There’s been an article making the social media rounds in which the author states they would not hire a candidate who does not send a ‘Thank You’ note following an interview. As you might imagine, the internet crowd went wild.
Comments and opinions were plentiful, including mine. My initial thought was NSFW. LOL. My second thought, however, was about how often we talk ourselves out of a good thing. In other words, come up with random reasons why a candidate shouldn’t be hired, why an employee shouldn’t be promoted, why you shouldn’t accept that job offer, why you shouldn’t choose that new home, why you shouldn’t go on that date with the person who’s “not your type..” I digress. But you get my point – talking ourselves out of a good thing. Or at least what very well could be a good thing if we weren’t coming up with random disqualification criteria.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I understand there’s power in discernment. We are given the ability to make choices for a reason. And we should. After all, we can’t hire multiple qualified candidates for the same position just like we can’t give multiple qualified employees the same promotion. However, when making a decision on who to choose, the criteria used should be valid and job-related. Not hiring a person because they don’t send a ‘Thank You’ note is no better than not hiring them because they didn’t wear a suit or because they didn’t refer to you as “Your Highness” during the interview. Neither of these is an indicator of the person’s ability to do the job. You also have to be aware of the impact of making these types of decisions. Some people don’t even know sending post-interview ‘Thank You’ notes is a thing because they were never told. Apparently, it’s also not common in several other countries. So now your non-job-related disqualification has unwittingly turned into discrimination based on cultural differences. That’s a no-no.
Another way folks often lose out on potentially great employees is by being too rigid about the hiring criteria. For example, having a list of 25 “qualifications” and disqualifying someone who meets 20 of them. Or even 15. Sometimes you have to be able to determine potential. I’ve seen many cases in which someone didn’t “meet the criteria” simply because they hadn’t previously had a role that gave them an opportunity to do so. It doesn’t mean they don’t have the ability to do so. I’m not saying hire someone who’s only work experience has been two years as a cashier at Burger King for your senior leadership team. This is where your masterful interviewing skills, power of discernment and good old common sense have to work together. #TeamworkMakesTheDreamWork Or, in this case, teamwork can help someone else get their DREAM JOB.
Please stop using irrelevant criteria to talk yourself out of a good thing. Just imagine all the good things you may have missed out on. Just because you didn’t get a “Thank You” note or some other irrelevant reason? It’s not worth it.
Let’s not forget the cover letter requirement. Heaven forbid you just look at a resume and gather why the person is interested in the job. I absolutely suggest cover letters for career change situations. If your job history has been in sales it may not be immediately apparent why you’re applying for a job as a social worker. But if your job history is a long line of social work or social work adjacent roles, it should be pretty obvious. Cover letters should not be 
The job search/application process needs to be fixed. All applications should be mobile-friendly and involve no more than three steps. It shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes. Sometimes I just want to apply for a job real quick during my commute. Resumes alone should be accepted. Until we come up with something better than resumes. Interviews should be scheduled in a timely manner. Communication should be consistent during the process. It’s really not that difficult to create a more person-focused process.
RASBERRY CONSULTING, LLC 