Have you had an interview recently? Do you have a big one coming up? If so, here’s your reminder to send that follow-up (or be ready to send it) ASAP after your interview! To help, our Catch Crew created this collective guide on how to rock your interview follow-ups!
Send it ASAP
First of all, there’s an art to every great interview follow-up. The most important thing you’ll want to remember is a 24-hour window for you to follow up after an interview. A timely follow-up email will go a long way in making an impression on the hiring manager or team.
The general rule of thumb is if your interview is in the morning, make sure to follow up before the end of the workday. If the interview is in the afternoon, it’s important to get that follow-up out before lunch the following day.
Personalize Your Interview Follow-up
When it comes to customizing a follow-up message, be sure to refer to anything unique you talked about. However be careful, because there is such a thing as being too generic or too eager. An email that comes off as “too generic” gets overlooked, and one that comes off as “too eager” gets deemed unauthentic or desperate.
A follow-up can be as simple as referring to a specific talking point from the interview or as personal as sending well wishes to their daughter who they told you has a soccer game in the evening. Being attentive to details will make a candidate stick out during the interview process! See some examples below:
- “I heard what you said about ___ and here’s how I could help with that ___.” This can show that you were paying attention and engaged during the interview. You can also take this opportunity to further show your interest in the role by exemplifying how you could help with whatever pain they explained to you.
- “Is there anything else on my resume or in my credentials that I can clear up for you?” This can show your interviewer that you are serious about the opportunity and are prepared to move forward in the interview process.
- “Thank you for your time, I look forward to hearing back from you!” This has the potential to come off as “too generic” and, if paired with an untimely follow-up, could be the demise of that interview!
Choose Your Method of Following-up
There are a few things to keep in mind when choosing your method of following up. For example, how did you get connected to this opportunity? Was this an application you submitted in LinkedIn, Indeed, or Glassdoor? Or was this set up by a personal connection who pulled a few strings for you? Be sure to be sensitive to this, as it can help guide what method you use to follow up on an interview!
Some of our favorite ways that candidates make themselves memorable when following up after an interview are:
- A phone call (this is great if a friend made the direct connection for you),
- A well-thought-out text message (for instances when it’s not a good time to call),
- A handwritten note sent to the office (no, these are not outdated!),
- Connecting with your interviewer on LinkedIn and messaging them on there.
If you didn’t know anyone going into the interview, a timely and specific email regarding your appreciation, interest, and timeline would be more appropriate than a call or text. It’s all about how formal the interview is, how you made the connection to the company, and who you know!
Also, if this was a referral from a friend or closer acquaintance, you might want to consider following up with and thanking your peer/friend/coworker that got you that connection via one of the methods above!
Take it a Few Steps Further
There are a few instances where you will want to consider sending out multiple follow-ups. If your interview involved several shorter interviews with different people, you may want to consider copying, sending separate emails, or connecting with anyone you interacted with during the interview on LinkedIn. It’s common for interviews to include a shadowing opportunity, so it would be appropriate to follow up with the person you shadowed too.
If you have a personal contact that directly introduced you to the opportunity, send that person a follow-up with how the interview went and thank them for that connection!
Finally, the Catch Crew advises you to stay on top of any call to action that was discussed during the interview. Did you all discuss sharing portfolio work? Maybe they need a letter of recommendation or require an on-site visit (if the interview was virtual). Be sure that you refer to these requests in your follow-up and that you coordinate or send them over ASAP!
We hope that these tips and tricks help you to understand the art of following up. If you would like the chance to put these skills to the test, head to our job board to browse our available job openings and we’ll see what we can do to get you on the right track! See you there!
