Episode 100: How to Compose an Interview Thank You Letter Video Lecture | Business Communication: The Ultimate Guide

well hello Matt here thank you for
watching this video here on composing
thank-you letters and thank you letters
are a type of message that are typically
sent for a number of different reasons
but we're going to focus on sending one
for an interview and so during the job
interview process it's very common to
compose a thank you letter essentially
thanking the employer for their time and
it's also a great opportunity for us to
be able to reiterate some of the
knowledge skills abilities that we have
and how that fits the job or the
position that we're actually applying
for so it's a great way to not only
thank the employer for their time which
is something that you want to do but you
also have the opportunity to once again
reiterate some of your finer points to
try and separate yourself from other
applicants so certainly something that
can set yourself apart because a lot of
people don't send them although they
should and so a thank you message
generally is a type of neutral message
right we can group them into a number of
different categories general categories
if you will we have good news messages
which are generally designed to prove to
convey some type of pleasant information
we have bad news messages which are
designed to convey something unpleasant
and then we have these neutral messages
which generally are of interest to the
reader but they usually don't evoke any
type of emotion so a thank you letter
generally is considered to be a neutral
news message because it's supposed to
provide some information generally is of
interest but it's not going to evoke any
emotion and so the way that we do this
in the way that we actually structure
these messages is we use what we call
deductive sequence or a deductive
sequence and so what we're going to do
now that you have some backstory on the
messaging and the purpose of it is we're
actually going to create a thank-you
letter so it's going to be pretty
general because I'm not modeling this to
a specific employer or a specific
occupation but it's going to be kind of
a template that you can use and
obviously make some changes in different
things incorporate your own information
but it should give you at least the
structure on what to include for sending
this type of message so it kind of the
more difficult stuff and then you can
make it all nice and fancy and all that
kind of fun stuff so we used a deductive
sequence and what that means
is that we start with the main idea
first with a lot of different types of
messages specifically with bad news we
don't start with the bad news upfront
because that typically deters people
from reading the entire thing and a lot
of times we want people to understand
our reasoning for all we may to a maybe
unpopular decision or decision they
don't like and if we put the bad news up
front nobody continues to read
thus ignoring any reasoning whatsoever
with a good news or neutral message we
generally include the main idea up front
you know typically at least here in kind
of a North American audience which is
what this information is going to be
structured for we usually want the
information up front so we don't have to
search and search and search for a main
idea just time-consuming and we want to
get what we need to do and then move on
of course so we're going to use a
deductive sequence and so what I'm going
to do is I'm going to basically create a
thank-you letter that you can follow
along but mainly just focus on the key
areas and then what you can include in
there so the first thing with any letter
we know is we have to include some type
of greeting so I'm going to go ahead and
use dear mrs. Jones and then a colon and
then I'm going to enter down twice to
create some space above here you can put
obviously important information like the
date of the letter and then address
information up here that generally is
included up at the top of course I'm
going to skip that though and move on to
the greeting and now we're going to go
into the body portion now the first
thing you want to do here your main idea
this is a thank-you letter so you're
going to thank them right off the bat
for whatever it is that you're thanking
them for so in this case we are going
through the interview process so we're
really thanking them for their time and
so a way that you can do this is simply
saying thank you for the opportunity to
interview with and we'll just say ABC
company for an example you would
obviously insert the name of the
employer maybe you want to think
specifically the person there you can do
a number of different things there
that's just kind of a basic sentence and
the next thing you want to do is include
something everyone loves a little bit of
flattery and so it's not unwise to be
specific right when we get compliments
on something we generally like them to
be specific not hey great job okay well
great job on what like what did I do
good what did I not do good you know we
like them to be specific and so the same
thing here we're thanking them you know
include some specific things that really
meant something to you as a way of
validating the the comment of course not
very general right that's very easy to
say but make it thoughtful that's going
to be a little more meaningful for the
employer so one of the things you can
say once again just an example you don't
have to use this but you can say you're
kind hospitality and let's say strong
presence in the community I've only
furthered my desire to join your
outstanding organization and we'll go to
new paragraph so we're thanking them for
the opportunity to interview we're being
very specific and what it was that we
liked and then once again it's what
you're doing here is you're trying to
establish what we call a Pio fit
commonly referred to as a person
organization fit as an employer we're
trying to ensure not only are you right
for the job but also are you right for
our organization do we have the same
values that we have the same goals
objectives is there a similarity there
and so you're trying to make that fit
for them apparent in the letter and so
by thanking them for that information by
communicating how important you know the
hospitality and different thing is all
those different things were once again
saying that now more so than ever I
really want to work here because those
things are very very important to me is
what we're communicating here now we're
going to transition to the body of the
message in the body of the message what
you really want to do is you want to
give them specific information about the
interview to kind of jar their memory
there's a possibility that maybe they
interviewed you know a lot of different
people and so you want to give them
something specific that you know they're
going to remember you by and then they
could think oh yeah you know what this
person had these qualities I really like
them
and you know what they were a pretty
good fit you know you want to jar their
memory because if you were the first
person to interview chances are they may
have forgotten certain things about you
and so you want to bring those up re
acquaint them with that and so you did a
number of different ways here to start
maybe we'll say something along the
lines of you know during the interview
we discussed the importance of getting
back to our local communities
you know something specific that was
mentioned in the interview maybe help
join their memory could be a number of
different things just one thing that you
can say and so now that we've identified
this as something that we discussed
bring up you know how you maybe possess
this or this is important to you as well
right we discussed it as important give
them an example on how that's important
to you once again looking for the PIO
fit there as well and so maybe something
you can say is living in this area for
the past eight years I feel a sense of
belonging and attachment to the
community and let's finish this off with
I believe that this in addition to my
other oops qualifications make me a
strong candidate for this position so
what we're doing here is in the first
sentence in this second paragraph
where once again trying to jar their
memory on something that we discuss so
they they AR Rifa Miller or reefa Miller
eyes drab with the actual process itself
and with us is specifically then we're
trying to once again communicate that
this is also important to us
establishing this Pio fit and then
reiterating that this we believe makes
us a strong candidate for the position
along with the other skills that we have
now this is pretty general in your
thank-you letters that you craft
specifically you want to be very
specific you want to tailor it to the
employer whatever
is important to them you want to
highlight and you want to make those
skills very very apparent as a way of
setting yourself apart that's what you
use the body for this is merely a very
general example but you want to be much
more specific than that as a way of
setting yourself apart from other
applicants so that's the body there
generally you can do one to two
paragraphs between the body but you want
the thank you letter to be ideally maybe
a half page a full page is pretty
intimidating anything more than that and
it's doubtful that anyone would actually
read it so clear and concise brevity is
very very important here in this next
paragraph we're going to kind of sum
everything up once again reiterating our
main idea we're also going to because
this is for employment purposes right
kind of Risa mirai's our interest
communicate again our interest for the
position so we're going to start once
again by thank you again for the
opportunity to learn more about ABC
company okay and then reiterating our
interest and once again trying to convey
that pio fit I believe that this
position is a great fit for my skills
and abilities and I look forward to
becoming a productive member of your
organization now what we're trying to do
here is we're trying to get them to see
us in that role and we're trying to
communicate that we certainly see us
being able to work in this position we
feel that we have the knowledge the
skills and the abilities necessary to do
so and we are on the we're on board
we're looking forward to making
immediate contributions you know we're
trying them to get get them to see just
that and the last thing we kind of have
the clothes right it's generally pretty
common to do you know if I can be of
maybe any further assistance whoops
let's make sure and actually tab down
please don't hesitate to contact me I
look forward to hearing whoops not
heaving we're not throwing anything and
let's fix this right here you want to
communicate that you're still interested
of course you know one of the biggest
things is you know not only kind of
leaving the ball in the employers court
and kind of sit on your hands and
waiting for a response but also failing
to take initiative and communicate
interest here and so in this closing you
know we're trying to once again if
there's questions please contact us but
also we look forward to hearing from you
were anxious to await kind of the the
decision which in this case we're
waiting for maybe a job offers what
we're hoping for you can also do it's
not uncommon to say I will follow up
with you on such and such date you know
depending upon your personality that
might be a little too forward some
employers that works for right shows
initiative and they're interested and I
will follow up with you the week of such
and such date and that works for others
it might be you know a little pushy so
you can kind of gauge that on your own
if it's appropriate you feel depending
upon who you're communicating with if
you feel like it would come across as
pushy and maybe be a kind of a turn-off
at the tractor maybe don't use that and
then lastly the close so we're going to
go and go with sincerely and a named
John Smith I'm not very creative
obviously so we're going to use John
Smith for closings you can do a number
of different things greeting it or
sincerely is by far has been used
forever you can also use kind of maybe a
little more common today is like best
regards you can use regards warm regards
kind regards best regards you know one's
not necessarily better than the other I
would stay away with from what regards
and usually for for most messages
because it's kind of stuffy it comes off
as a little standoffish and maybe
impersonal best regards pretty common
for the most part you can just use
sincerely if you want to it's it's not
that big of a deal but you have some
options of
course as well I would get away with you
know just thanks
or no you know closing sentence at all
you want to include something it's a
professional document you haven't got
the job you're still trying to
communicate the interest and the
professionalism aspect so certainly do
that there other thing I would highlight
too is in the greeting make sure that
you include mr. miss or mrs. dr.
whatever title is appropriate no first
names and you're not on a first-name
basis yet someday maybe you will be
which is great but for the time being I
would stick to mr. mrs. communicate a
sense of respect and professionalism and
I think you'll be happy with the end
result so that's kind of the basic
structure looking at that you can tailor
that to the employer and then
specifically the job which is helpful
right I didn't have a specific job so
I'm kind of just throwing things in
there but knowing the job you know what
skills what abilities they want which
ones you have hopefully there's a
compliment there you can highlight those
to make them aware of those things once
again just having the opportunity to
reiterate those things to refresh in
their memory so that they think of you
and think of all the nice great things
about you and how you're right for the
job
so that kind of covers everything
hopefully you found that helpful if you
have questions go ahead and post maybe a
comment below the video and I'll do my
best to get back to you as quickly as I
can
thanks for watching