Most millennials are missing a crucial part of the job application process.

Another day, another thing millennials are supposedly doing wrong. What a time to be alive.

This time, it comes down to job interviews.

Just last week, we stumbled on an article Girlboss that spoke highly of job applicants who send thank you notes after a job interview.

Yes, a thank you note.

The article quotes a survey that found three-quarters of hiring managers did not receive thank you notes after an interview.

According to a survey conducted by executive search firm Chaloner last year, 75 per cent of hiring managers and interviewers did not receive thank you notes (of any kind) from interviewees, and for 30 per cent of those hiring managers, the oversight was a deal breaker,” the piece read.

Could it be true? Could we all be royally messing up our prospects of employment because we didn’t spend two minutes following up after a job interview?

Mamamia’s People and Culture Manager Nicolle Stuart says yes, it’s absolutely true.

“Thank you notes aren’t as common as you would think, so they always stand out. We ordinarily interview five or six candidates in our first round of recruitment and sometimes only one or two will send an email following up,” Nicolle says.

Listen: The Mamamia Out Loud team take a look at ‘Do you have kids?’ and other questions you can’t ask in a job interview.

Nicolle believes they are “really important” and can be the “cherry on top” of a great interview.

“Hiring managers really appreciate it as well. They aren’t recruiting as much as the People and Culture team, so for them, it really stands out and can make them look more favourably upon a candidate. As they ultimately make the decision, it’s always a great move!”

Nicolle adds there’s a really strong correlation between the strength of an applicant and whether they followed up after the interview.

“More often or not, people that follow up are the strongest applicants anyway, so it solidifies the picture you have already painted of them. It’s reassuring when a strong candidate does send a thank you email. It wouldn’t impact the right candidate’s chances of getting the role, but what I would say is it goes a long way to impressing a hiring manager and others in the recruitment process.”

So what’s actually the best way to go about it? Are we talking about an actual, physical letter here?

“Email is fine,” Nicolle says, adding she’s “not sure that text is appropriate, or that hand-written is necessary in this day and age.

“It’s all about the context though, if you’ve been communicating throughout the process via text it might be worthwhile.”

However, she believes “an email is the safest bet”.

“It also gives you an opportunity to do it quickly and remain top of mind while you’re still fresh in the interviewer’s mind – remember they are interviewing lots of people.”