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Handwritten Thank You Notes After Callback... Credited?
Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 9:01 pm
by Anonymous User
Some 3Ls swear by the handwritten thank you note, others say it's a waste.
Career Services just say to sent a thank you note, either by email or by hand, but that handwritten is usually preferred.
Guerrilla Tactics says to send handwritten notes.
What is credited?
Re: Handwritten Thank You Notes After Callback... Credited?
Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 9:20 pm
by Anonymous User
Send both.
Re: Handwritten Thank You Notes After Callback... Credited?
Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 9:25 pm
by Tanicius
Handwritten? Like with pen and paper? No way. Maybe mailing the letter is one thing, but I would type that shit out either way because otherwise they couldn't read what I wrote.
Re: Handwritten Thank You Notes After Callback... Credited?
Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 9:34 pm
by Rocío
Basically, just do what you want. There's no consensus. Career services sometimes says don't send thank you notes, period. Some interviewers love getting them, others get annoyed by them, still others are indifferent. I sent handwritten thank you notes (but did so on cute Thank You post cards I found) because I just didn't think an email was worth it. (I was raised to always send handwritten thank you notes.) But other students only send thank you emails.
Re: Handwritten Thank You Notes After Callback... Credited?
Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 9:57 pm
by rad lulz
Rocío wrote:Basically, just do what you want. There's no consensus.
Re: Handwritten Thank You Notes After Callback... Credited?
Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 10:11 pm
by kwais
I think it's transparently desperate. Their firm asked them to take a 20 minute break to size you up. They didn't give you 5 bills for your bar mitzvah or something. It seems unprofessional to do any more than a quick "thanks for you your time, I enjoyed learning more about the firm" email.
Re: Handwritten Thank You Notes After Callback... Credited?
Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 10:19 pm
by St.Remy
Definitely don't send a handwritten note if your handwriting is poor, but otherwise either method is fine.
Re: Handwritten Thank You Notes After Callback... Credited?
Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 10:33 pm
by TooOld4This
kwais wrote:I think it's transparently desperate. Their firm asked them to take a 20 minute break to size you up. They didn't give you 5 bills for your bar mitzvah or something. It seems unprofessional to do any more than a quick "thanks for you your time, I enjoyed learning more about the firm" email.
Sad that this generation seems to think good manners are "transparently desperate."
A handwritten thank you note is normally fine, though an emailed one is just fine as well, and in the OCI context probably more helpful. By the time handwritten notes showed up on my desk, my evaluation was long since written and sometimes the firm had made a decision. (Not true for non-OCI context.)
As for taking 20 minutes out not being a big deal, first 20 mins is the time you are sitting in the office, which often gets extended. Then there is prep time, waiting for the previous person to drop you off--things run late fast, and then writing up the report. One interview can take up to an hour of otherwise billable time, and usually wound up coming at the most inconvenient time possible. Oh, and the firms I worked for had a "one strike, you're out" policy. Not dinging you is worth more than "5 bills."
[I'm not arguing that you need a thank you. Sadly, most people have given up on expecting what used to be common courtesy. I'm just objecting to this entitled attitude that I'm surprised to see is still so prevalent in this economy.]
Re: Handwritten Thank You Notes After Callback... Credited?
Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 10:37 pm
by Tanicius
TooOld4This wrote:kwais wrote:I think it's transparently desperate. Their firm asked them to take a 20 minute break to size you up. They didn't give you 5 bills for your bar mitzvah or something. It seems unprofessional to do any more than a quick "thanks for you your time, I enjoyed learning more about the firm" email.
Sad that this generation seems to think good manners are "transparently desperate."
A handwritten thank you note is normally fine, though an emailed one is just fine as well, and in the OCI context probably more helpful. By the time handwritten notes showed up on my desk, my evaluation was long since written and sometimes the firm had made a decision. (Not true for non-OCI context.)
As for taking 20 minutes out not being a big deal, first 20 mins is the time you are sitting in the office, which often gets extended. Then there is prep time, waiting for the previous person to drop you off--things run late fast, and then writing up the report. One interview can take up to an hour of otherwise billable time, and usually wound up coming at the most inconvenient time possible. Oh, and the firms I worked for had a "one strike, you're out" policy. Not dinging you is worth more than "5 bills."
[I'm not arguing that you need a thank you. Sadly, most people have given up on expecting what used to be common courtesy. I'm just objecting to this entitled attitude that I'm surprised to see is still so prevalent in this economy.]
I don't see it as entitled. I genuinely worry that steps like a handwritten thank you will be seen as over the top. It's like how when you follow up with a first date with a bouquet of flowers and a love letter. That used to be standard stuff; nowadays most people might tend to find it creepy or pushy. The world used to turn slower than it does today.
Re: Handwritten Thank You Notes After Callback... Credited?
Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 10:45 pm
by TooOld4This
Tanicius wrote:TooOld4This wrote:kwais wrote:I think it's transparently desperate. Their firm asked them to take a 20 minute break to size you up. They didn't give you 5 bills for your bar mitzvah or something. It seems unprofessional to do any more than a quick "thanks for you your time, I enjoyed learning more about the firm" email.
Sad that this generation seems to think good manners are "transparently desperate."
A handwritten thank you note is normally fine, though an emailed one is just fine as well, and in the OCI context probably more helpful. By the time handwritten notes showed up on my desk, my evaluation was long since written and sometimes the firm had made a decision. (Not true for non-OCI context.)
As for taking 20 minutes out not being a big deal, first 20 mins is the time you are sitting in the office, which often gets extended. Then there is prep time, waiting for the previous person to drop you off--things run late fast, and then writing up the report. One interview can take up to an hour of otherwise billable time, and usually wound up coming at the most inconvenient time possible. Oh, and the firms I worked for had a "one strike, you're out" policy. Not dinging you is worth more than "5 bills."
[I'm not arguing that you need a thank you. Sadly, most people have given up on expecting what used to be common courtesy. I'm just objecting to this entitled attitude that I'm surprised to see is still so prevalent in this economy.]
I don't see it as entitled. I genuinely worry that steps like a handwritten thank you will be seen as over the top. It's like how when you follow up with a first date with a bouquet of flowers and a love letter. That used to be standard stuff; nowadays most people might tend to find it creepy or pushy. The world used to turn slower than it does today.
It is tone, not form, that is generally the issue. I agree, that for OCI email is better. But that is a matter of the breakneck speed at which it moves.
The poster I quoted had a "interviewers don't really do anything" vibe to it. I might have gotten overly jaded poking around here, but I am rather shocked at the degree to which people seem to think getting a job should be spoon fed to them.
Re: Handwritten Thank You Notes After Callback... Credited?
Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 6:51 am
by tengorazon
I wouldn't bother. A decision probably will have been made by the time the letter is received.
Re: Handwritten Thank You Notes After Callback... Credited?
Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 7:23 am
by kwais
TooOld4This wrote:Tanicius wrote:TooOld4This wrote:kwais wrote:I think it's transparently desperate. Their firm asked them to take a 20 minute break to size you up. They didn't give you 5 bills for your bar mitzvah or something. It seems unprofessional to do any more than a quick "thanks for you your time, I enjoyed learning more about the firm" email.
Sad that this generation seems to think good manners are "transparently desperate."
A handwritten thank you note is normally fine, though an emailed one is just fine as well, and in the OCI context probably more helpful. By the time handwritten notes showed up on my desk, my evaluation was long since written and sometimes the firm had made a decision. (Not true for non-OCI context.)
As for taking 20 minutes out not being a big deal, first 20 mins is the time you are sitting in the office, which often gets extended. Then there is prep time, waiting for the previous person to drop you off--things run late fast, and then writing up the report. One interview can take up to an hour of otherwise billable time, and usually wound up coming at the most inconvenient time possible. Oh, and the firms I worked for had a "one strike, you're out" policy. Not dinging you is worth more than "5 bills."
[I'm not arguing that you need a thank you. Sadly, most people have given up on expecting what used to be common courtesy. I'm just objecting to this entitled attitude that I'm surprised to see is still so prevalent in this economy.]
I don't see it as entitled. I genuinely worry that steps like a handwritten thank you will be seen as over the top. It's like how when you follow up with a first date with a bouquet of flowers and a love letter. That used to be standard stuff; nowadays most people might tend to find it creepy or pushy. The world used to turn slower than it does today.
It is tone, not form, that is generally the issue. I agree, that for OCI email is better. But that is a matter of the breakneck speed at which it moves.
The poster I quoted had a "interviewers don't really do anything" vibe to it. I might have gotten overly jaded poking around here, but I am rather shocked at the degree to which people seem to think getting a job should be spoon fed to them.
Where do you get entitled? It has nothing to do with entitled. It has to do with the fact that I genuinely feel that it is inappropriate. In real life, you know outside of the aspy law world, things should be in proportion and go witht the flow of natural human interaction. I very much appreciate the time that the associate or partner took to talk to me and never feel entitled to a job, but a handwritten thank you note is not in proportion. Like the person said about the first date and the flowers. Flowers are nice, but it might be an outsized response, plain and simple.
If someone was kind enough to give me a job, a six figure position that will allow me to pay off my loans, then a handwritten letter is totally in proportion. I'd also feel more authentic writing it, while I'd feel that the handwritten note after a callback was about ME and my strategic job search (which it would be). Don't pretend that this topic isn't about strategy. No offense to OP but this topic was not brought up for a lesson purely in manners.
So relax with your fake outrage and think about it for a moment.
Re: Handwritten Thank You Notes After Callback... Credited?
Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 10:10 am
by GertrudePerkins
Ahhh, I remember struggling with this question last year!
Here's my take from a year out. I think it's wacky to write thank-you notes (TYNs) just after screeners -- that's not going to change anything and no one will think it poor manners if you don't. After a CB? That's more reasonable, but I really don't think it alters the equation. I wrote individualized email TYNs after my first callback, but found it very difficult and time-consuming. So I skipped it for all the rest. Offers from five of my six callbacks (all DC) -- and I'm pretty confident the miss was based on my shitty interviewing that day.
I suppose it's possible that if you're right on the cusp, TYNs could make the difference, but I doubt it's common. I certainly don't think it could hurt you, so do it if you want to. But my main point is that you shouldn't feel like it's some kind of expected thing.
Re: Handwritten Thank You Notes After Callback... Credited?
Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 10:16 am
by Big Shrimpin
rad lulz wrote:Rocío wrote:Basically, just do what you want. There's no consensus.
Cosigned.