So, you nailed the interview—you felt well-prepared and answered all of your interview questions as practiced. The interviewers looked impressed, and you left the interview feeling excited and only a bit sweaty. But you, a professional, know that the interview is not the last place you can make an impression before the organization sends out job offers. You know now you can follow up after your job interviews to make yourself memorable.
And the good news is there are tons of options for following up after an interview. So, check out some of our top tips to impress your future employer below and choose how you’ll make yourself memorable in the interviewers’ minds.
The Best Ways to Follow Up after Your Job Interviews
It’s probably not news to you by now that it’s a good idea to follow up with an interviewer or hiring manager after having a job interview. But, of course, not every organization is the same, so your method of following up shouldn’t be either.
Depending on the company and the people interviewing you, here are some options you can use to follow up.
1. Send a Follow up Email to Say Thank You
Probably the most popular and easy of all options is the email.
Our advice is to send an email thanking the employers for the opportunity to meet with them and interview at their organization. Crucially, address your interviewers by name (make sure to spell it correctly!) and mention your appreciation for other interviewers or managers in the room, as well.
You can also reiterate your interest in the position and very subtly drop in something that resonated with you from the interview to show you were paying close attention to the interview and are very keen on landing the gig. Then, you can finish the email by saying you look forward to hearing back from them.
For example:
Hi Kendra,
Thanks so much for meeting with me over Zoom yesterday to discuss the copywriter position you’re hiring for. It was so great getting to chat with you and hear about Workwolf—the company’s async, work from home model is exactly what I’m looking for and really suits my writing habits. I’m also super excited to further my SEO training via WordPress’s blog features, as you mentioned is something I might anticipate doing in this position.
Please let me know if I may offer you, Agustin, Lara K., and Lara C. anything further in the meantime. I’m looking forward to hearing back from you.
Best wishes,
Wally Watson (they/them)
And as Art Markman suggests in “4 Ways to Follow Up After a Job Interview” on the Harvard Business Review, if you don’t hear back from the organization within a week of your interview, send them another email to follow up.
This email, Markman says, can be as simple as reiterating your interest in the position and asking if a decision has been made since you last spoke. In this message, you can also reiterate something you found particularly engaging in the interview or why you find you’d be a great fit for the organization.
And, if you’re feeling so bold, finish by saying you’re looking forward to working with them at the organization. (Sometimes confidence really does pay off!)
2. Request a LinkedIn Connection
Especially if you found the job posting you interviewed for on LinkedIn, make sure to follow the organization on LinkedIn to show you’re eager to work for them or even just keep in touch.
And, if you haven’t done so before your interview, make sure to connect with the interviewer(s) and hiring managers following it. Once you’re connected, you can also send a message directly to the interviewer(s)/managers to say thank you there instead of an email.
This way, you’ll remain in the fronts of their minds and will have your professional information even more at-the-ready if they ever want to revisit your resume or credentials.
And, while maybe this should go without saying by now, make sure to be especially careful of what social media profiles you have public when reaching out via one. Certainly, your LinkedIn will show you in a strictly professional light, but just in case your interviewers get curious about you any further, make sure your other social media profiles are clean and/or private from the public eye.
3. Deliver a Handwritten Note
Perhaps on the other end of the follow up spectrum of choices—that is, on the more old-fashioned or personal end, as opposed to the digital end—is the handwritten note. This is a more unique approach and has potential for great pay off especially with more old-fashioned or traditional organization.
As well, it might be a great touch if the organization favours or thematically suits this medium. (Imagine the irony of sending a team hiring for a stationary retail position an e-card!)
And the great thing about handwritten cards is you can really personalize the letter itself. Maybe use some thicker, more professional paper and pens to show how much care you put into the card.
Then, either hand-deliver the card to the receptionist to show you respect the team’s time and space during working hours, or you can mail the card soon after your interview to make sure it lands on their desks before they make any hiring decisions.
4. Make a Quick Phone Call
Our last suggestion, and maybe the most powerful of all the options is the phone call. Phone calls are a great option for following up at many different organizations particularly because they are inherently personal. This is because you’re calling them in particular, and aren’t just copying and pasting an email template from the internet.
They’re also great for reiterating your friendly and professional personality and for reminding the interviewer(s) of your voice and perhaps even your answers from the interview.
But crucially, make sure your phone call is brief to show you respect their time during working hours. For example:
“Hi Kendra, it’s Wally Watson. I won’t keep you long; I just called to thank you for your time interviewing me for the copywriting position yesterday. It was great meeting you, Agustin, Lara K., and Lara C., and discussing the role at Workwolf. Is there anything further I might offer you and the team at this time?”
This, to us, sounds professional, excited, and thoughtful—just the kind of worker we’d want on our team!
Do you have any other ways you follow up your job interviews? We’d love to hear them! Leave a comment on our LinkedIn post for this blog letting us know. And, as always, good luck!
