Put in the Extra Effort to Write a Job Interview Thank You Letter and See the Results

Your cover letter was great. You turned on the wit, sincerity and charm and totally slayed the interview process. But you didn't get the job. In fact, you never even heard back from the company. Two weeks later and it seems like they forgot about you completely. So what happened?

There's one important step in the job application process that many applicants leave out completely: the post-interview follow-up letter. If you don't write a job interview thank you letter, you may be undercutting all of your hard work.

While it's almost never a hard requirement in the application process, it can be important and beneficial to write a job interview thank you letter for many reasons. You're letting the employer know that you appreciated their time. You're showing initiative and positive attitude by doing a little something extra. If nothing else, you're reminding them that you still exist and you still need a job.

And while you could simply call the office a few days after your interview, it's almost always better to write a job interview thank you letter or e-mail instead. People are busy--possibly busy interviewing other people for your job--and you don't want to do anything to annoy them. And throwing an unsolicited and unnecessary phone call into somebody's already-busy day is most definitely annoying. A letter or e-mail, on the other hand, can be dealt with at the recipient's own pace; it's an unobtrusive form of communication.

When you're ready to sit down and write a job interview thank you letter, there are three simple keywords you should keep in mind: quick, specific and direct.

Quick. When you first begin to write a job interview thank you letter, you'll probably have a ton of ideas swirling around in your head; you'll have a list of reasons you're a great candidate, and a list of revised interview answers, etc. Don't include this crap. Your cover letter was your chance to explain what a great fit you are for the position, and your interview was your chance to answer the employer's questions. Maybe they weren't perfect, but they're over. Let them go.