When and How to Follow Up After an Interview

Jobseekers often have a hard time deciding the best way to follow up after an interview. Once it’s over, you’re instantly waiting for feedback. When you are eager to hear about a new opportunity, it can be frustrating to wait, but sometimes the interview process takes a lot longer than you’d like.

The employer has to interview all the suitable candidates, which might take a few weeks since this depends on the availability of both the applicants and everyone who will interview them. To keep your expectations in check, it’s always a good idea to ask the interviewer about their timeline for deciding on a candidate before you leave the interview room. This way you’ll know when it’s appropriate to follow up after an interview.

Post-interview thank you email

For a standard thank-you email, you don’t need to say much beyond your expression of gratitude and continued interest. If you feel motivated to do so, you can mention things that stuck out to you from the conversation or aspects that you’re excited to continue learning about, but there’s no need to rehash your interview if you don’t have anything to add to the conversation, such as a reaction, how you feel, something you later remembered, or additional questions directly related to your conversation.

Post-interview thank you email sample

Thank you for taking the time to talk about the marketing coordinator position earlier today. It was great connecting with you and learning more about who you’re looking for and the company culture.

I remain interested in the role and am excited to continue showing you what I can offer. Please let me know if there is anything else I can send to enhance my application. Otherwise, I am looking forward to hearing from you in the coming week.

Tip: Add a personal touch to your thank-you email by referencing something you and your interviewer bonded over during your conversation. Maybe you had a hobby in common or they revealed something about their life outside of work. Briefly mentioning that detail can help reinforce the relationship and show that you were listening.

What About Physical Follow-Up Letters?

You may have heard stories of people who have skipped the standard interview follow-up email template and instead sent a personalized piece of snail mail. A personal letter, possibly on your very own stationary, has a certain old-school charm. But that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.

Unless you have a pre-existing relationship with the interviewer, then we actually don’t recommend taking this additional step. There’s a chance the interviewer could appreciate the gesture, but there’s an equal chance they’ll see it as overeager.

Sure, you may have seen TikToks or viral videos about creative job applications (did you see the one where an applicant sent their resume in a box of donuts?), but usually these ideas are too clever by half.

Resource:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/when-how-follow-up-after-interview-margaret-buj
https://www.coursera.org/articles/follow-up-email-after-interview
https://spy.com/articles/lifestyle/personal-finance/follow-up-email-after-interview-1202864816/