Thank you email after interview?

[Anonymous]

I have an old fashioned boss (early to mid 50s) who expects a thank you email after an interview

Does he send a similar letter to candidates after interviewing them?

[Anonymous]

People who contend employers shouldn't be thanked for an interview because employers don't thank applicants just don't grasp the power structure of work. That's why it's called a job, not camp Kumbaya.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I have an old fashioned boss (early to mid 50s) who expects a thank you email after an interview

Does he send a similar letter to candidates after interviewing them?

Employers typically have hundreds of applicants per job. Can applicants typically say the same about interview opportunities?

If not, a thank you might be more beneficial to the applicant than the interviewer, unfair as that may seem to you.

[Anonymous]

Employers typically have hundreds of applicants per job. Can applicants typically say the same about interview opportunities?

Employers also have people who are paid to respond to applicants. Every job applicant deserves either an offer or a rejection letter, and I will die on this hill. When I have been in the position of hiring others, I have always stuck to this.

I did not send thank-you notes to interviewees specifically, but I did not expect them to do so, either. Presumably, one who believes that applicants should send them should also believe that prospective employers should do it as well.

People who contend employers shouldn't be thanked for an interview because employers don't thank applicants just don't grasp the power structure of work. That's why it's called a job, not camp Kumbaya.

I don't think that you understand that work is an exchange. I provide my labor in exchange for money. It is an equal relationship and not a one-sided one. Either party can end the relationship at any point, assuming at-will employment. Work is not a one-sided exchange, and neither are job interviews.

[Anonymous]

I do HR for a nonprofit and it absolutely matters. If all else is equal (and that sometimes does happen), the candidate that sent a brief, thoughtful thank you email wins every time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Employers typically have hundreds of applicants per job. Can applicants typically say the same about interview opportunities?

Employers also have people who are paid to respond to applicants. Every job applicant deserves either an offer or a rejection letter, and I will die on this hill. When I have been in the position of hiring others, I have always stuck to this.

I did not send thank-you notes to interviewees specifically, but I did not expect them to do so, either. Presumably, one who believes that applicants should send them should also believe that prospective employers should do it as well.

People who contend employers shouldn't be thanked for an interview because employers don't thank applicants just don't grasp the power structure of work. That's why it's called a job, not camp Kumbaya.

I don't think that you understand that work is an exchange. I provide my labor in exchange for money. It is an equal relationship and not a one-sided one. Either party can end the relationship at any point, assuming at-will employment. Work is not a one-sided exchange, and neither are job interviews.

Of course it's an exchange. But the reality is that it is not an equal exchange. And like it or not, the applicant needs the employer far more than most employers need the vast majority of their employees. Because they can be replaced at the drop of a hat.