during the interview (like, at the end), but to send a note afterwards seems like an extra step for no reason.
It’s probably better to thank the employer if you got the job.
