by Mike Whittington

A good way to distinguish yourself from other job applicants is to follow up your interview with a thank you note. Suppliers typically interview a number of people who have similar qualifications for each open position. After asking people the same questions over and over, interviewers may have information overload.

Even though their heads might be spinning after talking to several people about the same job, they still have to face the tough task of deciding which candidate will receive a job offer. It’s easy to decide who isn’t qualified for the job. The difficulty comes when sifting through applications of people who are qualified.

After a round of interviews, suppliers usually have two stacks of applications: One for people they are no longer interested in, and the other for people they would consider hiring. Assuming your résumé is in the second stack, sending a thank you note might be the extra boost that moves you to the top of the list.

Interviewers want someone who has the necessary skills and who really wants the job. Even if you have the skills and handled the interview well, there probably isn’t anything  in your paperwork that lets the employer know how much you really want the job.

Sending a note is a great way of letting the supplier know that you are genuinely interested in the job. Taking time to send a thank you note demonstrates initiative, ambition, and commitment. These are all characteristics that suppliers desire.

Keep in mind that suppliers like to hire people with effective communication skills. Make sure the thank you letter you send is well written and attractive in appearance. Proofread your work carefully and have someone else check it for errors.

There is a lot to be said for handwritten thank you letters in this age of electronic communication. When an employer receives a handwritten job interview thank you letter, he or she knows that the applicant took the time to write a personalized letter. There is just something special about a handwritten thank you note that people really appreciate.

However, if you have illegible penmanship, sending a handwritten thank you is not a good choice. If you are a procrastinator, you are better off using an electronic version that you can email right away. If your job interview thank you note arrives late, the job may have already been offered to someone else.

Electronic thank you letters are favored by many applicants because it is easy to update them. You can write your electronic letter once, have it carefully proofed, and use it forever just by making a few minor adjustments each time you send it.

However, electronic letters often come across looking and sounding like form letters. Even though most people do not bother to send job interview thank you letters, it is important that the interviewer who receives your thanks feels as if it was written just for them.

With a little thought and planning, you can easily create a job interview thank you note that will help set you apart from the competition. A side effect of interviewing people with similar backgrounds for the same job is that the candidates who have the basic qualifications become hard for the interviewer to distinguish from each other once the interview is over.

The fact that you take the time to send a job interview thank you note might be just the thing that makes the supplier offer the job to you.