The Lost Art Of Saying Thanks
by Sima Dahl
When I was a kid, my parents insisted that I send my thank you notes out within 48 hours, and I cheerlessly but promptly complied under threat of having to GIVE MY TOYS BACK (gasp.) And if you knew my mother, you would have believed her too.
So it is with great sadness that I feel I must remind you, Gentle Reader, to say thank you. Exactly *how* you say thank you is a topic for another post. For now, I encourage you to follow Mom’s 48-hour rule and say thanks to anyone who invests in you. I understand that sometimes 48-hours isn’t feasible but worry not, in those instances the old adage “better late than never” holds true.
Shocking but True
What do I mean by “investments?” Broadly, any time someone takes a minute to help, advise, counsel, refer, recommend, coach, listen to or otherwise give you the time of day, say thanks. Just the other day, a former colleague pinged me on LinkedIn. A recruiter in my network had posted a job opportunity and this woman wanted to apply – would I forward along her credentials with a referral?
Bien sur! I dropped what I was doing, typed up a quick note to the recruiter and passed along her resume. You know where I’m going with this. I never heard from her again, two weeks and counting. What’s more, I never heard from the recruiter either! WTF people? This is so not the way to endear me to your cause, encourage me to invest more time in you, or get that little thing I call job-karma working in your favor. Everyone is busy – super super busy – I get that. But if you don’t have 90 seconds to send a note or leave a voicemail then I’m thinking you don’t have time to ask me for anything in the first place.
(Note: if the individuals referenced above are in fact innocent but were prevented from saying thanks by earthquake, flood or other act of God then I take it back. If not then my Mom says ‘shame on you.’)
