Following up after the Job Interview

The final stage of nailing the interview is the follow up. After doing all the hard work of preparing for the interview, dressing correctly and being able to answer all the questions which the interviewer asks, the final stage is to follow up from the interview.

Find below a list of the best follow up tactics to use to continue to show your enthusiasm for the role.

Follow up with a letter or email thanking the interviewer for their time and re-expressing your desire for the role and because of your skills and experience you are the right person for the role. A thank you letter not only reiterates your desire, but continues the rapport you already built during the interview.

Rules to follow:

When writing a thank you letter always remember to correctly use their right title and spell their name correctly. Nothing is worse than receiving an email with the persons name spelt incorrectly.

Send your thank you email that evening. You want the interviewer to receive the email in the morning so that they continue to remember who you are and you stay in the forefront of their mind.

Don’t be afraid to follow up with a phone call 3-5 days after the interview. Ideally it is best to ask the interviewer in the interview when they expect to make a decision, but a follow up call is great way to further reiterate your desire for the job.

Do not burn any bridges. You may have felt the interview did not go well or that the role was not for you. That’s ok. Continue your professionalism until the very end. You just never know what else can potentially come from that interview. I have seen cases where the interviewer was impressed with a candidate and although they did not have the right skills for that particular job they created a new position for that candidate.

The big misconception from candidates is that the interviewer does not want to be disturbed with follow up. THIS IS WRONG. Many hiring managers will observe the candidates who do follow up. Stand out from other potential candidates by making sure you follow through to the end.

Example thank you email

Dear Mr./Ms. Last Name:

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to interview for the position of XYZ . It was a pleasure to meet you, and I appreciate your time and consideration in interviewing me for this position.

Following our discussion I consider that I have all the skills and requirements to fulfil your job. Having been a manager for 3 years and a project manager for 2 years, I have the desire to lead the team in a positive and productive way.

In addition to my technical skills I bring enthusiasm and energy into everything I do in order to get the job done in an efficient and timely manner.

I am very keen on this role and working for company ABC. If you require any further information from me please contact me anytime on XXX XXX XXXX.

Thank you again for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Your Full Name

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Comment by Valentino Martinez on June 19, 2011 at 3:37am: Gavin,

Good advice and sample "thank you" email.

Now, is using the word "spelt" your attempt at humor used in the context of cautioning one to spell correctly?

If it is--that's funny. If not, you get two penalty points for doing what you suggest never to do.

Comment by Yonica S.Pimentel on June 21, 2011 at 8:06am: Thanks for sharing. This is a great refresher as many job seekers continue to go through the emotions of searching for work. Many of them are caught in the cycle of applying, but rarely follow-up. Cheers.

Comment by Stephanie McDonald on June 21, 2011 at 10:32am: Spelt is actually in the dictionary.

Comment by Scott Bruman on June 21, 2011 at 12:38pm: yes, spelt and spelled are interchangeable, although spelled is more typically associated with "American" english language.

Comment by Ryder Cullison on June 21, 2011 at 1:23pm: This is a timely post. According to a survey by Careerbuilder, 22 percent of nearly 3,000 hiring managers surveyed, say they are less likely to hire a candidate if he/she does not send a thank-you note after an interview.

Comment by Gavin Redelman on June 21, 2011 at 6:32pm: Hi guys - Thank you for all your comments –

Valentino although "Spelled" is the more common spelling particularly in American English, "spelt" is acknowledged as an alternate spelling and appears to be the more common spelling in British English - (Yes - I am Australian)

Following up from the interview just makes sense! It's so easy to do and just reinforces to the hiring manager that you are keen for the job. Further your following up will also refresh the hiring manager’s memory and give you a competitive advantage over candidates who have not bothered to follow up.

As competition in the marketplace becomes even tougher, standing out from the other candidates requires more than just showing up for the interview. A thank you letter or follow up phone call can be the icing on the cake and help the candidate get the job.

Comment by Gavin Redelman on June 21, 2011 at 6:51pm: There are so many aspects to getting the job - having a professional resume, dressing correctly for the interview, interview preparation, interview questions, following up from the interview and the list goes on.
Sometimes I feel that if people concentrate on doing the small things correctly they would have a much greater chance of finding success with their job seeking. I recently spoke to a candidate who said he went to a job interview for his "dream job" - I asked him if he has followed up with the hiring manager - had he sent a thank you letter. The candidate told me he would just wait for the hiring manger to call him. ... I shook my head ... I never understand this type of attitude.

Comment by BolandGroup on June 22, 2011 at 5:58pm: Gavin,

Not sure if this is a "spelling" error or a "grammatical" error, but you are missing an "apostrophe s" after the word "person" in the following sentence:

“Nothing is worse than receiving an email with the persons name spelt incorrectly.”

Because we are all very human, I encourage my candidates to send me a draft before they send it to the hiring exec. It is always better to have another set of eyes review something before you press send.

I always cut and paste the text into a word document to check spelling. As I did with this post.