Submitted by jclishe on
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I was in a group interview yesterday - sort of. The company I was interviewing with has method of interviewing that they are well known for in the industry. Essentially, all of the candidates that have made the short list are invited in on the same day and placed in different conference rooms (isolated from each other). Then an interviewing team of about 5 people take turns interviewing each candidate. So you ended being there for 5 or 6 hours. It's a long, tough day, and that's the point.
You never meet with more than one interviewer at a time so it isn't necessarily a group interview per se, but you have interviewed with a "group" of people when it's all said and done.
Anyway, I am crafting my thank you note to the hiring manager and of course requesting that he pass my thanks along to the rest of the interviewing team.
(quick side note...the hiring manager said he will be making his decision by Monday or Tuesday, so I don't have time to mail a thank you card and am therefore sending him an email, and I don't have email addresses for any of the other interviewers. Therefore I am requesting the hiring manager to pass my thanks along to everyone else)
The receptionist ordered box lunches for the candidates, and throughout the course of the day as I had gaps in my interviewing schedule I stepped into the lobby and made small talk with the receptionist.
So, in my thank you note to the hiring manager, should I also ask that he pass my thanks along to the receptionist for coordinating lunches? (I know her name so I would of course name her specifically). Or is that too over the top? The position I'm interviewing for is sales oriented so I'm thinking that demonstrating that level of attention to detail could be valuable.
What are your thoughts?
Question about post-interview thank you letter
I would send thank-you notes to everyone who interviewed you (the chronologically disconnected "panel") as well as the receptionist. You said you don't have much time, as the hiring manager will be deciding early this coming week. But you have the receptionist's name, and I think that could be your gate.
It's too late for a hand-written thank you note (which would have been preferred), but you can still send an e-mail or, better yet, call them. Can you call the company switchboard and find out the receptionist's phone number? Can you contact the receptionist and learn the names and phone numbers of the "panel"? Then you can thank all of them.
For more information on how to follow up with an interview, I cannot possibly overemphasize the [url=http://www.manager-tools.com/category/interviewing-series/]Interviewing Series[/url] that M&M offer. It's a steal at 10x the price.
BJ
Thank You Follow Up
If you have the hiring managers name and email address, just copy his email address format, [email protected] for the others. Otherwise, call the receptionist and ask for all the panels email addresses.
Or look them up in LinkedIN ;-) for an email address. There are many solutions to finding a persons email address these days.
Question about post-interview thank you letter
Jason
Thank everyone you can however you can. Remember, the thank you note should only be 3-4 lines and somewhat personalized. I am sure that making a special note about how the receptionist handled things will go a long way.
*RNTT