Not only for the courtesy, but also to stay in the interviewer’s head if they were undecided. Most people don’t send these, thus, you’ll be a bit unique and might tip things in your favor.
An interviewer that uses it as a hiring requirement probably wants someone thoughtful and willing to do a little extra compared to others. Seems minor compared to multi hour programming tests.
Seems to me that you'd be more likely be selected for people are willing to comply with arbitrary social conventions for the sake of getting ahead. Or even just those who happened grow up in an environment that passed on the folk knowledge that this is necessary. How many people who send these "thank you notes" are truly thankful for the experience?
> Seems minor compared to multi hour programming tests.
It is minor if you know you need to do it. The thing is, that some applicants will, and some won't (entirely independently of their capacity to do the job).
And does it matter if they are truly thankful? It’s not like people share things on the internet to truly SHARE, out of their own good will. They either want fake internet points, recognition, or traffic to end up selling something down the road.
A thank you that is 1) Expected and 2) Not truly meant seems pretty arbitrary to me. I would show respect to the person who took time out of their day to interview me by not taking any more time out of their day by making them read a thank you message.
To be clear: I don't think there is anything wrong with sending a thank you. I just don't think it should be considered necessary, and it definitely shouldn't be a primary signal on hiring decisions.
Like Eastern European immigrant that could only afford to live among white trash blue collar folks? I should be too stupid to know how the great big American economy works then since my high school was surrounded by cattle farm. I’m pretty white trash still to this day. But even in our retarded educational system, we knew handshakes, pleases and thank yous were still important in a cooperative, functioning society.
You know what, that's funny. The poorer folks I know that escaped their poverty, we all know our pleases and thank yous. It's actually the people that grew up with money that are social idiots and ungrateful bastards that like to complain about every little thing under the sun.
Ah yes, the folk-knowledge from high school. Always offered by the academic class with no background in having real jobs.
IMO, thank you letters seem desperate for anything other than an entry level job. Interviews should be testing you for fit (primarily technical) for the role. If you pass this criteria, they will be very excited for you to join with their team because there is high demand for skilled workers.
Is a chemistry teacher that's never been employed in the private sector (aka, had a 'real job') as a chemist a good source of knowledge about obtaining a job as a chemist? Not really.