If you don’t want to be a speaker, don’t. If you do want to be a speaker, you may do those things, because they make sense. You don’t do them to practice authenticity, you do them because if you love speaking, you do it. You are authentic because you care about your job.

It’s the same thing with interviews and thank you notes. If you love your job, and you’re interviewing candidates, you don’t have to remember to thank people for coming in for the interview. You don’t have to remember to thank people for their time at the end of the interview–you’ll do that because you are an authentic human.

If you’re like me, you need a little checklist/reminder at the beginning of the interview process to stop work-as-normal, and start interviewing. I don’t need to remember to smile, I need to remember to put away the day’s work and focus on the interview. As a hiring manager or team member, you might need some other remembrances.

And, if you’re a candidate, and you liked the interviewer, the team, the organization, by all means, send a thank you note. If you have questions, ask them. If you have concerns, and they are minor, say you want another conversation.

But if you have major concerns or don’t want this job, say so. Or, don’t write a thank you note. Don’t write a fake note, saying you want the job when you don’t.

Authenticity is a necessary part of interviewing–from either side. So, don’t practice authenticity–be authentic.

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