I Got A Response To My Thank You Email – Is It A Good Sign?

Sending a “thank you” email after a work interview is a courteous act and a smart way to keep your name fresh in your potential employer’s mind. However, not all recipients read those communications, let alone respond to them.

Thus, you might be confused about how to handle it if you get an answer. Here’s some help to understand both situations and what they could potentially mean for you:

How Come I Got No Response To Thank You Email After Interview?

You spend your time brainstorming and trying to find the perfect words to thank your prospective employer for thinking of you, only to receive no response to your thank you email after interview.

Although it can be disheartening not to receive an answer to your communications, it might not be personal. These are some of the most well-known reasons prospective employers don’t answer thank you emails:

1. They Have a Structured Hiring Process

One reason you may not have heard back from the prospective employer is their hiring process. They may have a structured approach that disallows factoring post-interview communications into the hiring decisions.

In other words, they can’t allow anyone’s side conversation to affect the hiring decision because they have a strict protocol they follow for hiring. Your interviewer might be ghosting you for that reason.

2. They Receive Massive Communications

The employer’s lack of a response might have to do with the volume of mail the company gets from all people. Maybe the place you’re trying to get a job receives a massive amount of incoming mail and email.

This concept is especially true if you’re dealing with a large corporation. Maybe they have to respond to these messages on a first-come-first-served basis. In that case, you may not hear anything back from the employer until long after they’ve already chosen a candidate.

3. They Don’t Want To Give False Hope

Perhaps the company doesn’t want to give anyone false hope. The interviewer might be afraid to provide you with a false sense of confidence about where you stand based on his or her communicating with you and responding out of courtesy.

4. There Wasn’t Really a Job for You

Unfortunately, not all job listings or full interview rounds are for legitimate jobs. Therefore, there may have been a real job, but it was never for anyone outside of those the company had in mind.

Some businesses have to go through interviewing processes as a standard, but they do not intend to hire an external candidate. They don’t intend to hire competing internal candidates, either. They know who’s next in line but have to hold interviews as a formality.

Read More: How To Spots Companies That Interview With No Intention Of Hiring You

5. The Winning Candidate Has Been Selected

Finally, you may not get a response if the employer receives your contact after they have already chosen the best candidate. Instead of sending a response to your letter, the employer may send a rejection letter.

Alternatively, someone from the company might call you to let you know you didn’t get the job. That depends on the company and how it chooses to handle candidate rejections.

Is It a Good Sign When Interviewer Responds to Thank You Email?

There are many reasons why an interviewer’s response is a great sign that you are still in the running for the job. Firstly, interviewers have busy roles. If one of them took the time to even type you a few sentences regarding your interview, you need to pat yourself on the back for impressing the company.

If this person reaches out, it means that the company is seriously considering making you a part of it. Therefore, you should take it as a sign of great progress and assume you have high standings in the race for your desired job.

The interviewer might also be responding to you to let you know how much he or she appreciates that you took your time to respond. That person is, in turn, responding to you and taking time from their eventful day.

Related Article: How To Ask For A Second Chance Interview With Email Examples

I Got a Response To My Thank You Email. Now What?

It’s a big deal if an interviewer responded to thank you email efforts. Thus, you should be proud if you even receive a letter or note. The next step is to read what the material says. You’ll get a better idea of where you stand by what the interviewer says when he or she responds. These are some typical responses and what they might mean for you in the candidacy:

“After Careful Consideration … “

“After careful consideration” are three words you never want to see in response to a job you want. They usually introduce a rejection, and somehow, the gentle introductory phrases don’t seem to comfort those who receive them.

Then again, maybe it isn’t supposed to. It could be an extra line that gets added to protect the hiring company. It might translate as, “We didn’t commit any kind of discrimination or favoritism. We carefully considered your credentials, experience, and interview.”

“We’ll Let You Know When … “

The “We’ll let you know when” phrase means that the company has not made its decision yet. You’re receiving correspondence because the employer wants to let you know that they received your communication.

However, no decision has been made, and they have no idea whether you or the person they interviewed after you got the job. You can treat this type of response as a courteous and informative one.

“I’m Looking Forward To … “

The “I’m looking forward to” phrase automatically lets you know that you have not been eliminated from the candidacy. Most people would not write to a candidate and say the company is looking forward to rejecting them from employment.

Therefore, only two options remain. The employer is looking forward to hiring you or looking forward to moving you along in the next step of the process. Either sign is a good one if you receive a response about it.

What To Do if an Interviewer Responds To Your Thank You Email

Now you know it’s a good sign if a hiring manager takes his or her time to get back to you regarding your thank you email. You may not have been 100% aware that you can get more of an advantage by responding to your interviewer’s response.

All of your post-interview communications keep your name fresh in the interviewer’s mind. They also show that you are willing to make extra efforts to stay relevant in the hiring process.

The best way to respond when you receive a friendly response to a thank you email is to express your interest once more and let the employer know that you hope he or she will keep you in mind for future opportunities. Be sure to express your gratitude for their response.

You should now have an improved understanding of what it means when a potential employer does or doesn’t respond to a letter you send to thank them for considering you for employment.

Sit for a few minutes and absorb what you just read and then respond accordingly. Remember that you might push yourself even further along if you respond to the response. At the very least, it shows you’re willing to take the initiative and do things that will place you ahead of the pack.

FAQs

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