MBA Interview Etiquette: Mind Your Manners
Our clients often ask us if they should write thank-you notes to their interviewers. While handwritten messages of appreciation will always be a classy moveand we certainly encourage applicants to write such notes if theyre so inclinedan email message is just as acceptable in this day and age.
The most important thing is to ensure you have your interviewers contact information. This is especially critical if your discussion is taking place on campus and you wont know who your interviewer is going to be until you arrive. Dont forget to ask for that persons business card when youre wrapping up!
If youre interviewing with a local alum, then youll have already been supplied with their email address.
As for the content of the message, you shouldnt feel the need to go on and on. There are only two must-includes: 1) thank the interviewer for their time and 2) reiterate your interest in the program. If you can throw in a sentence or two that references something you talked about, all the better. But a thank-you note is not the place to try and sell yourself any further. The point is to show that youre excited about and thankful for the opportunity to be considered for a spot in Program X.
Some AdComs need to make accept and denial decisions very quickly, so you shouldnt let more than 24 hours go by before you send your message. If you interviewed in the morning, send it before the business day is over. If your talk was in the late afternoon or evening, get your e-mail out first thing in the morning.
If you have to type out a quick message from your phone because youll be traveling back home after the interview, please dont forget to read things over carefully to ensure spellcheck or autocorrect didnt do you wrong. You dont want the last impression you leave to be a negative one!
Have MBA hopefuls been accepted to their dream programs without writing any sort of thank-you note? Yes, of course. But showing that you have manners and are aware of the proper etiquette is never a bad moveits just the right thing to do.
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