Don't Ghost: How to Say Thank You

You’ve charmed the interviewer with your diversified repertoire of experience and sophisticated maturity. After a hopeful parting, the dooming waiting period begins.

Waiting for an employer to email you a congratulatory offering is more nerve racking than waiting for last night’s date to follow-up. As time passes and interviews progress out of your control, anxiety builds. How do you stay at the top of the interviewer’s mind?

Say “thank you”.

Thanking an interviewer for taking the time out of their busy schedule to meet with you is essential, email, and perhaps snail mail. While most may feel compelled to do one or the other, my advice to you is to at least send a thank-you email.

It floors me how many candidates absolutely NAIL their interview, and then don’t send the thank you note.

:::crickets:::

Um, what? Internship ghosting, much?!

Three or four hours after your interview, email the interviewer a concise note thanking them for their time and what you learned from the meeting. Leave it at two to three sentences max.

You can also write a handwritten thank you note that will be send via snail mail. In this note, reflect on what was discussed in the interview and elaborate on how selecting you would benefit both parties. However, given that it may take a few days to arrive, and may have trouble reaching the right person, it may be best to just send the thank-you email to your interviewer.

The purpose of the post-interview thank you note is to keep you at the top of the company’s mind. An initial thank you shows initiative, and a following thank you serves as a reminder.

So, as Spring semester internship interviews pursue, remember a little “thank you” can get you far.

Note: Don’t stalk down your interviewer with a shower of thanks. Stop at either an email, or a even a LinkedIn message.