You just left a job interview, and you are feeling confident that you aced it. Now what are you supposed to do? If you are uncertain of the next step to take, you are not alone as many job applicants feel the same way. Here are a few tips on what to do next.
1. Follow up quickly. It is important that you quickly contact each person you met during your interview. It is recommended to follow up by email within the first 24 hours of your meeting. This is also a great opportunity for you to ask any questions that you may not have remembered to ask during the interview. It is important to check your grammar and spelling when sending your follow up email as this is another important impression of you.
2. Reiterate your interest. In your email, you shouldn’t just thank each individual you met during the interview, but also explain again why you are interested in the position. It is also a good idea to add specific details regarding the position that you learned during your interview. This shows that you were paying attention during the process.
3. Snail mail isn’t recommended. Now that we are in the digital age and a majority of the workforce is remote or has a hybrid schedule, a physical thank-you isn’t necessary to send. Although mailing a written thank you comes from a good place, a physical thank you note is just too slow of a communication method.
4. Complete deliverables. Besides sending an email follow up, make sure you are also being timely with sending back items that you were assigned. This could be anything from a behavioral assessment to providing your portfolio for them to review.
5. Check in strategically. Now that you have sent a follow up and completed the action steps after the interview, it may be important to do a second follow up. Do not reach out daily as you do not want to come across as desperate. Email is generally the preferred option to contact the employer. Please note if the company did not give you a timeline for when a decision would be made, consider following up a week after your previous email. If they mentioned it may take a couple of weeks to reach a decision, respect this.
6. Be courteous. Employers may decide not to hire a candidate due to them being impatient or seeming too eager. Remain patient and polite even if it may be difficult to wait.
7. You need to know when to walk away. If after a second follow up, you still do not hear anything regarding the position, you may want to consider walking away from the opportunity. Extended silence could mean that they have either chosen a different candidate or their hiring team is unorganized. No matter the reason, it is not worth additional energy to continue pursuing the position when you could be applying for others.
As you wait patiently to hear back from an employer, remember that companies are most likely considering hundreds of candidates so you are not the only person following up on their interview. And with other tasks needing to be done as well as hiring a new candidate, it may be taking longer than anticipated to make the final decision.
https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/news/2022/aug/how-follow-up-after-job-interview.html
