E-Mailing Thanks? Look at the Clock First

Here's a tip for everyone writing electronic thank-you notes after networking meetings and actual interviews. (If you aren't writing a thank you note within a day of meeting someone who's helping in your job search, you should be!)

Leslie Warner, director of Alumni/ae Career Services at Tufts University recommends you only e-mail your thank you notes, or any other communication, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. unless you know your recipients don't have their Blackberrys turned on 24/7 for their clients and other work requirements.

I recently heard from a financial services guy who says folks earnestly send him thank you letters after he meets with them - and they do it at 1 a.m. He has to get out of bed and check what it is because it might be a client issue to address. When it ends up being a request for information or a thank you note, it makes him cranky.

So don't sabotage your job search efforts with a well-meaning but mistimed correspondence. Compose your letters at 2 a.m., but don't hit the send button until the next business day.

Ingrid Goldbloom Bloch, a career counselor and career development trainer from Massachusetts.