phd - How can I thank a senior faculty who's written me a good reference which helped me land a desirable job?

I recently got a good job and I want to thank a very senior professor in my department, who spent time to write me a very good reference.

I am thinking maybe to give him a thank you card when I go to see him before leaving the department.

I come from a culture where gift-giving is considered obligatory if someone has helped you to achieve something major. I'm not sure this is appropriate in the UK context.

Any ideas?

Answer

A thank-you card would be perfect, or even just saying thank you.

There isn't a strong culture of giving thank-you gifts in the UK so your professor won't expect one and certainly won't feel that you are ungrateful if you don't give him something. However, it's almost never inappropriate¹ to give a small gift if that's what you want to do. The suggestions in the other answers (a gift card for a coffee shop, a bottle of wine or especially something from your own country) are all good ideas. I wouldn't spend more than about £10 on such a gift.

¹ The situations where it would be inappropriate would mostly be cases where the gift could be interpreted as a bribe; that obviously isn't the case, here.