Replies to thank you emails

[Anonymous]

In your experience, do you ever get replies to thank you emails sent after a job interview? I think in my life I've gotten one reply "great meeting you too" or the like. Just curious. Sent one Friday and of course am freaking that I am not hearing back...

[Anonymous]

I always send something short back - nice to meet you, hope your trip back to X went well, etc.

[Anonymous]

I sent one out to five interviewers I met at a single interview. Two responded, and I got to the next round of interviews; I wouldn't read too much into it.

[Anonymous]

Hiring manager here.

I try to reply to thank you emails, even a quick line or two, but it isn't always possible with my workload on a particular day. It's not specific policy to respond, I just do because I know what it's like to be anxiously awaiting word on a job.

So, try not to read too much into it, OP. Most of the time, people just get too busy, or are out of the office, or just have too many emails to respond to and it doesn't reflect on your standing with regards to the next round of interviews.

[Anonymous]

I've always gotten an email back. I've gotten great responses to hand written thank you's. I typically write them in the car and drop them at the post office nearest the office so they get it the next day or two. They usually mention it when I get called back or when I come in.

[Anonymous]

I had a phone interview, sent a thank you email and haven't heard anything back. My skills are in high demand on the job market, so his lack of response impacted my willingness to work for him as a boss. When their HR person called me back to invite for an office interview, I politely declined the invitation. If you, hiring managers, are interested in a candidate, you better reply to his/her emails.

[Anonymous]

I interview a lot, but I don't usually respond to these because hiring is out of my hands after I submit my initial responses, and so I don't want to do anything contradictory. It means nothing about the candidate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I interview a lot, but I don't usually respond to these because hiring is out of my hands after I submit my initial responses, and so I don't want to do anything contradictory. It means nothing about the candidate.

I also conduct interviews for a large consulting firm. I also do not respond to the emails because I do not know if HR will be making an offer or when it will go out. I don't want to say anything that could be legally construed as a promise of an offer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a phone interview, sent a thank you email and haven't heard anything back. My skills are in high demand on the job market, so his lack of response impacted my willingness to work for him as a boss. When their HR person called me back to invite for an office interview, I politely declined the invitation. If you, hiring managers, are interested in a candidate, you better reply to his/her emails.

If you were otherwise interested in the job, this is ridiculous. Why would you expect all hiring managers to send a thank you to a thank you? I work in the nonprofit sector where projects do a lot of their own hiring because we have tiny HR departments. If I spent all my time replying to thank you emails from potential candidates, I'd be wasting a lot of time in which I'm actually supposed to be doing something else (I am not HR and hiring is not part of my job description). Reviewing applications and conducting interviews is already hugely time consuming. It doesn't mean that I don't care about responding to job applicants, and I follow up with them once I have news to share regarding a next step or a rejection. But why do I need to write back to a note that says "thanks for the interview" if I have nothing to say?

Applying for jobs is hard, but too few applicants these days seem aware that the world does not revolve around their job search (I am in the middle of two applicant searches right now and it has been a pain--especially for the more junior position). I think it behooves both job seekers and hiring managers to occasionally put themselves in the others' shoes.

[Anonymous]

I just went through 4 rounds of interviews with a total of about 12 people and wrote each one a email thank you. I never received any replies to my thank you notes but I was offered (and took) the job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

If you were otherwise interested in the job, this is ridiculous. Why would you expect all hiring managers to send a thank you to a thank you? I work in the nonprofit sector where projects do a lot of their own hiring because we have tiny HR departments. If I spent all my time replying to thank you emails from potential candidates, I'd be wasting a lot of time in which I'm actually supposed to be doing something else (I am not HR and hiring is not part of my job description).

I probably wasn't interested enough and am also used to receiving replies to my emails. I interviewed with the Big4 consulting firms, and though their consultants work very long hours, 90% of them did reply to my thank you emails. I myself always reply to such emails. It should be quite easy to write a template of the response and copy-paste it into the emails to the candidates, just updating the names. The template can even be shown to and approved by HR - for those who are concerned about saying something the company wouldn't approve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I had a phone interview, sent a thank you email and haven't heard anything back. My skills are in high demand on the job market, so his lack of response impacted my willingness to work for him as a boss. When their HR person called me back to invite for an office interview, I politely declined the invitation. If you, hiring managers, are interested in a candidate, you better reply to his/her emails.


If you were otherwise interested in the job, this is ridiculous. Why would you expect all hiring managers to send a thank you to a thank you? I work in the nonprofit sector where projects do a lot of their own hiring because we have tiny HR departments. If I spent all my time replying to thank you emails from potential candidates, I'd be wasting a lot of time in which I'm actually supposed to be doing something else (I am not HR and hiring is not part of my job description). Reviewing applications and conducting interviews is already hugely time consuming. It doesn't mean that I don't care about responding to job applicants, and I follow up with them once I have news to share regarding a next step or a rejection. But why do I need to write back to a note that says "thanks for the interview" if I have nothing to say?

Applying for jobs is hard, but too few applicants these days seem aware that the world does not revolve around their job search (I am in the middle of two applicant searches right now and it has been a pain--especially for the more junior position). I think it behooves both job seekers and hiring managers to occasionally put themselves in the others' shoes.

+1.

There are hundreds of applicants out there. If you judge a job or a person based on a thank you for your thank you email, you have pretty lousy judgment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've always gotten an email back. I've gotten great responses to hand written thank you's. I typically write them in the car and drop them at the post office nearest the office so they get it the next day or two. They usually mention it when I get called back or when I come in.

Not at all my experience. If I email a thank you note, I get a one sentence reply 25% of the time. No one in my life has espoused or commented on a handwritten thank you note (presumably because it involves more effort than hitting "reply.")

[Anonymous]

I've not once responded to a thank you email. No particular reason. It is, however, a check the box item for me. If I don't get one, I think it's bad form.

[Anonymous]

I don't think I even notice who sends me thank you notes unless there is something weird in the text of the note. (I agree you should send them, I just don't come close to tracking them).