Ann Israel is the legal profession's Dear Abby. A New York legal recruiter since 1979, Ann is a past president of the National Association of Legal Search Consultants. Advice for the Lawlorn is updated every Tuesday.

Q:I have a follow-up question about your column last week on post-interview thank-you notes. I agree with your recommendation to send handwritten thank-you notes to interviewers after the interview. But I am concerned that if I send a handwritten note via postal mail, it will arrive far after the interviewer has already given his/her evaluation of me as a candidate. I am an associate at a large law firm, and when I interview a candidate, I must complete my evaluation of them by the end of the day that I've met them. I imagine many other firms employ similar policies.

To address this problem, when interviewing, do you recommend that a candidate send an e-mail thank you as well as a handwritten thank-you note? I would like for my interviewers to receive my thank you before making a decision on my candidacy -- it seems like a nicely written thank-you note can provide an additional positive impression of a candidate, as well as allow the candidate to express his/her continued interest in the firm.

Thanks for any advice.

Curious Candidate

Dear Curious: You make a very good point. I agree that a nicely written thank-you note provides an additional positive impression of a candidate along with the opportunity for the candidate to express his or her continued interest in the firm. And, of course, you are correct when you point out that the interviewer more than likely has completed his or her evaluation of the candidate and turned it in long before a snail-mail thank-you note arrives.

Taking all this into consideration, it would seem to make sense to send an e-mail thank-you message as well as a handwritten thank-you note.

Hmmm ... I must disagree. First of all, as I have written before, there is never a guarantee that the e-mail will reach the intended addressee before the evaluation is completed or ever. The interviewer might be too busy to check e-mail before taking care of the evaluation and other business matters, or, more likely, the e-mail gets stuck in the spam filter.

Second: Don't you think it might be a bit of overkill to send both an e-mail as well as a handwritten thank-you note?

Last: Although thank-you messages are lovely and show proper etiquette, I maintain that they can never hurt you but don't necessarily help. If the interviewer does not think you are the right person for the position, somehow I can't imagine that a well-constructed e-mailed thank-you message is going to save the day.

I have mentioned before that when I receive a thank-you note, it leaves a nice feeling about that individual in my mind. However, it does not change my mind about whether or not I intend to continue on with the interviewing process or, ultimately, extend an offer to that person.

I suppose that there is one example of when a thank-you message might tip the scales, and that is when the potential employer simply cannot decide between two candidates. Perhaps, and only perhaps, receiving a thank-you e-mail from that individual expressing enthusiasm and great interest in the position might make a difference when the interviewer is writing up the final evaluation. But the key here is that this is all happening at the end of an interviewing process where, more than likely, e-mails have already been exchanged, and nothing is going to get stuck in a spam filter.

Once again, I stand by my opinion. I like those old-fashioned, handwritten thank-you notes. But thanks, Curious Candidate, you had some great points!

Best wishes!

Sincerely,
Ann Israel
President, Ann Israel & Associates