Is writing thank you emails after job interviews truly necessary? I’m job hunting for the first time in a while. I’ve wrote them every so often in the past (while cringing); it seemed to make no difference in actually getting hired. What’s the consensus here?

So I might have some authority or pride issues I need to sift through, but to me, emailing a thank you after a job interview seems so unnecessarily fake, sycophantic, and logically unnecessary. I cringe every time I write one. Let's be real, an interview is not a one-sided favor to the interviewee. They need your labor as much as you need their money. I've just never gotten why this is now apparently part of interviewee etiquette, and why basically every “how to get the job” article acts like you'll absolutely be blacklisted if you don't write one.

Personally, I've written relatively few thank you emails post-interview over the years. I've also completely forgotten to write them, or opted out intentionally. The follow-up seemed overwhelmingly contingent on how the actual interview went. If I dropped the ball/was off my game in the interview, writing a thank you didn't help my cause. If I did great but didn't write one, I could still basically expect a follow-up/getting hired.

However, I'm pretty desperate in my current job hunt. I'm doing gigs to make ends meet currently so the pressure is really on to find something to stable. So, basically, if there's a big consensus here that writing them really does make a positive impact (beyond my own limited anecdotal experience they don't), I'm willing to send them, I guess. But I'd like to hear others' experiences here.