Guidelines : Thank You for the Interview

Thank You for the Interview

Guidelines and Alternate Phrases

• Express your appreciation for the interview and reconfirm your interest in working for the company.
• I so much appreciate the opportunity you gave me yesterday to meet with you and your staff in such an informal setting.
• Thank you for taking the time to talk with me one-on-one about the sales and marketing position.
• After talking with you yesterday, I’m even more excited about the possibility of working with you as an auditor.
• Thanks so much for your time in reviewing your needs and the job responsibilities as a media consultant.
• I was so pleased with the opportunity yesterday to discuss with you the management responsibilities and opportunities available in your Detroit branch.
• Our discussions yesterday were so enlightening. I had no idea you were currently investigating so many new product ideas–that makes me even more eager to work with you at Harbro.
• Summarize the key contributions you think you can bring to the company, basing your remarks on the job requirements mentioned in the interview and on problems you think you can solve in the position.
• After hearing of your predicament with the scattered management team, I’ve given more thought to another possible approach. Perhaps you could…I think my experience with…would have a direct bearing on that outcome.
• My six years’ experience in computer technical support areas certainly has prepared me to address the two continuing problems you mentioned….
• Your mention of the company’s plans to increase PR activities in the local community sound particularly interesting to me because of my long-time media contacts. I would be most eager to explore placement of articles with these key people, who could certainly position Forrester in the limelight.
• Close with your eagerness for their positive decision.
• I have every confidence I can contribute to your growth.
• Let me know if we should talk further. I think the possibilities for our association are almost endless.
• I’ll look forward to hearing your decision about the copywriting job.
• I do want to go to work for you to see what I can do in turning the sales situation around. I’ll be eager to hear what you decide.
• Thank you once again for talking with me about the position. I’ll be expecting to hear from you shortly.
• I am happy to know you will be making the decision soon. I’ll be eager to get a call from you.
• I’ll appreciate your giving me a call when you’ve made a decision about this position.
• Thanks again for outlining the challenges to me–I’m ready to go to work.

Example 1: Interview thank you letter sample

Company Name or Letterhead
Address
City, State Zip

Date

Addressee
Address
City, State Zip

Dear Mr. Barnhart:

Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you personally yesterday about the position of technical editor. Your company sounds as though it has a superior strategy for putting together technical proposals to meet client needs. I do appreciate the time you spent in overviewing the entire process from engineer surveys to final copy.

My experience in working with more than 50 engineers in the past two years has given me broad experience in combining technical accuracy and principles of good writing. Since our discussion about the current lack of people skills in the editing process, I’m even more eager to bring a sense of cooperation to the job and a willingness to work with your engineers on subsequent drafts until we have a winning proposal in hand.

I’m looking forward to your decision about having me go to work with you to increase your winning proposal ratio.

Sincerely,

Example 2: Thank You for the Interview

Your Name
Address
City, State Zip

Date

Addressee
Address
City, State Zip

Dear Mrs. Trindle:

Thank you for taking the time to speak with me about the opportunities and responsibilities of your service manager position. The dealership’s service center is certainly an impressive operation with up-to-date equipment and a well-trained staff to repair today’s computer-driven vehicles.

I feel I would be particularly well-suited to assist in your effort to improve your public image. In my position as service manager of Sonny’s Transmission Repair, we have earned the Best of Cleveland—Best Car Repair Shop Award from the Cleveland Sentinel for the last four years. I have instituted a six-point customer communication policy that strengthens customer confidence. Since I have managed the shop, repeat business is up 30 percent. I am confident I could do the same for your dealership.

I look forward to hearing from you. I think our association would be a mutually beneficial one.

Sincerely,

Example 3: After interview thank you letter

Your Name
Address
City, State Zip

Date

Addressee
Address
City, State Zip

Dear Mr. O’Brien:

It was a pleasure to speak with you on Monday regarding the Kids’ Spot assistant producer position. Kids’ Spot sounds like a show that will educate and entertain children for many years to come. I appreciate you taking the time to explain the assistant producer position to me in detail. I feel as though I have a very good idea of what my typical day would be like if I came to your show.

I certainly understand your worries that children’s programming is saturated. In my production work on Simon’s Sandbox, a children’s television show created by the University of Ohio, I gained experience on how to carve out a niche within the industry. When the show’s ratings dropped in 1996, I led a project to retool the program as a nature program. Subsequent ratings were consistently in the top three in northern Ohio children’s programming.

Kids’ Spot’s concentration on safety issues is a much-needed approach. The challenge is to maintain an entertaining tone rather than a lecturing tone. I have several ideas for characters and sketches that would help achieve that goal.

I am eager to hear from you. I think I could make real contributions to Kids’ Spot.

Sincerely,

Example 4: Follow up letter after interview

Your Name
Address
City, State Zip

Date

Addressee
Address
City, State Zip

Dear Ms. Mesner:

I appreciate the time you took out of your busy Monday to explain World Watch’s current projects and the role of the researcher in your business. I already knew that World Watch was one of the most well-respected environmental research firms in the country, but I was surprised at the number of major federal projects you currently handle.

During my graduate studies in the environmental studies department at El Paso College I worked as a research assistant under Dr. Lyle Cardoman, the chair of the Federal Committee on Habitat Conservation. Dr. Cardoman’s committee established the environmental impact guidelines, so I am very familiar with the ins and outs of federal environmental impact studies.

I have every confidence that I would be an asset to your research staff. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Example 5: Thank you letter after job interview

Your Name
Address
City, State Zip

Date

Addressee
Address
City, State Zip

Dear Mr. Nelson:

Thank you for meeting with me yesterday to discuss Fowler State’s library system and your assistant librarian opening. Since I was an undergraduate at Fowler State I have been impressed with the extensive library holdings and your commitment to keeping materials accessible to students.

Your struggle to maintain the collections and periodicals subscriptions in the face of budget cuts is one of the major challenges libraries face. I addressed this issue in my master’s thesis, studying the methods four university libraries’ used to cope with decreasing funding.

I have several ideas for Fowler’s library system which proved effective with other universities. For instance, periodicals-tracking software that calculates the circulation rates of specific titles and their annual costs can help you decide which are the most important subscriptions to maintain. Several universities have also had some success obtaining grants to replace previous institutional support. Considering Fowler’s reputation this approach seems quite promising.

I want to see what I can do to improve the library’s funding situation. I am eager to hear what you decide.

Sincerely,

Guidelines : Introducing Yourself

Résumé Transmittals: Introducing Yourself

Guidelines and Alternate Phrases

• Be specific about what job you want, referring to how the position came to your attention.
• I am very much interested in the Boston plant manager’s job advertised July 6 in The Wall Street Journal.
• I’m enclosing my résumé in response to your July 6 advertisment for a newsletter editor. With 15 years’ experience in preparing brochures, journal articles, and proposals, I think I can contribute just the skills you need.
• In a conversation last week with Dr. Sylvia Brown, I learned about an opening in your research and development department. Upon her recommendation, I’m enclosing my résumé.
• Please consider me for the sales position at your Boston office. An acquaintance of mine mentioned a position would be opening there at the end of the month.
• I recently learned of an opening for an administrative secretary in your accounting area. Would you please consider me for that position?
• I saw your ad for a receptionist in yesterday’s Star Telegram and have enclosed my résumé for that position.
• Joe Burke in your Chicago office suggested I contact you about the program analyst position that will be vacant at the end of this month.
• Your organization keeps coming to mind as an excellent place to work. Would you please consider me (résumé enclosed) for a position in your accounting area?
• If you want to increase your visibility in the oil and gas industry, I think my skills as a trade association manager can contribute to that goal.
• Have you given thought to having your basic wordprocessing needs handled by a freelancer who pays his own salary and benefits? If that idea sounds appealing, I would welcome the opportunity to talk to you about such a freelance arrangement, whereby I would pick up and deliver daily your reports, correspondence, and proposals.
• Summarize your education, key work experience, and skills or traits that specifically apply to the job.
• I’ve had 12 years’ experience in….
• As an engineer at Exxon, I had full responsibility for designing….
• I enjoy this kind of work and am…(analytical, conscientious, agreeable, detail-oriented, organized, alert, dependable, energetic, dedicated to a cause, competent, artistic, creative, good with figures, pleasant, tactful, ambitious, reliable, communicative, quick, adaptable, action-oriented).
• Emphasize benefits of your experience to the employer rather benefits you expect to gain.
• Such a job calls for persistence and self-discipline–both of which are just part of my makeup.
• That first impression on the phone with a client is crucial to the sale; I have always taken such calls very seriously.
• Long hours, travel at a moment’s notice, and attention to detail present no problem whatsoever to me.
• I would be eager to see that you had the monthly financial information on a timely basis and in a form you could easily interpret and immediately use–whether in written report form, in graphs, or in oral presentations to management.
• The strategic plans you mentioned on the phone sound extremely exciting and challenging to me. The work you want done in the international setting, of course, directly relates to my experience at Huffco.
• With 14 years’ experience in corporate law, I think I could contribute significantly to your company’s positioning itself as legal advocate for the causes we discussed yesterday.
• My excellent sales record, my selection as this year’s Storman Award recipient, and my position on the board of directors for the AEEC, I think, evidence my commitment to customer service.
• It’s not unrealistic to expect that I could increase your media exposure by placing two or three articles per month in various industry journals.
• My academic credentials, I feel, would be an impressive part of a BVI proposal to prospective clients.
• My willingness to travel, my flexibility on job assignments, and my communication skills with clients could pay off tremendously in a widespread operation such as BVI’s.
• My four-year work history with no direct supervision served as a training ground for the position you now have open.
• My time-management skills and my organizational skills should be directly useful in coordinating the consultants’ schedules among so many job sites.
• Avoid mentioning salary unless the ad or interviewer insists that you do so.
• I’d be happy to discuss salary during our interview.
• As to salary, I’ll have my past salary history with me at the interview.
• My salary requirements are negotiable, and we can discuss those as we review the exact nature of the job.
• My salary requirements are flexible, depending on the chance for advancement in the company and the cost of living at the work location.
• If there’s a good connection between the job and me, I feel sure we can also get together on salary.
• Suggest an interview.
• May I talk with you further?
• I will welcome the opportunity to respond to more specific questions you may have in a personal interview.
• No letter, of course, can adequately convey all the details of my experience, but if the above qualifications are in line with the job you’re trying to fill, I’d appreciate a personal interview. My number is 457-2345.
• May I have an interview?
• I’ll take the liberty of calling you when I’m in Dallas next week to see if we can arrange an interview at your convenience.
• If this experience is on-target for the kind of trainer you need, let’s talk further.
• I’ll phone next week to see if we can talk further about your BVI plans for the coming year.
• I’ll call in a couple of days to see when we might get together to discuss the job and my qualifications in more detail.
• I would be happy to fly to Houston for an interview at your convenience. I really want to work for an organization with the reputation yours has in the industry.
• Would you please phone me at 344-6789 so we can talk further about the job possibilities?
• I’d very much like to join your organization. I’ll hope for a positive response for an interview when I phone you Thursday.
• May I visit with your selection committee personally to discuss how we can work together?
• I’ll be in Philadelphia for the entire month of May and will phone to see when you have a few moments to talk about your plans for this position.
• Please consider this résumé carefully in light of your current needs and let me know if you see a match with my experience.
• I’ll look forward to scheduling an interview with you.
• Make sure your name, address, and phone number are included either in the body of the letter or on the stationery heading.

Example 1: Sample letters for resume transmittal

Company Name or Letterhead
Address
City, State Zip

Date

Addressee
Address
City, State Zip

Dear Mr. Wainwright:

If you anticipate a need in the near future to increase your marketing, public relations, and advertising activities and results, please take a look at the enclosed résumé.

My most recent position as director of corporate communications for Bolton, Johnson, and Frezzer ended on November 1, when the company reduced their workforce by 30 percent. My work there included developing promotional materials, providing marketing support to sales reps in the field, and drafting speeches for our senior executives. Additionally, I served the company’s media spokesperson. My experience at previous companies included writing responses on governmental affairs issues and copywriting at ad agencies.

If you think you can put my communication experience to work at Universal ParkCities, then I would most definitely welcome a call. Effective communication and media contact can be a direct channel to your profitability as a service company.

Sincerely,

Example 2: Sample resume cover letter

Company Name or Letterhead
Address
City, State Zip

Date

Addressee
Address
City, State Zip

Dear Mr. Maxwell:

We met about five years ago at a Chamber of Commerce awards banquet. Because we had such a lively conversation about the changing world marketplace, I have kept up with your company through the media. I have especially admired Arcon International’s remarkable progress in the last two years since you’ve become chief executive.

I am writing to you because your company’s plans for future growth may create the need for someone of my training and expertise to organize and manage your international business. If so, you may be interested in the enclosed résumé, detailing my experience during the last 15 years:

• I have conceptualized and developed energy and energy-related projects on four continents, comprising total assets of $300 million.
• I have acquired four manufacturing companies in Japan and combined them into one operation, losing no key executives in the reorganization. Sales from this new organization increased from $5.7 million to $12 million and net profits tripled, from $500,000 to $1,500,000.
• I reorganized a Venezuelan company, recruiting and installing professional management. In 15 months, I reduced the work force by 42 percent and increased sales from $4 million to $5 million. Return on investment jumped from 12 to 29 percent.

My affiliations during these experiences have been with Conoco, Exxon, and Shell Oil. During my work with them I rose from plant supervisor to regional marketing manager, to general manager, to vice president. Presently, I am a vice president with T.H. Davis Company responsible for worldwide business development.

I have degrees in engineering and marketing from MIT, and I speak four languages fluently.

Your company’s growth has been very impressive, as you well know. I’d very much like to explore areas of possible mutual interest and to discuss further details of my experience in a personal meeting. If you think I could contribute to your organization, please telephone me at home after office hours at 713-333-4444.

Sincerely,

Example 3: Cover letter for job

Company Name or Letterhead
Address
City, State Zip

Date

Addressee
Address
City, State Zip

Dear Ms. Jason:

I was pleased to learn during our telephone conversation today of a possible opening in your organization. The plans sound challenging for the upcoming year; I definitely would like to be considered as an instructor and curriculum developer.

As my enclosed résumé indicates, the teaching of writing has often been a major focus of my training objectives for past employers (Whitley Inc. and IBM). I believe I have developed original content and an instructional approach that have produced excellent, measurable results in short, fast-paced courses. Your plans to design courses in additional subject areas particularly excite me. Further, I am just as interested in implementing the overall instruction plan as I am in research and course development.

For your review, I have enclosed a project proposal and a brief course outline I think will help you characterize my approach and organizational methods.

May we talk again about how I can help you with your 19– plans?

Sincerely,

Example 4: A letter introducing yourself

Company Name or Letterhead
Address
City, State Zip

Date

Addressee
Address
City, State Zip

Dear Mr. Whitney:

I have recently moved to the Boston area and am interested in work as a technical writer.

In addition to 10 years’ experience in writing computer documentation, I have a broad scientific background (BS and MS degrees) and believe I could contribute effectively on a variety of subjects.

May I come by your office to discuss my qualifications and your specific needs for a technical writer? Please suggest any time that would be most convenient for you.

Sincerely,

Example 5: Resume cover letter templates

Company Name or Letterhead
Address
City, State Zip

Date

Addressee
Address
City, State Zip

Dear Mr. Graham:

I am writing with the thought you may from time to time need a larger resource base to complete a client project. I am available for such co-consulting work and sales efforts. My experience has been broad, including a position at the highest operational level in the U.S. Navy. There I designed and coordinated all safety and health programs, focusing heavily on drug and alcohol abuse programs.

My specific qualifications and areas of expertise include:

• Extensive knowledge of governmental compliance standards in the areas of environmental safety
• Training design for safety and health education
• Non-therapeutic counseling
• Management of physical and psychological conflict
• Interracial and intercultural communication

I have attached my résumé. If these qualifications are of interest to you, I welcome an opportunity to meet you personally.

Sincerely,

Example 6: Transmittal letter

Company Name or Letterhead
Address
City, State Zip

Date

Addressee
Address
City, State Zip

Dear Ralph:

It was good to talk with you on the phone and very kind of you to offer to act as “point of contact” for me. Enclosed is a copy of my résumé, which I’m also sending to the San Francisco manufacturing company looking for a consultant.

For your further information, I would be interested in any assignment your organization might have in the negotiation of mergers and acquisitions. To date, I’ve helped more than 30 companies through those murky waters and have the tenacity such reorganizations require.

Sincerely,

Guidelines : Introducing Another Person

Résumé Transmittals: Introducing Another Person

Guidelines and Alternate Phrases

• Mention the enclosed résumé, giving the prospective employee’s name and interest in a position.
• Leave the reader a graceful way to ignore the request if there is no interest in the individual.
• If you think the benefit might be mutual, you might want to give Joan a call.
• If you have any interest here, I suggest you follow up.
• If you can pass the information on to the proper person, I think Joan would like to talk with you further.
• What do you think? Might he be what you need for your new marketing strategy?
• Express appreciation for any assistance the reader may be able to give, if you are making the request as a personal favor.
• Thanks for the favor.
• Thanks for any help you may be in a position to provide.
• I’ll appreciate whatever you can do to see John gets to talk to someone there.
• Thank you for passing this information on to the manager of that department. I hope things work out for both John and your organization.
• I have no personal interest in your hiring this consultant, but I did think he sounded like a “good fit” for your needs.

Example 1: Introduction letter for another person

Company Name or Letterhead
Address
City, State Zip

Date

Addressee
Address
City, State Zip

Dear Reza:

Henry Sloane is a recent graduate of the University of Texas and is anxious to join a progressive organization where he can have an excellent future in sales. Naturally, I thought of Toasten Foods.

So, would you please forward the enclosed résumé to the appropriate person in your organization? I think he’ll be the kind of high-caliber employee any manager would grab. I’ll appreciate whatever you can do to get him an interview with the appropriate person.

Sincerely,

Example 2: Introductory letter for another person

Company Name or Letterhead
Address
City, State Zip

Date

Addressee
Address
City, State Zip

Dear Rita:

At our last meeting you mentioned you had lost your CFO to a competitor. A friend of mine–whose judgment I trust–has sent me the attached résumé of Mike Burns, with a strong recommendation on his competence and effectiveness. Until recently, Burns was vice president of finance at Perryton; he is currently comptroller of its parent company, RWW.

I am told he might be interested in relocating. Perhaps one of your people or your search firm might want to talk with him.

I was pleased you were able to attend the retirement luncheon–I wish we could have visited longer. My best personal regards.

Cordially,

Example 3: Cover letter for introduce another person

Company Name or Letterhead
Address
City, State Zip

Date

Addressee
Address
City, State Zip

Dear Mr. Kennton:

I have just reviewed the kind of résumé I hate to put aside without taking some action: Mark Abbott has eight years’ experience in direct-mail marketing and quite a list of sales feats to his credit. However, we have recently decided to stop all our direct-mail efforts, and have no place to use his expertise. The thought struck me that you perhaps could use such a person.

Rest assured I do not expect you to contact him; I just didn’t want to pass his résumé without calling someone’s attention to his potential.

Mr. Abbott’s résumé is enclosed, should you have any interest in contacting him.

My best regards,