According to one survey, 80% of hiring managers find thank-you emails helpful when reviewing job candidates; yet, only 25% ever receive a thank you note from applicants. Writing a thank you email after an interview is one of the easiest and fastest ways to become memorable — but, many candidates neglect to take this step.
Software developers often face a multi-phased hiring process, from a phone interview to a coding challenge to a behavioral interview. As such, it can be difficult to know when is the best time to send a thank-you email.
Here’s what to know about writing a thank you email after an interview, as well as some sample email templates written specifically for you to work from.
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What is the Purpose of a Thank-You Email?
A follow-up email after a phone interview is more than just a courtesy — it’s an important way to make sure you’re getting noticed for the right reasons. A thank-you email gives you a way to follow up with a recruiter and to make an additional sales pitch for yourself.
Your thank-you email can include a few sentences highlighting why you’re a great fit for the role and referencing any talents you highlighted in your previous conversation.
It’s also an opportunity to circle back to anything you wish you could have mentioned in your interview. Mention something valuable or interesting you learned about them that makes you want to work there.
Perhaps you are aware of their upcoming plans and have the technical skills to help. Or, maybe you simply want to revisit a previous interview question, whether you forgot to mention something or meant to reply differently.
Most experts recommend sending a thank-you email within 24 hours of completing your interview. Send individual emails to every person who interviewed you — and make sure each is customized to the recipient and the company.
Thank-you emails that look like you cut and pasted the same text will hurt, not help, your application.
How to Write a Thank-You for Each Phase of the Hiring Process
Ideally, you should write a thank-you email to everyone and anyone who takes the time to interview you throughout the hiring process. This can include the person who performed the initial phone screen to the person who administered the coding challenge to the final-round behavioral interviewer.
Here are some ideas of what to say at each of these steps in the process.
Thank the recruiter who reached out to you
This email doesn’t have to be very long — there’s a good chance you’ll be working with this recruiter again throughout the hiring process. However, if a recruiter reached out to you with an opportunity that wasn’t on your radar, it’s important to signal your interest.
Try to reference something specific about your conversation and the company. Here’s one example of how to write a thank you letter after an interview with a recruiter who reached out to you:
Dear [Recruiter's Name], It was a pleasure speaking with you today, and I really appreciate you answering the various questions I had about the [Open Position's Job Title] role. I'm really looking forward to that upcoming interview you helped set up! Now that you know about my experience with [Java, PHP, Android development, etc.], I'd be honored if you kept my name in mind for near-future opportunities similar to the one you just set me up with, just in case that one falls through. Thanks again for everything, [Name of Recruiter], and I look forward to hearing back from you soon. Have a great evening! Sincerely, [Your Name]
This email works because it’s tailored, concise, and references the candidate’s qualifications (experience) that are a good fit for the open role.
Follow up email after phone interview
Remote companies tend to place more weight on the phone interview than previously — and as a result, your phone interview may be the only behavioral interview you have in the hiring process.
Therefore, the phone interview follow-up email should be more detailed than the initial thank you to a recruiter.
Here’s one thank you email example:
Thank you for talking with me earlier today. It was a pleasure to hear about Google’s developer team and to learn more about how the position would work. The system you’ve built to help your developers collaborate remotely sounds like an ideal work environment. The senior developer role sounds rewarding, especially given some of the growth priorities on the roadmap for 2023. My experience as a senior developer at Airbnb, as well as my engineering management experience, make me a good candidate for this position, I do believe. I look forward to hearing from you about our potential next steps. If there is any additional information you need, please feel free to contact me at [email]. Thanks once again, and I hope you have a wonderful afternoon.
This email is a bit more detailed, referencing specifics from the phone interview and reiterating what makes the candidate the best fit for the role.
Thank you email after a coding challenge
This email is likely to go to a hiring manager with coding experience, and as a result, you can be a bit more technical in your thank-you note. Try something along the lines of this:
Thank you for administering the coding challenge today; it was a pleasure to experience the type of work required by the [role] at [company]. The work seems like exactly the type of job I’m looking for, and I believe my experience with [Java programming, SQL, AWS, machine learning, etc.] would help me thrive in this position. If there are any additional questions I can answer, please let me know. Thanks again for meeting with me to speak about this exciting opportunity.
Try to share more specifics about your experience with the coding challenge. Were you thrilled to see a debugging task? Do you take pleasure in writing clean code? Be specific about how you see yourself adapting to this role and using specific skills you’ve honed over the years.
Final stage interview thank you email
This is your last chance to make a good impression. Take time to write an email that conveys confidence, enthusiasm, and gratitude. Here’s another thank you email after interview example for a developer position:
I just wanted to reach out and thank you for setting up that group interview yesterday where I got to meet the team. It was very engaging and enlightening, and I was happily surprised to learn even more about the company and its culture. Everyone I spoke to was kind, pleasant, and I could just feel the enthusiasm they had for their roles. After my previous chat with the Head of Engineering, I'm even more thrilled about the available software developer position and ready to discuss the details with you. If you could let me know if you have any further questions to ask me and/or what next steps I should expect to take, I'd be very grateful. I look forward to your reply, and, until then, I hope you have a wonderful week ahead!
Follow-up emails after an interview don’t need to be lengthy. Putting in a little effort goes a long way.
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Sample Post-Interview Thank-You Emails for Software Developers
Of course, you may not know where you are in the hiring process — different companies have different approaches to hiring that may include video interviewing, interviewing with a panel, or meeting in person.
You can always ask the recruiter to outline the next steps for you and use some of these thank-you email templates to follow up with anyone and everyone who helped you along the way.
Sample thank you email after Zoom interview:
Hi [Name], Thank you for meeting with me this afternoon for my Zoom interview! I enjoyed hearing about [Company’s] long-term goals and how this manager position would contribute to those goals. [Company] seems like an interesting place to work with the many exciting projects ongoing. I feel my [specific experience] would be a great addition to your team. Several of the projects I have worked on using [specific skill] should help close the skills gaps you mentioned. [Details about one project] I’m excited by the prospect of working together. If you have any further questions or need anything else to move the process forward, please let me know. Sincerely, [Your Name]
Example post-interview thank you email:
Dear [Name of Hiring Manager], Thank you for taking the time to meet and discuss the senior developer position with [Company]. I appreciated the opportunity to learn more about the organization and the role. Our conversation left me excited about the possibility of joining your team. I was especially interested in [specific project]. As we discussed, in my current role, I oversaw a project with a similar objective that was ultimately successful, coming in on time and under budget. I believe my [specific skill] could streamline the process and help [Company] achieve similar results. If you need any additional information, please feel free to contact me at any time. I’m looking forward to hearing about any next steps next Wednesday, as discussed. Best Regards, [Your Name]
Sample thank you email after interview:
Dear [Name of Recruiter], Thank you for taking the time to interview me today! It was great to hear about [Company’s] goals for streamlining your software and emphasizing on quality UX design, and how you see the engineering department playing a role in these initiatives. [Company] seems like a wonderful place to work—and not just because you mentioned some great summer outings! I really admire the mission that drives your business and look forward to the opportunity to lead the team of developers. Please let me know if there’s anything else you need from me to move the process forward. Enjoy your evening! Sincerely, [Your Name]
Wrapping Up
Writing a thank-you email following a job interview is an easy, powerful way to make sure your application gets noticed (and re-noticed) for the right reasons.
And, if you’re wondering how to become a software engineer, writing a thank you for the interview email could very well be the thing that puts you ahead of the other candidates, even those with the most impressive degrees!
Be specific, concise, and timely in following up after a phone interview or remote interview. And, don’t forget to reiterate some of the selling points you made about yourself during the interview conversation.
For more advice and tips for finding a software development job, check out Arc’s Software Engineer Interview Resources page.
You can also explore HireAI to skip the line and:
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