Executive insists you should never hire someone who doesn’t send a thank you email

Executive insists you should NEVER hire someone who doesn’t send a thank you email after a job interview – and provokes outrage on Twitter

  • Jessica Liebman, managing editor at Business Insider, shared column to Twitter
  • Said she would not hire a candidate if they didn’t send a thank you email 
  • Argued that it proves the person is ‘eager’, resourceful and a good person
  • Others said it was discrimination and has nothing to do with talent  

An executive has attracted criticism on Twitter for revealing she rules out candidates who don’t follow up with a thank you email after interviews. 

Jessica Liebman, managing editor at Business Insider in New York, said in a column that sending a thank you proves that the person in eager and resourceful, especially if they’ve hunted down the interviewer’s email address.  

But when she tweeted a link to the article, Liebman was met with a barrage of criticism.  

‘I send follow up emails to thank the interviewer for their time, but as soon as you make it required you turn a kind of courtesy into a petty demand,’ one user wrote. 

Another wrote that the practice would discriminate against candidates from ‘backgrounds where they don’t get this kind of job search training, which has nothing to do with skills and ability to excel on the job’. 

Liebman wrote that a thank you email showed true eagerness and motivation, as well as resourcefulness, while not sending any showed the opposite 

On Twitter, users criticised Liebman's view, calling it discriminatory and said they thought thank you emails had nothing to do with skills

On Twitter, users criticised Liebman’s view, calling it discriminatory and said they thought thank you emails had nothing to do with skills

Explaining why she believes in the power of a thank you email, Liebman said that an interview can only reveal so much, while a follow-up shows true commitment and motivation. 

She added that it proves that candidates is ‘eager, organized, and well mannered enough to send the note’ and a ‘good egg’. 

But she believes that not sending one shows a lack of interest. 

And she claimed that on the rare occasion she’s progressed an application, despite not receiving a thank you, she’s been ghosted or the offer is ‘ultimately rejected’.  

People disagreed with Liebman's stance on Twitter and said a thank you email should not be compulsory

People disagreed with Liebman’s stance on Twitter and said a thank you email should not be compulsory

However, people on Twitter argued that excluding people who don’t send such a message is a form of discrimination. 

‘I like thank you notes but making them a requirement is a terrible practice,’ wrote Ask a Manager, a Twitter account that gives out  career advice.

‘A thank you is classy, not a disqualifier,’ summarised one user. 

Some Twitter users pointed out thank you emails should be be compulsory or disqualify skilled candidates. Pictured, a sad businessman looking for a job and holding his resume

Some Twitter users pointed out thank you emails should be be compulsory or disqualify skilled candidates. Pictured, a sad businessman looking for a job and holding his resume 

Some Twitter users said interviews went both ways and that requesting thank you emaisl was hypocritical of companies who don't send feedback on job application

Some Twitter users said interviews went both ways and that requesting thank you emaisl was hypocritical of companies who don’t send feedback on job application

Another said that the practice could ostracise people suffering with anxiety, depression or even autism. 

‘There are millions of affected people who might do their best in all aspects, but who don’t have the natural habit to send a thank you note,’ he wrote. 

Another wrote that a recruiter following this practice might limit their talent pool to people who thought like them, ‘thereby decreasing intellectual diversity on the team’.

Many users said interviews go ‘both ways’, and that prospective candidates should be judging companies just as much as potential employers judge them. 

‘In an interview I’m finding out whether I want to work for them as much as they’re finding out whether they want to hire me,’ wrote another user. 

Several also pointed out that demanding a thank you email is hypocritical when some companies fail to send feedback on rejected job applications.