Point /Counterpoint

Are handwritten thank-you notes still

a must? The business world is moving faster and faster, thanks in no small part to the complete dominance of e-mail. But the meetings industry is built on face time, handshakes, and hugs. So where does that leave thank-you notes? Do they still need to be handwritten?

Point: Kirsten Olean, CMP

Yes. In an age of e-mail, hand- written thank-you notes

are impactful and memorable. E-mail hasbecomeour primarymodeof communication,and wereceive dozens, if not hundreds, ofmessages a day. The preva- lence of e-mail hasmade the handwritten note a rare specimen —and that is precisely what makes it impactful andmemorable. As a meeting planner, I am often on the receiving end of

supplier and vendor generosity. With the sheer volume of thanks to be dispensed, it is not possible to send a handwrit- ten note every time, and an e-mail thank you is certainly bet- ter than nothing. But particularly when you are singled out for a special invitation—a football game, a concert, dinner at a hot new restaurant—a handwritten thank-you note is in order.A handwritten note takes a little more effort than an e-mail, and the fact that your recipient knows that makes your thank-you bigger and more meaningful. When I meet a new person at an industry event withwhom

I want to establish a connection, I follow up with a handwrit- ten note. I knowthatmynotes have impact, because I’ve often received an e-mail or a phone call from the recipient saying it was appreciated. I alsowrite notes to colleagues when they’ve gone the extra mile, and I often see those notes tacked up in their office, along with notes they’ve received fromother colleagues and clients. They save the notes because they mean something. There are no thank-you e-mails tacked on their walls. While a handwritten note does take a little effort, there is

pleasure in sitting down with a pen and note card and finding the right words to say, “You matter.” Whatever words I actu- ally write, the fact that I took the time to write the note says just that.

Kirsten Olean, CMP, is director of meetings for the Association of American Medical Colleges (www.aamc.org).

104 pcmaconvene March 2010 Counterpoint: Katharine Hansen, Ph.D.

No.E-mail is the accepted formof business communication; and the

thought,not the medium,counts. Today,the culture ofmostorganizations is so highly e-mail-ori- ented that it’s the postal-mailed, handwritten note that seems out of the ordinary. As long ago as 2002, Accountemps found in a sur- vey that 78 percent of respondents considered e-mailed thank-you messages appropriate, while just 22 percent believed they were inappropriate. Other studies have shown that the format (typed vs. handwrit-

ten) and the communications medium(e-mail vs. postal mail) are far less important than the fact that the sender has demonstrated common courtesy by thanking the recipient for his/her time and consideration. And, despite advice from nearly every career expert that thank-you notes are important—in both job search- es and general business—fewer than half of job-seekers send them. The biggest advantage of an e-mailed thank-you is speed. Par-

ticularly in a job-interview situation inwhich a hiring decision is expected quickly, getting the thank-you in front of the hiring man- ager’s eyes immediately is advantageous. The speedy e-mailed thank-you is also the bestway to conduct damage control ormen- tion information you forgot to bring up in the interview. If the hir- ing manager has requested additionalmaterial, such as writing samples, transcripts, or references, and those can be attached to an e-mail, electronic delivery can get the items into the employ- er’s handsmuch faster than postalmail can. It’s true that a handwritten note can help you stand out, since

postal-mailed, handwritten communications are so unusual these days. Thus, the handwritten vs. e-mailed notemaybe a false choice. Why not do both? Send an immediate e-mail of thanks, and followit up with a handwritten, postal-mailed note.

Katharine “Kathy” Hansen, Ph.D., creative director and associate publisher of Quintessential Careers (www.quint careers.com), is an educator, author, and blogger.

www.pcma.org

ILLUSTRATION BY STEVE SALERNO