How do I thank multiple interviewers for a single position?

May 14, 2012 3:07 PM

I want to send a post-interview thank you email but I am a little unclear as to the best way of going about it. I had five 30 minute sessions with one to two employees each; the last session was with the head of the group I'd be working for. Should I send one email to all employees, an email to each session group, an email to only the senior interviewers (3 people), or some other iteration?
posted by Groovytimes to Human Relations (13 answers total)

You should send handwritten, posted thank you notes to every single individual involved.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 3:10 PM on May 14, 2012 [3 favorites]

I don't know the protocol but I would address it to the head(s) and then copy to all the others being sure to express your thanks to all of them in the body of the email.
posted by rmhsinc at 3:10 PM on May 14, 2012

Actually, I agree--hand written notes are preferable and in that case I agree with the first poster.
posted by rmhsinc at 3:11 PM on May 14, 2012

I would send a note to the hiring manager or the HR person coordinating the interviews.
posted by zippy at 3:11 PM on May 14, 2012

Individual email to each person. I don't know that handwritten notes are necessary, but depending on the hiring timeframe, they may not arrive until after a decision was made.
posted by The Michael The at 3:11 PM on May 14, 2012 [4 favorites]

Based on what you said, it seems like you met anywhere from 5-10 people throughout these sessions. Normally, you should send one email to each person, but that's excessive when so many people were involved.

Instead, send one email to the group of people that you'd be working with and another email to the four other groups that emailed you. That way, you are only sending two emails.

Tell the first group something like "thank you very much for the opportunity and I hope to work with you two" and send the other group an email saying "thank you very much for the interview experience. It was nice meeting all of you."
posted by livinglearning at 3:21 PM on May 14, 2012

I would email everyone you met, individually. I work for a recruitment firm and we recommend emails after every interview - handwritten notes are nice but too slow, and it looks like you didn't bother to send a thank-you until they arrive. I recommend sending a thank-you to the HR person as well. If you really want the job, an email+a handwritten note would be okay, but handwritten alone takes too long.
posted by athenasbanquet at 3:21 PM on May 14, 2012 [2 favorites]

What industry? A lot of people see hand written notes as old fashioned, not to mention that they won't get there for a day or two. Go with email, to each of the people you interviewed with, using a slightly different email each time. Try to tie it back to a particular point with each of the people that you hit upon during the interview. Send within 24 hours.
posted by kellyblah at 3:23 PM on May 14, 2012

I would send a thank you to every person who interviewed you, whether by email or cards. If nothing else, some places that do this type of interviewing will cut candidates if only one member of the group wasn't feeling the person...a thank you could put you over the edge in that respect even if the person isn't directly related to your position.
posted by fromageball at 3:52 PM on May 14, 2012

I don't know your industry, but I do a fair amount of interviewing and would look askance at a handwritten, through-the-postal-service note. I would send an email immediately to the most senior person with whom you've interviewed, as well as the HR person and any other "facilitator" of the process. I would then send one group thank you email to the other 5 people, cc'ing the senior person who already got their dedicated thank you email.
posted by thinkpiece at 4:08 PM on May 14, 2012 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: The interview was for a fairly well known remediation firm that works with ground and surface water environments.
posted by Groovytimes at 4:13 PM on May 14, 2012

I went through a similar process last year (seven people divided among 3 groups) and I ended up writing seven separate thank you emails -- one to each person I interviewed with. The two managers involved received slightly longer emails.

(And I got the job!)
posted by ladygypsy at 8:22 PM on May 14, 2012

Recently went on an interview with 3 people and sent them each individual emails. I have another interview with 3 more people and plan on doing the same.
posted by shortstuff13 at 9:58 AM on May 15, 2012