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[atlchemist]

I neglected to send a thank-you e-mail for my first phone interview and will not make the same mistake for the interview I had yesterday. I intend to send a gracious thank-you e-mail today, but here's my question. (I realize it's very nit-picky, but I don't know the conventions for these situations and don't want to look like a weirdo.)

I was on the phone with four people, who all introduced themselves. I can easily find their e-mail addresses from the college's website. Should I e-mail all of them (individually or together), or just e-mail the SC chair? I am slightly concerned that the former will make me look stalkerish, as a poster in the "interview faux pas" thread suggested that I e-mail the SC chair and ask him to forward the e-mail to the rest of the SC. Help?

[untenured]

An email thank you for a phone interview is a technical courtesy that has little impact one way or the other.  You can't really do any damage by whatever decision you choose.  You could make yourself annoying by specifically asking the SCC to forward the thank you email, I guess, so don't do that.

The simplest solution is to thank the SCC for the phone interview.  The SCC is the representative, and by proxy you are thanking the other members.  If it will reduce your anxiety, email them all individually.  You won't look stalkerish.

This really does not matter all that much.

[atlchemist]

Thanks. My husband looked appalled when I told him that I hadn't sent a thank-you e-mail for my first phone interview.

[scion]

Send a brief, prompt email to the SCC thanking the committee for an enjoyable, informative phone conversation and that you look forward to continuing the discussion. Quit worrying about this and simply do it.

[atlchemist]

I am doing it. Right now, in fact. But if there's anything that these fora have taught me, it's that many academics tend to be very particular and set in their ways and may interpret things differently than I would have expected.

My Ph.D. adviser is 100% useless when it comes to the job search, other that writing me recommendation letters, so I'm learning many things here.

[sugaree]

Just send the email to the SCC, which is a nice gesture but matters not much in the larger scheme of things. I never sent thank yous after phone/conference interviews at all (and still got campus invites). I waited until the campus interview stage to send my thank you notes and then, they were handwritten and sent via snailmail to the SCC only.

Do people routinely send thank you messages now for phone interviews? I am not judging, just curious?

[atlchemist]

Just send the email to the SCC, which is a nice gesture but matters not much in the larger scheme of things. I never sent thank yous after phone/conference interviews at all (and still got campus invites). I waited until the campus interview stage to send my thank you notes and then, they were handwritten and sent via snailmail to the SCC only.

Do people routinely send thank you messages now for phone interviews? I am not judging, just curious?

I didn't know this was customary until two days ago, hence my failure to send a thank-you e-mail for my phone interview in December.

[sugaree]

Just send the email to the SCC, which is a nice gesture but matters not much in the larger scheme of things. I never sent thank yous after phone/conference interviews at all (and still got campus invites). I waited until the campus interview stage to send my thank you notes and then, they were handwritten and sent via snailmail to the SCC only.

Do people routinely send thank you messages now for phone interviews? I am not judging, just curious?

I didn't know this was customary until two days ago, hence my failure to send a thank-you e-mail for my phone interview in December.

I think the point is that a thank you follow to a phone interview isn't necessarily customary. But I'm interested to hear what others think on this?

[scion]

I think the point is that a thank you follow to a phone interview isn't necessarily customary. But I'm interested to hear what others think on this?

Well, I have only had one phone interview, which has resulted in an invite for a campus interview next month. I sent a brief email thanking the committee. For me it was not a matter of convention in academia but more about common courtesy/common sense.  The search committee probably went to considerable trouble to schedule a time to be in the same room, plus they invited me (as opposed to probably twenty other qualified candidates) for the phone conversation.  When someone invites me to something--whether it is dinner, a party, or an interview--I tend to let them know afterwards that I appreciate the gesture and their effort.  Plus, I think in the case of a phone interview, a thank you is a sign of a potential collegial faculty member with basic social skills versus someone who will be so wrapped up in his or her work that s/he either ignores or grunts at colleagues.

[ecoart]

On a search committee now -
We did phone interviews in Dec and will have campus visits in Feb.  Out of the 8 candidates we phone interviewed, 2 sent thank you emails to the entire search committee - sent on the day of the interview. Those emails had zero impact on our decisions regarding who would be coming in for on on-campus interview. 
I wouldn't worry about sending a thank you at this stage of the process - we just glance at it and delete.

[scampster]

Plus, I think in the case of a phone interview, a thank you is a sign of a potential collegial faculty member with basic social skills versus someone who will be so wrapped up in his or her work that s/he either ignores or grunts at colleagues.

I think you are reading way too much into a phone interview thank you note.

I generally send a thank you note, but sometimes I forget (too busy grunting at my colleagues?). In my N = 6, I always get the campus invite, regardless of my thank you note behavior.

[scion]

In my N = 6, I always get the campus invite, regardless of my thank you note behavior.

I'm curious, do you get the jobs as well?

[scampster]

In my N = 6, I always get the campus invite, regardless of my thank you note behavior.

I'm curious, do you get the jobs as well?

I am pretty sure that once you are invited to campus, that whether or not you sent a thank you note after a phone interview is irrelevant.

[scampster]

Also:

http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,76728.0.html

(Although this is referring to campus interviews.)

[scion]

I am pretty sure that once you are invited to campus, that whether or not you sent a thank you note after a phone interview is irrelevant.

I did not mean to suggest a direct connection between phone interview thank you notes and job search success. Instead, I wondered if your dismissal of thank you notes and/or social skills somehow translated to a more general attitude that surfaces during your campus visits.  Are you consistently getting campus visits but not job offers?