Addressing your interviewers in "Thank You" letters...

Ok so I had interviews yesterday and am writing thank you letters to my interviewers now. When you address the letter do you call them by their first name i.e. Dear Joe, or is it Dear Mr. Smith,? They introduced themselves as Joe Smith but I never used their name after that fact. I want to be appropriate but I don't want to come off too impersonal. Any recommendations?

 
Khameer33:
Ok so I had interviews yesterday and am writing thank you letters to my interviewers now. When you address the letter do you call them by their first name i.e. Dear Joe, or is it Dear Mr. Smith,? They introduced themselves as Joe Smith but I never used their name after that fact. I want to be appropriate but I don't want to come off too impersonal. Any recommendations?
The general rule I followed was: analysts & associates - first name; VPs and up - last name. Of course, you can make exceptions based on your comfort level with your interviewer, and how relaxed he/she was.
 

I prefer to use last names until invited to use a first name or someone signs their emails with first name only. I think this is the standard for business of any kind.

In the future, you may want to send email ty notes right away. They have blackberries and check them all the time.

 

I ended up going w/ last names since they were all Senior V.P.'s.

I got back from my flight last night at 1:30 a.m. so I sent them early as I could today.

twitch:
I prefer to use last names until invited to use a first name or someone signs their emails with first name only. I think this is the standard for business of any kind.

In the future, you may want to send email ty notes right away. They have blackberries and check them all the time.

 

If you had an informal type of interview with they used their first time, I would address them by their first name. Especially if they've emailed you before and signed the mail with their first name (ie -Jeff).

 

If you connected well just use their first names, it makes it more personal.

-------------------------------------------------------- "I do not think there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcom
 

This is for summer analyst opportunities: for non-analyst, if it's my first email out to them, I address them by their last name. After all, you never know who's going to be the more conservative of the bunch. After the first email though, it's safe to say you can address them by their first name (unless it's an MD, then you could still use last name, but eventually you would obviously want to go with first name). In the end though, as people above have said, your way of addressing them won't make or break you so no worries either way.

 

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