Thank you letters s/p interview?

[alicelinden]

What's the consensus on thank you letters after an interview? Personally, I think it's nice to write a thank you letter after any interview for a job or whatever. And I like to write a concrete thank you letter instead of a generic one. But sometimes you interview with six to eight people on interview day, and it's quite a pain to write to all of them! Is it okay to write more detailed letters to some, and briefer/generic-er letters to the others who you didn't have as fascinating conversations with?

Or... do interviewers really even read these thank-you notes at all? Is it better to just write to the residency director? (What if the residency director is not the one you had the most interesting conversation with?) Is it okay to write a specific letter, or am I just wasting my time? Do they chuck it in the trash or in your file without looking at it. Is it appropriate to write a thank-you note on the inside of a holiday card?

Thanks for any insight.

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[pags]

I think the surefire way to let a program know you are an interested, decent, and a personable candidate would be to send each interviewer a handwritten thank you card. Your prose does not have to be long, but rather, sincere, to the point, and individualized, if you wish. It doesn't take that long to send and doing them right after the interview when you get home is probably the best time. I'm applying for radiology, so I've been sending EVERYONE thank you cards. Some might feel this is a bit too much, but if I match, it would be the perfect amount of thank yous.

 

[fourthyr]

My plan has been to send a typewritten "thank you" to the program director, who makes the final decision.

I send CC:'s of the typewritten "thank you" letter to my interviewers, so that everyone remains on the same page.

At the bottom of the typewritten "thank you" letter, I handwrite an individualized note (couple of sentences) pertinent to each interviewer.

So, essentially everyone gets a special warm fuzzy feeling, but knows what I "said" to the program director via the typewritten "thank you" statement.

How's that sound?