4 ms·

Thanking someone for their time is free and takes only a minute. If I don't really want the job I won't be bothered, and if I do I will try everything I can to

Thanking someone for their time is free and takes only a minute. If I don't really want the job I won't be bothered, and if I do I will try everything I can to make myself stand out throughout the interview process, including sending a short email. Recruiters are not stupid, they know this. TIL this behavior is: classist, archaic, possibly sexist, possibly racist, and definitely "problematic". Who knew?

acjohnson55 8y ago
It seems like you're flipping it around. I don't see anything wrong with doing this as a candidate. What strikes me as biased is making it a secret handshake, from a hiring perspective, that rules out people who don't think to do it.
- subjectsigma 8y ago
  I disagree. If qualified candidates do something, hiring managers will naturally look for those things in all their candidate, so it's a two way street. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I suspect your problem is actually with the automatic dismissal part - and I agree, there are probably many cases where it would be inappropriate (or at the very least, stupid) to not consider someone for not sending a follow up. We can argue specifics all day, but in general I don't think it's unreasonable for hiring managers to expect that kind of communication.
  - acjohnson55 8y ago
    Yes, the automatic dismissal part is both problematic and foolish. But beyond that, I am a hiring manager, and I really can't tell you which people I've hired have sent me thank you notes. I'm pretty sure it's a small minority. I have yet to hire someone who's a "bad egg" or just doesn't care about their coworkers. Beyond that, expecting people to adhere to a protocol they simply may not know is unfair. As I've said elsewhere, the original author should take the things she thinks a thank you note shows and just screen for them directly, rather than extrapolating from a norm that some people may have and others may not for reasons that have nothing to do with anything. If I thought an applicant knew they should send a thank you note but that they just dropped the ball, that would be a negative sign. But I see no reason to assume that.

acjohnson55 8y ago

It seems like you're flipping it around. I don't see anything wrong with doing this as a candidate. What strikes me as biased is making it a secret handshake, from a hiring perspective, that rules out people who don't think to do it.

subjectsigma 8y ago
I disagree. If qualified candidates do something, hiring managers will naturally look for those things in all their candidate, so it's a two way street. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I suspect your problem is actually with the automatic dismissal part - and I agree, there are probably many cases where it would be inappropriate (or at the very least, stupid) to not consider someone for not sending a follow up. We can argue specifics all day, but in general I don't think it's unreasonable for hiring managers to expect that kind of communication.
- acjohnson55 8y ago
  Yes, the automatic dismissal part is both problematic and foolish. But beyond that, I am a hiring manager, and I really can't tell you which people I've hired have sent me thank you notes. I'm pretty sure it's a small minority. I have yet to hire someone who's a "bad egg" or just doesn't care about their coworkers. Beyond that, expecting people to adhere to a protocol they simply may not know is unfair. As I've said elsewhere, the original author should take the things she thinks a thank you note shows and just screen for them directly, rather than extrapolating from a norm that some people may have and others may not for reasons that have nothing to do with anything. If I thought an applicant knew they should send a thank you note but that they just dropped the ball, that would be a negative sign. But I see no reason to assume that.