One of my clients remarked wondered aloud recently whether thank you notes have gone out of style.

He had interviewed nine people and only received two thank you notes.

This intersected with a dinner time discussion with my husband who is taking a referral marketing course where the concept of the thank you note is being drilled into his head day after day.  Our dining room table is littered with note cards, envelopes and stamps.  I am sure Canada Post is enjoying the new surge of business.

Writing a thank you note is not the mechanical process your mother made you do to thank your Aunt for the hideous sweater she sent for your birthday.

It is an opportunity to show a hiring manager a little bit more of you.  You can be warm and funny or cool and professional; whatever is appropriate to reflect the conversation you just had and reinforce the positive impression you left in your wake.

Now the great debate:  paper or email?  There are advantages to both.

Paper says:

• You took the time to get a card, write it, stamp it and put it in a mailbox.
• It also shows that you have great penmanship and perhaps some other classy attributes.

Email says:

• You are tech savvy.
• You are all about immediate response and maybe this emphasizes how you work with other team members or customers.

Choose the best mode for the style of the organization and the hiring manager.  Be thoughtful. It’s worth it.  You have already made your best first impression and now you have a way to make a strong second impression too.