Old Fashioned Thank You Notes in a Digital Age

It is obvious that one should write a thank you note following an job interview. In the digital, fast-paced age we live in, what is not so obvious is how to deliver said thank you note.

Case and point: I went on a job interview last week and dutifully wrote and mailed thank you notes to each of my interviewers within a few hours of the interview's completion. Note that I said, "mailed," not e-mailed, but actually drove to the post office and dropped handwritten notes into the big blue mail box outside. I was confident that my interviewers would get the thank you notes before making their final decisions as they had said I would hear back about the position early next week. However, decisions were made sooner than expected and I received notification that they offered someone else the job within an hour of going to the post office.

But what about my thank you notes?!?! I realize the notes themselves probably are not the deciding factor in whether I get a job or not, but the notes were now a bit irrelevant (I mentioned in the thank you notes that I looked forward to their decision and reiterated my interest and suitability for the position). So I quickly e-mailed my interviewers to thank them, adding that I had put handwritten notes in the mail just hours before and amending my "I look forward to your decision" to "I will stay in touch and hope to be considered for future positions." Since my e-mail was sent late on Friday, I haven't heard back yet, but I hope that my "amendment" is appreciated and not viewed as an "oops."

However, I can't help but wonder, 'what if I had just e-mailed thank yous to my interviewers?' It certainly would have avoided the need to amend my handwritten statements, but e-mail seems so impersonal to me. There's something about getting a handwritten note that seems so much more real and thoughtful.

Perhaps the solution is to still write handwritten thank yous, but perhaps within an hour of the interview send a quick e-mail thank you, too. Is this overkill? No, not if you make each version of your thank you a bit unique - for example, the e-mail could be a few short lines reiterating your interest and thanking the interviewer for their time; the handwritten note can include more specific information ("I especially appreciate you taking time to explain X and share more about Z").

Maybe the future is sending e-cards to interviewers and recruiters? Given that a lot of that kind of e-mail ends up in junk boxes or marked as spam, I don't know if that will ever take off. I also have yet to come across a real classy e-card. If you have, please share.

My personal criteria for sending thank you notes is more or less this: send electronically while still in the interviewing process, but always send a final handwritten thank you once the process is over. I've sent e-mail thank you notes while I was still interviewing (i.e. I made it through a first round and was moving on to the second), and later sent handwritten notes once the process was complete and decisions were being made. I've even sent a thank you to an interviewer via LinkedIn because I didn't have his e-mail address, only the generic company address I sent my resume to. But once I had been in the office for an interview, I sent a handwritten note. Moving forward, I will definitely include a third thank you via e-mail a short time after the interview - something concise, just to show the interview I appreciated their time and to avoid having to make amendments to handwritten notes.

How do you thank your interviewers? Are e-mail thank you notes the way of the future? Do any recruiters or interviewers out there care one way or another if you get handwritten or e-mailed thank you notes? Have you ever thanked an interviewer on LinkedIn or Twitter?