Guide to Writing The Best Thank You Email After an Interview (with Samples)

It is always a big struggle to decide if we should be writing a thank you email after an interview. You don’t want to sound too desperate or appeal too aggressively, but at the same time you want to appreciate their time and make a good impression. This usually is the common dilemma that jobseekers face when deciding whether or not to send a post-interview thank you email to the recruiter.

In reality, there is no harm in sending a thank you email after an interview to your recruiter. By writing a thank you email after an interview within 24 hours to the interviewers, you will leave a positive and maybe lasting impression. This puts you in front of most competitors because interviewers always take more notice of someone who has a good attitude. After all, who dislikes being appreciated?

However, it is also equally important to craft your post-interview thank you email appropriately. You don’t want to urge or pressure them, but still be genuine and professional. In this article, we will dive into how to write a good thank you email after an interview, and also show you thank you email samples that you can refer to when sending one to your recruiter after different kinds of interviews.

Here are the basic but essential steps to writing a good thank you email after an interview.

✍🏻 Include a clear subject line.

First of all, create a clear subject line for an interview thank you email. This works as your interviewer’s attention catcher when they scroll through their mailbox. It is the first thing that they see before looking into the contents of your email. Therefore, you want your subject line to be as straightforward as it can be. Continue reading to see what a good subject line for an interview thank you letter should be like.

✍🏻 Start with greetings with the interviewer’s name.

Secondly, before getting into the content, greet the interviewer formally by “Dear [Interviewer’s name]” or “Hello [Interviewer’s name]”. This is to let them know that you did not send the email to the wrong person. It also helps show your professionalism and adds a personal touch.

✍🏻 Write a sincere thank you note.

Then, thank the interviewer for the great time spent when interviewing and some details about what you have learned about the company. Show appreciation for them taking the time to interview you.

✍🏻 Underline your strengths again.

Do not forget to mention once more about your strengths by summarizing your experience and qualifications. It is to give a recap of your capabilities, reminding interviewers that you are worth hiring.

✍🏻 Encourage the interviewer to contact you.

Next, include at least one line to encourage the interviewer to contact you for more details if needed. This shows your passion for the job and there is more information that you can provide other than the questions you have answered from the interview.

✍🏻 Sign off with a professional signature with your contact details.

Lastly, provide your contact information and sign your name at the very bottom of the post interview thank you email. Although the interviewers should have your contact information in the file, this can shorten the time for them to find your contact information.

A subject line is a title for your thank you email after an interview. When creating a simple and clear subject line, you should include lesser words. However, there are some keywords that you want to incorporate so that they can be more easily identified.

These keywords below are some that you can include when writing your subject line for a thank you email.

This is the main point of the post interview thank you email. Thanking your interviewer sincerely at the very beginning shows your appreciation of the time they spent.

The interviewer might have interviewed many candidates. Stating your name will help the interviewer to immediately recall the interview that they had with you and identify you better.

Including the job title that you are interviewing for in the subject line is also a way to remind the interviewer that you have an interest in the specific job.

This is a keyword that you should include to make it clear that this email is to thank the interviewer for the interview but not anything else because there might be many emails about various work tasks that the interviewer is receiving.

Remember someone’s name is always considered polite and thoughtful. Therefore, including your interviewer’s name like “Thank you [Interviewer’s Name] for the Interview” can show that you take note of every detail and make your post-interview thank you email more personal.

Sample Thank You Email after Interview

Thank You Email after Job Interview Example

Thank You Email after Phone Interview Sample

Thank You Email after Zoom Interview Sample

Thank You Email after Final Interview Example

After knowing the stops on how to write a post-interview thank you letter and the keywords for a subject line, there are some tips on how to write a thank you email after an interview that you can adopt to ensure your thank you email creates a lasting impression and does not backfire. Here are 8 tips to keep in mind:

💡 Keep the email short.

As mentioned before, the interviewer might have many emails to read. Having a short interview thank you note allows them to finish reading the letter more quickly.

💡 Be professional.

Use formal language when writing the thank you letter after the job interview instead of colloquial language. This shows your professionalism.

💡 Tailor the thank you note.

There are many template choices online for you to use when writing a thank you letter for an interview but you should always make a few corrections or changes to show your effort and make it more personal.

💡 Send a separate email to each of your interviewers.

If you have multiple interviewers conducting one interview that you joined, send the post interview thank you email individually. Do remember to make little changes to the content to not make every thank you letter look the same.

💡 Let the interviewer know who you are.

You should include your name in your email to let the interviewer know which interviewee is sending the thank you letter. Don’t let your email go to waste because the interviewer cannot identify you as the sender of the thank you letter.

💡 Mention what you would have said during the interview but didn’t.

Job interviews are always very stressful. You might have missed out on one or two important pieces of information that you want to share due to the limited time and given pressure. Therefore, you can state some points that you would have said to tell them your capabilities or show them your interest in taking the job.

💡 Express your passion for the position.

Relating to the point above, you can also include a line or two to tell them your passion and interest in taking the job. There is no harm in showing your passion for something you like. Companies like to hire people who love their job.

💡 Address issues or concerns expressed by the interviewer during the interview.

If the interviewer mentioned some issues and problems to you, you can give a better answer in your post interview thank you letter to show that you are capable of solving those problems.

To make it easier for you, here we have provided two interview thank you letter templates that you can simply fill in with the specific information to customize it as your thank you note.

Interview Thank You Letter Template #1

Interview Thank You Letter Template #2

--- Originally written by Ryan Goh ---