Should I write a thank-you letter for a first-round technical phone interview?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3564313

by wtracy • 14 years ago

8 7 14 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

A recruiter recently contacted me about a developer position with one of their clients. This recruiter has been a little more, shall we say, aggressive about "prepping" me than any recruiter I've worked with before.<p>After my first phone interview with the client the recruiter sent me an email prompting me to write the employer a thank-you letter. (The interview lasted less than an hour, and was a mix of technical questions and questions about my background.)<p>The employer has already indicated that, if I move forward as a candidate, I have at least two more interviews to go. Writing a thank-you letter right now seems unnecessary if not counterproductive.<p>Is my instinct correct that this would be just an unnecessary level of noise, or should I follow the recruiter's advice?

bartonfink• 14 years ago

I think it's an unnecessary level of noise, but I think it's just that: noise. Writing one or not writing one doesn't send any signal either way at this stage. If it puts your mind at ease, write a perfunctory one and bcc the recruiter so he shuts up about it.

msredmond• 14 years ago

Yes.

tocomment• 14 years ago

I'd just make sure to follow up promptly and show interest. A thank you letter seems over the top.

sokoloff• 14 years ago

I do a fair amount of interviewing and get thank you emails for about 25% of the in-person interviews. It makes me think more highly of the candidate's manners, but I wouldn't let it affect my decision to proceed or not. (In the case where someone sends requested or obviously relevant followup information, or realizes they bombed some portion of the interview and sends a followup face-palm and correction, those are significantly better than silence.)

For a phone interview, I would definitely think it "noise", but it wouldn't be a significantly negative signal.

I'd tell your recruiter that you're looking forward to hearing from the company (assuming that's the case), but that you will reserve any thank-you emails for later in the process.

badidea• 14 years ago

I tried to be classy and write a brief thank you card to a company a while back that I had a first round interview with. I should mention that they're a well known startup and active on HN. I called them after the interview to request their mailing address since it wasn't listed on their website and they looked at me as if I had two heads and had asked them some extremely offensive and personal totally off limits question.

The person I spoke with when I called was not the interviewer, but they immediately _DEMANDED_ to know who I was, why I needed it, what I was going to be sending, to whom it was going to be sent, why I felt it was necessary, etc. They then very hesitantly gave me the address after placing me on hold for a while. I probably should have just taken the hint and not sent them anything, but I went ahead and sent it anyway.

I never got called back. I don't write thank you letters anymore.

geekytenny• 14 years ago

experiences will vary, so I'd just ask you to follow your heart on this issue.

KoryFerbet• 14 years ago

I am a recruiter and I wouldn't worry about a thank you letter. Honestly, I have only seen three candidates write thank you letters to one of our clients after an interview and in all three instances it actually hurt their chances of moving forward.

In fact two of the candidates were passed on simply because of what was in their letter, it didn't express enough of a desire to move forward and they seemed more like a resignation letter.

Be safe rather than sorry, and skip that unnecessary process.

Should I write a thank-you letter for a first-round technical phone interview?

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