Ive been hiring people for 10 years, and I still swear by a simple rule

Ive been hiring people for 10 years, and I still swear by a simple ruleIve been hiring people for 10 years, and I still swear by a simple ruleMaking someone an offer to join your company is always risky.The truth is, the hiring process can only uncover so much. You are often basing your decision on a small sample of data that you collected during a few hours of speaking with them (sometimes bedrngnis even in person).And sure, maybe you had them take a test or complete an exercise, and you talked to three people who worked with them previously. But still, you never really know how its going to work out until they come on board. And sometimes even the most promising hires turn out to be the wrong fit.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreAs the executive managing editor of Insider Inc., I interview people all the time for open jobs. I have hired hundreds of them.When I first started hir ing, I came up with a simple rule We shouldnt move a candidate to the next stage in the interview process unless they send a thank-you email.Iwrote a piece in 2012that explained the No. 1 mistake that people I interviewed were making not sending thank-you emails. Many people disagreed with me. I received lots of angry emails.Still, seven years later, I stand by it.(To be clear, I am not speaking about handwritten, snail-mail thank-you notes. As I wrote back then,you should never send a handwritten thank-you note. That still stands.)As a hiring manager, you should always expect a thank-you email, and you should never make an offer to someone who neglected to send one.Why?The thank-you email reflects two important thingsIt signals that the person wants the job - or rather, no thank-you email signals the person probably doesnt want the job. The handful of times weve moved forward with a candidate despite not receiving a thank you, weve been ghosted, or the offer we make is ultimately rejected. A few times, the offer is accepted, but the person pulls out before their start date or leaves after a few months.How someone presents in interviews might not translate to effectiveness in the role. While sending a thank-you note doesnt necessarily guarantee the person will be a good hire, it gives you the tiniest bit more data The candidate is eager, organized, and well-mannered enough to send the note. It shows resourcefulness too because the candidate often has to hunt down an email address the interviewer never gave them. At Insider Inc., we look to hire good eggs. The thank-you email is a mark for the good egg column.To be clear, a thank-you note does not ensure someone will be a successful hire.But using the thank-you email as a barrier to entry has proved beneficial, at least at my company.This article first appeared on Business Insider.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people