So I have accepted a position at a school district, and I am very excited! I have a question though on etiquette for thank you letters. I always send a thank you after a job interview, and I do want to send thank you notes to the other schools I interviewed with before this offer. Because I don't sign my contract until next week, I don't want to officially withdraw my candidacy, just in case. I don't foresee there being any problems, but I'd rather wait. That being said, I had an interview Monday and a demo Tuesday, both before this job offer that I have yet to send thank yous for. What do I say? I plan on keeping it short and sweet, but I'm struggling to think of how to phrase it. Normally I'll include some lines about why I'm so awesome and why I'd be such a good fit for their school . But after I say thank you for your time...then what?
Thank them for their time and consideration and that you enjoyed learning about the job at their school, but let them know that you have accepted a position elsewhere. I think you can get away with 3 sentences or so.
But I don't want to say that I've accepted a position elsewhere...yet. I want to wait until I'm approved by the board and my contract is signed so I can be sure nothing will go wrong. That happens next week.
I had a similar situation. I had the preliminary interview in one district and then the following day I was offered a position at another school district. Then the following day the district in which I had the preliminary district emailed me to set up the 2nd round of interviews. I wrote something to the effect of: It was nice meeting both interviewers. However after the initial interview I was offered a job in another district in which I have since accepted. I appreciated them thinking highly enough of me to make it to the next round of interviews. Good luck in your candidate search and enjoy your summer. Short and sweet.
I guess what I was trying to get at is although I am 99.9% sure that everything will be fine and I have this job until next year, I haven't been board approved or signed the contract yet. I have already received positive emails from the Superintendent and the Director of Personnel in response to my thanks for the interview/job offer, so I know I'm probably fine. But better safe than sorry! So what I was asking more-so was thanking them without officially saying I've accepted another job. Maybe it just can't be done!
I would simply send something saying you want to thank them for considering you as a candidate and for their time. Leave it at that. If it's some place I REALLY want to be a part of then I go into more things about really enjoying learning about their school and specific programs etc...ad how I'd be honored to get to be a part of such a fantastic faculty etc....I'd say just be very brief yet professional.
I would phrase it the exact same as you would a few days ago before you knew you had a job. If you don't want them to know and they are still your back up then don't treat them any differently.
I would just write them the same kind of thank you note that you usually do and leave it at that. If they offer you a job or ask for a second interview, you can decide what to do when that comes up.
Congrats on your new job! My take would be to send regular thank you letters to the other places. You'll cover your bases, and, once you sign that contract, then you can inform the others that you've accepted another offer. If we as applicants shouldn't offer unless asked, why inform schools when they don't need to know!
