Thank you emails and responses

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Thank you emails and responses

anon (guest) 15 Jan 2011 19:16

I've had a few interviews thus far, and I've always written thank you emails shortly thereafter. I felt like most of my emails were pretty personal, in that I tried to bring up things we'd discussed, etc. At one school I interviewed (that hasn't made a decision yet), I'd say I received a response back from maybe 40% of the faculty. At another school that's still making a decision it's been more like 25%. I'm curious to know what other people's experiences have been with this.

anony-noted (guest) 15 Jan 2011 23:54

Are you describing on-campus interviews or phone interviews?

anonny (guest) 16 Jan 2011 22:02

for phone interviews, I haven't received one acknowledgment. For on campus interviews, I've received about 60%.

anon (guest) 16 Jan 2011 23:49

I was talking about on campus interviews.

anonymama (guest) 25 Jan 2011 19:10

So, I'd reckon if one were to send a thank you after a phone interview it'd look too forced?

Just asking since I'm about to phone interview for my dream job (i.e., right type of institution given my professional competencies and goals, dream geographic location) and quite frankly— I've long hoped a position would open up there. I just want them to know I really want to fly out there and knock them dead.

So should I send them the quick thanks e-mail?

Anon (guest) 25 Jan 2011 20:23

The only place I got a really good response was at the one that made me an offer (100% response rate).

The others I would say maybe a 50% response rate.

stillstanding (guest) 02 Mar 2012 01:29

I heard recently that in some institutions, faculty members are banned from replying to the thank you notes to anyone other than the chosen candidate. So until the candidate is informed that they are the first choice, there will be no responses to thank you notes (including to the chosen candidate).

anonbanon (guest) 02 Mar 2012 03:34

we recently had a search in my dept and the candidates were sending us all thank you emails and some were writing heandwritten notes… is this the new standard? we did an informal poll and just a few years ago NO ONE was doing this. so now if i or my students are on the market we need to write everyone handwritten love notes just so we don't stand out as ungrateful social misfits?

stillstanding (guest) 02 Mar 2012 04:03

Are you saying a few years ago no-one wrote e-mails? I think e-mails is the norm now, but not handwritten notes.

fingerscrossed (guest) 02 Mar 2012 05:04

After a phone interview I might email the search committee chair, but I don't think that is standard. Typically it is a very short email thanking them for their time, for providing additional information about the university/department/position, and expressing continued interest in the position. After on-campus interviews I write personalized thank you emails (not necessarily to everyone in a department, but typically at least 5-8 people). In terms of responses, after my first on-campus interview this year I got about a 50% reply rate; second on-campus interview I got 100% reply rate. I was not offered the first position and I am not the top candidate for the second position.

anonguest (guest) 02 Mar 2012 12:47

I usually expect some type of short thank you email after a campus interviews but not a letter. Letters actually are not the best idea because they may not arrive before the committee meets. Send an email to express your gratitude and continued interest and do not stress about it.

Stillstanding is right, we cannot write back until a formal offer has been made. You should still send the thank you email but just do not expect to receive an immediate reply back (and if you do, it is probably bcc to someone else at the university).

kak (guest) 02 Mar 2012 15:21

I wrote thank-you e-mails to everyone I spoke with on the phone, and most/all people in the department that I met with for the campus interviews (but not the dean or anything).

I honestly don't remember my hit rate for the phone interviews, but I think it was not much…less than 50% for sure. Maybe the SC chair would e-mail back sometimes, but often no one else did. I got campus invites for about 75% of my phone interviews.

I was offered the position at both places where I went on campus interviews (because of the timing I had to turn down some of the campus invites). Thinking back, I now realize I got a very high hit rate for the place where I was the first choice, and a much lower hit rate where I was the second choice. But in both cases I was on the earlier side of the interview cycle; none of the responses came back after the SC had met.

Curiosity Kills (guest) 02 Mar 2012 15:57

I get the sense from some places that email communication is not really encouraged. I wonder if it is a big deal NOT to send Thank You emails. Maybe just one to the SC Chair saying thanks for having me, etc., but why all of the other people? This is starting to feel like high school.

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