In some instances, finalists do not emerge from the first pass. If you are close to squeaking in, a follow-up note (not a desperate one though) might help if there's a round 1B.

I don’t think it’s wrong to in the thank you email, highlight some other bullet points that you may not have covered in your call with HR. They may be swamped and at the fortune 500 that I work for, the HR teams are just busy or disconnected from the actual work, and don’t always agree with what the hiring manager wants. So, bottom line, it may not be up to the HR rep.

I would just say don’t beat yourself up too much OP. It’s extremely competitive environment out there. I also wouldn’t count yourself out before the punch.

Send a thank you note, and put it out of your mind and keep applying to other stuff

Desperate. You’re not moving forward if your gut tells you so. A letter won’t help. Reflect on what you could have done better to position yourself knowing that sometimes in a competitive environment there is already a lead horse in the race and short of being awarded winning in your field there is little you could do.

Probably not much you can do after the fact for this particular opportunity.

For the next one, make sure you are extraordinarily prepared - for an HR screen, focus on what the job posting says is required and have tangible examples of when you've done those specific things. If it's a bulleted list, have an example for each. Use their company's language. Use AI to help brainstorm other questions they might ask as well.

A friend referred me for a VP role with a fortune 500 company. On paper, it seems like a great fit. I check all the boxes. I met with an HR lead virtual meeting (45 minutes, very professional). I dont think I will get the job since the HR person did not seem too impressed. Is it customary to send thank you notes after an HR screen? I wanted to highlight some things on my CV that I should have talked about more, if not for this job but maybe for future ones. Or is that too desperate?

Thank you