- So how exactly should you follow up
after a job interview?
I have a few tips and process to share that can be helpful.
Hi, I'm Dalena Bradley, job interview coach
and career marketing specialist,
and the first order of business
of course is to write that interview thank you note
within 24 hours after you met with the hiring team
to everybody that you met with.
And that is something different
than your follow-up strategy, but that is your,
immediate first order of business.
So that's all taken care of.
And by the way, I've linked to a resource
about writing your thank you note in the comments below.
But really, the followup strategy, you put that into play
if you haven't heard back after the interview.
Ideally, while you're still in the interview,
you have the opportunity or you remember to ask,
kind of when you sense things are wrapping up,
when is their timeframe for making the decision?
And that will help give you a real sense
of how urgently they want to fill the role.
Maybe they're a little bit more general
and they're taking their time.
Maybe they're a little more urgent
and they have an aggressive timeframe.
So that's really helpful,
and it's even more helpful if they give you a specific date.
The other thing that you want to ask them
is what's their preferred way to communicate,
email, phone, text?
You have those two data points then,
their general timeframe for making a decision,
their preferred mode of communication,
and then you can use that
as your foundation for following up.
Let's say they say in two weeks
we hope to have wrapped up all interviews
and we'll have our hiring decision.
Then set an alert in your calendar,
two weeks plus or minus one day
for your first follow-up communication.
And I have linked to a template that you can use
to form your email to them,
and what it should really say is along the lines of,
"I'm checking in, I'm still very interested in the role,
"wondering whether you've made your hiring decision,"
and then maybe you put a note in there
about something that you've noticed
happening with the company
that shows you're keeping an eye on them,
and that you're still interested,
something you've seen in the news
or something else that you had researched
or that you find interesting.
So that could round out your first email.
So how many emails should you send,
and how often should you send them?
After that first email, wait one week,
follow up a second time, wait one week,
follow up a third time,
and if you're still not hearing back,
then it's time to move on.
It is really bad form
if a company is not getting back to you,
given the investment of time that you've made
to research and prepare an interview,
and they've made the investment of time as well.
For whatever reason this happens, and it is frustrating,
but at least with this strategy,
you know that you've done all you can on your end
to continue to show your interest, to be professional,
and to follow up.
And, you know, always remain positive
because if the company,
for whatever reason,
they had some major thing happened internally
that really prevented them from making a decision,
or, you know, there was some problem,
and then they're getting back to you
much later than you thought,
at least you'll still be in good standing,
assuming you haven't already gotten another job,
maybe you still have a shot.
So I hope these tips helped.
For more information on working with me,
go to dalenabradley.com.
In the meantime, I wish you the very best
in your next interview and in your career.