everybody Don Georgevich here
welcome to seven days to mastering the
art of the interview module seven today
we're going to talk about following up
after the interview let's get started in
this video we're going to cover the
following techniques we're going to talk
about email follow-up letters phone
calls I start a follow-up conversation
how to keep that conversation going and
what you should do with your references
okay keep this in mind never walk away
from an interview telling yourself that
the whole job is now out of your hands
that's how unsuccessful job understand
what takes place after the first
interview when ranking the candidates
takes place this is what decides who is
going to have the inside track on
winning the job your follow-up may
actually be the tiebreaker with the job
going to you over some other promising
candidates and even if the employer
already planned to offer you the job
your follow-up creates a sense of
goodwill that can really soak in your
chances for success when you join that
company I encourage you to follow-up
vigorously
it's your caring that counts and you
have some tools to find what you have
email you have letters you have
telephone calls you have references and
and you have email follow-up kind of the
same as email but so what's the benefit
of email versus follow-up the job
interviews well I'll tell you this HR
managers they are strongly in favor of
email I know this because I've talked
them it saves in time they don't have to
call you back they don't have to look up
files and so forth all they have to do
is hit reply even though email is great
it's cheap it's fast it's easy not
everyone agrees that telephone follow-up
calls are dead I mean however at times
the telephone follow-up is actually much
stronger than a email thank-you letter
especially with employers whom you
suspect are traditionalists they like
phones they like fax machines they like
doing things the old way now I like
phone calls me personally I love them I
mean email is cheap anyone can do it
if you really want to separate yourself
from the competition pick up the phone
and call them all the time people email
me and they say well done it's been two
weeks I haven't heard back I emailed
them they don't email me back and my
response is always pick up the phone and
call them but email I mean it does have
its charms a lot of companies do use it
they will respond to you they would
actually prefer it over a phone call
it's up to you to balance that out use
email when you hope to start or continue
a dialogue with an interviewer email is
more conversational and easier for a
quick reply but on the other hand it's
also easier to say no in an email than
on a telephone use email when a quick
action matters I mean the job can be
fooled while you're waiting for postal
mail to be delivered so shooting that
thank-you letter off at an email it can
be there in seconds and it really can
make the difference we use email if
that's the way you sent your resume to
this company in the first place
especially if the employer requested
electronic communication in the job ad
so you're just continuing with what they
set in the first place always use email
when you're dealing with high-tech firms
the firm's hiring authorities they
probably don't even remember what paper
is and voicemail is just a bother to
them construct your email messages
differently than you do letters keep
your email follow-up short and don't
send it as an attachment and you can see
how I do this in perfect thank-you
letters if you need more examples as for
the length of your thank-you or
follow-up letter don't babble on only
say what needs to be said and generally
you want to have a quick little intro a
body and then you want to close you want
to wrap it up and that's where you say
you know I hope to hear from you soon so
ideally you know just three very short
paragraphs is all you need for a perfect
email thank-you letter and don't forget
put your contact information in this
because even though the interviewer you
know can push the reply button and get
back to you with ease you want to make
sure that your phone numbers there
because they just might want to pick up
the phone and give you a call and one
more point here use a good subject line
put some kind of sales pizazz in it
where you say you know thank you for
reviewing my qualifications you know for
the blank position something like that
but reference the name of the position
and this will help jog their memory when
do you send your letters you can write
your thank you letter for the interview
within 24 hours and this is going to
strengthen the good impression that
you've already made and you can even
send it within a couple hours of your
interview if you don't hear back from
them with a specified amount of time and
they've just kind of lucky it dangling
in the wind waiting for a hiring
decision then you should consider
picking up the phone and calling them
which brings me to when should you call
them on the phone if you can call if you
call if you call the interviewer too
often you're going to waste their prime
time work hours you're going to annoy
them and you're probably going to
jeopardize your opportunity for the job
so you want to space out your follow-up
calls maybe once every three weeks if
you call your interviewer too often
you're going to end up wasting their the
prime time work hours you're going to
annoy them and you're probably going to
jeopardize your opportunity for the job
they're just going to see you as a pest
so spaced out your follow-up calls maybe
once every three weeks is probably
plenty unless they told you differently
if they said they are making a hiring
decision in two weeks
then you better call him after one week
to see where they're at if they say
they're four weeks out then call them
after two or three weeks a long time ago
when job seekers wanted to call up the
the hiring manager all they really had
to worry about was getting past the
gatekeeper or they're mad that managers
assistant and now we have voicemail in
there which is just another roadblock
that just kind of keeps those job
seekers from trying to set up interviews
or follow-up interviews so when you pick
up the phone and you call your
interviewer and so the big question here
is when you pick up the phone to call
your interviewer the big question is
what do you do when you get their
voicemail and it's really not it because
when you get it because you're probably
going to get it and the question that's
on your mind is should I leave a message
on voicemail or not and there's a lot of
opinions on this but as a practical
matter you may have to leave a message
if you don't connect after the first few
calls but keep in mind that caller ID is
now your enemy and if they see you know
you've called 17 times and are all
hangups from your number well that
really doesn't look good for you either
but ideally you should have some type of
voicemail script all planned out before
you call just in case you get the
voicemail and you can be ready with some
kind of scripted message just like this
and 30 seconds is all you need you could
say something like hey this is dawn I'm
calling about the IT management position
just wanted to follow up with you on the
status and see when you plan to make a
decision and that's good enough and if
you wanted to add something else in
there you could throw this in you could
say you know after reflecting on some of
the issues that you mentioned during our
meeting I have a great idea on how to
solve you know that blank-blank problem
that you mentioned and I share my ideas
with you my number is like Mike you know
and that's it that's a perfect a
scripted message that sounds natural
it's got a lot of flow it creates a
little bit of intrigue you know the
interviewer is probably thinking you
know I hate what problem or what kind of
solution does he have to our problem
okay let's look at a few conversation
starters this is after you pick up the
phone to call them and they answer and
they're ready to start talking you say
something like hey this is Don
georgiyevich I just wanted to follow up
with you on the IT management position
so here's a few different things you can
say you could start off by saying hey is
this a good time to talk and then you
know you can talk about the position a
little bit and then if you are at a loss
for
or how to keep that conversation going
there's a couple other things you can
say something like you know hey I think
you'd be interested to know you know and
then mention something that connects
back to the first interview or you could
say something like you know I forgot to
give you more information on blank you
know and then elaborate you know what
that was you can also say something like
you know while listening to you in the
last interview I neglected to mention my
experience in plank you know and then
elaborate on that now these are just
some ideas you don't have to use them
it's just a way to eliminate any kind of
dead space in the interview because
after you find out you know what they're
doing what their plans are you might
want to keep talking to them so these
are a few things you can use to to
re-energize that conversation and keep
it going a little bit longer because the
longer you keep that conversation going
I think the better chances you have of
landing the job and the whole point is
to keep your conversation topic relevant
to the job and not make up a bunch of BS
to talk about yeah if none of those
starters above will work for you then
come up with something that will don't
take my advice that might not work and
try to force it to work for you because
you see every situation is different
I can't be there with you on the phone I
can't tell you exactly what to say but I
can tell you that you should anticipate
how your conversation is going to go and
have some notes in front of you of
things you can say or do or questions
you can ask to keep that conversation
going okay here's a few more ideas to
keeping the conversation moving you can
try these they may or may not work for
you remind the interviewer of why you're
so special what makes you so unique
do you have exceptional work in a
specific area talk about it talk about
you know what you bring to the table
that makes you different
establish a common denominator of a work
or business philosophy something like
you know hey it seems like we both
approach work in the name of you know
blank industry from the same angle you
know some kind of common ground there's
is a good thing to interject into
conversation note some kind of shared
interest that benefits the employer you
can say something like hey I found this
new website that may interest you
you know it's X Y Z com it reports on
news items that we discussed in the
interview you know would you like that
URL but again the whole point here is to
keep it relevant don't make up stuff
otherwise you're just going to appear
less genuine these are just ideas to get
you thinking you don't have to use any
of them or all of them more if you find
one that just helps you then this lesson
is going to be a success for you okay
let's move on to references references
can make all the difference and everyone
seems to really make this harder than it
is
what you want to do is select your
references very carefully these should
be people that you've worked with even
customers but not family or friends they
don't have to be from your most recent
job they can be from several years ago
but you need to keep in contact with
your references to let them know that
you're still interviewing for jobs and
if it's okay to still list them as a
reference because the prospective
employer might call them these people
could be managers or coworkers are most
commonly managers and co-workers don't
put anyone down on your reference sheet
who you don't trust 100% now I've only
ever had for references my entire career
and I use these same people all the time
they were customers and managers and
people that I've worked with throughout
my career and what employers would call
them my references did such an excellent
job of selling me that the job was in
the bag every time it was just a
guaranteed slam-dunk okay that's it for
seven days to mastering the art of the
interview I hope you I hope you learned
a lot
but I'll tell you this if you practice
and follow everything that I've taught
you in the past seven days over the
course of a month I can guarantee you
that you're going to impress your
interviewers and start getting more job
offers now if you're still struggling
with what to say to interviewers when
they ask you all of those questions I
highly recommend the complete interview
answer guide it's an awesome resource
it's going to teach you how to answer
behavior questions common questions
identity questions it's going to help
you with any kind of question that
you'll ever be faced with in any job
interview situation from all the
comments that I've been reading and
since this seven days to mastering the
art went so well I'm working on a new
follow-up series it's more of an
advanced interview training program and
I'll let you know through email as soon
as it's ready I mean heck it might even
be ready right now just look on the
right-hand side of this page for
something called advanced interview
training concepts or something like that
if you're not watching this video at job
interview tools com you're probably not
subscribed to receive the full program
so head on over to Joppa every tools
calm slash 7 days and register so you
can be sure that you're getting the full
program in your email plus you'll even
get more resources that i only share an
email it's all free so you have nothing
to worry about
and of course I would love to hear your
comments about this program what did you
think of seven days to mastering the art
of the interview did it help you in your
job search or your interviews what
worked and what didn't I would love to
hear your story hey that's all I have
for you today I'll see you in my
advanced interview concepts video
training program next I'm down Georgia
[ __ ] stay on your game I'm here to help
you succeed so you can enjoy a
prosperous career and legal lifestyle
that you love I'll see you soon bye bye
hey John this is Charlene cool on theory
and I just want to thank you for a
wonderful book I've been through several
of them some actually have hurt me in
getting a job
I was just quite funny but I just wanted
to tell you that your book was awesome
I've shared it with other people as well
I was in a complex kind of a situation
complex in meaning that I was in a very
highly competitive environment and all
your questions and your continued
support throughout the throughout the
process to me was awesome it was a long
process but I ended up with an awesome
job and I couldn't have gotten there
without you so again I think you're the
best I think you're the best that money
can offer and I just want to thank you
for all your private emails as well as
your continued support throughout the
whole process you are awesome I hope you
use some of the things that I provided
as well I think that you touched on so
many wonderful areas the interview
process and one of my last interviews
the woman asked me if I felt lucky and I
said you betcha and the next day I got
offered the job so thanks to you thanks
to your book
thanks to your continued support you're
the best thank you so much have a
wonderful have a wonderful week month
and continue sharing your thoughts to
those of us who needed your help
thanks again bye