Why your "Thank You" emails must not suck
It's been about 5 months since I wrote about this topic and things are not really getting better. Good people are still missing the point of these and are making rookie mistakes that are throwing off their chances at great roles.
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What's the purpose of the post-interview email?
To demonstrate your skills as a sales professional. Full stop.
Yet I consistently see things like:
"Hope to hear from you soon"
"If you're interested in a next meeting, I'm free late next week"
These are things you'd never say to a prospect (I hope) so why say it to someone in your profession? If a successful doctor speaks to a head of surgery, won't she do her best to make her skills apparent? Then why don't we do it as sales professionals? Is it ego?
"But I'm awesome and crushing it in my current role! I'm not going to sell myself in this email. If they want me, they're going to have to sell ME!"
The Hard Truth
No. Not yet. First, you need to convince the hiring manager that you're as awesome as you say. Validate it. If you crushed the phone interview (verbal), now crush the email (written). Show them how you wield each weapon in your arsenal- just like you do when you sell.
Once the hiring manager is totally & completely in love with you, then you can pull back and play hard to get. But not before that happens. There are just too many people out there that claim awesomeness for people to believe it without proof.
So What Do I Need To Do?
First, go back and read my last post- it goes into more detail than I will here.
Think of this like a sales email and don't make any of the common mistakes that folks make in them. Take pride in your creation- you're about to show your art to another artist. Much of what I'm seeing gives me the impression that the person took about 2 minutes to write it and moved on with their day. Simply building something you're proud of will elevate you above 95% of the crowd.