Should I send a thank you email after a job interview?

[20MayJune22]

I attended a face to face interview today. I think it went fairly well, they are interviewing other candidates today/tomorrow. I wouldn't expect to hear back till maybe Friday at the earliest. Should I send a thank you email - does it make any difference? This is my first time job hunting in 13 years, I'm not sure what is normal now.

I interview regularly altought normally graduates or internal candidates.

Last time interviewed 8 people, 3 thank you emails. It had zero impact on the outcome.

I do think the email response to the invite to interview is far more telling!

Interesting to read the differences on this thread. I wonder whether the difference is if you were in a professional services industry, actually following up on a lead/interview/whatever is actually part of the job versus in some industries that’s just not not part of the job.

I regularly recruit and interview people for my department, albeit it’s not my core role.
I’ve never had a candidate email me to say thank you for my time.
If they don’t get the job, they sometimes respond and ask for feedback (they very rarely thank me for providing the feedback and my time!)

When I got my latest job, the person who emailed me to tell me I was successful wasn’t involved in interviewing me. I did email the interviewers and thanked them for what was, obviously, positive feedback. My friend told me I was weird for doing this. I thought it was polite and I got a nice email back from them both.

In summary, it wouldn’t make a difference to me as you will only get the job if you score highly and are suited to the role.

I saw a Facebook post on this the other day, on one of my neurodivergent groups, where someone said they'd been told this was the done thing. I thought I must have been rude never sending a thank you email for an interview, so I'm glad to know it's not the done thing. I always say thank you at the time, but I've never emailed. I've also recruited a lot of people, and it never occurred to me to think they needed to email and thank me, it certainly didn't influence my decision.

I notice if I don’t receive one, but don’t penalise. The only time it would affect my decision is if I had two equal calibre candidates and one did send a well written thank you email.

Aren't you weighting the process with rules that the candidates aren't aware of if you do that? I'd be very annoyed if I was told I was second choice and the deciding factor was sending or not sending a thank you email after the interview.

I think you absolutely should - especially in professional services. I would find it rude in the extreme not to receive an e-mail after I’ve interviewed someone.

Do you email candidates to thank them for the interview? after all, they're interviewing you as much as you're interviewing them.

Two equal calibre candidates.

What’s the other option?

Coin toss?
Best hair style?

Or someone who writes a good thank you email, showcasing good manners, written communication skills, and care about the way they operate?

I also wouldn’t care if you were cross, good business understanding and discipline are important, getting in a mood isn’t impressive.

Where i work you'd bring them back for a final interview, maybe give them a presentation, break the tie with something relevant to the actual role.

It seems to be encouraged as the done thing online but I think its an American "thing".
Seems brown nosey as a Brit. I never have but still got the job/s.

I liked a thank you email - we are a people business, details matter.