Sales Recruiting Blog

Thank You Letters

After each interview it is important to follow up with each person that you interviewed with.  That means that you need to ask for a card during the interview so you have their e-mail to contact them later.  Occasionally, a hiring manager will tell you that they don’t have any cards or ask you to follow-up with them via your recruiter or hr.  Unless they specifically tell you to not contact them I would do some research and get their e-mail address.  You can ask your recruiter or perhaps you already have the e-mail address of someone in hr.  Find out the format that is used in their company for e-mail address firstname_lastname@companyname.com for example and send off an e-mail. 

In an e-mail thank you it is imporant to keep your message short and to the point.  I recommend a simple format for interview thank yous.  Thank the interviewer for their time.  Personalize it if you connected on a point and then express why you think you are a good fit and why you want the position.  Give three solid reasons for each point.  Let them know when you will follow-up with them and you are done.  Before hitting send make damn sure that there aren’t any spelling or grammatical errors.  If grammar or spelling aren’t your strong suit enlist the help of a friend that is strong in that area.  Send the e-mail before the day is over.  This is the one time you can show a hiring manager your follow-through skills.

With medical or pharmaceutical in-person interviews I would bring a professional looking thank you card.  99% of the time these interviews are conducted at a hotel.  After the interview pull out your card and write it out following the e-mail format above and leave it at the front desk for the interviewer.  As they leave for the day they will be presented with your card just at the moment that they are mulling over all of the sales candidates that they just interviewed.  I would also recommend an e-mail thank you that night in the off chance that they didn’t get your card.

It certainly doesn’t hurt to send out a hand-written thank you note with non-medical or pharmaceutical sales jobs in addition to the e-mail thank you.  Make sure that you send it out that night and only do this if your penmanship is acceptable.  Good luck!