How to Follow-Up After an Interview

 

Sometimes, the most stressful part of an interview is the waiting that comes after the interview has taken place.  Did the interviewers like you?  Are they still interested in moving forward with you?  Will you get the job?  These questions can be stressful to think about when you're waiting to hear back.  Here is a good way to follow-up after the interview that stays within the professional lines. 

1. Ask about the hiring process before you leave your interview

Before you leave your interview, ask them what their timeline is in regards to hiring.  Are they looking to hiring someone right away?  How long does their interviewing process take place?  By asking these questions, you can get a good idea of when you are most likely to hear from them. Some companies can range from one day to a few weeks in getting back to you.  Get a better idea of what your waiting period will be like before you leave. 

2. Wait a week before following-up

Give your interviewers some time before you start following up with them.  The general rule is to wait roughly a week before you contact them to follow-up.  Remember, they could be busy interviewing other candidates or busy doing their job.  Give them a bit of time to evaluate you as a candidate. 

3. Avoid Mondays to contact them

The general rule is that you shouldn't contact the prospective companies on Mondays.  Chances are, people are catching up on their work email from the weekend and might not have time to focus on you or the hiring process.  Give people time to get back into the work routine on Mondays and wait until early Tuesday to contact them.  If they have pressing emails that are coming in on Monday, those will take precedence over your follow-up email. 

4. Be persistent but don't be annoying

If you contact the employer and don't hear back from them, contact them again in the few days. Don't contact them every day because if they're busy with other tasks (which they most likely are), you will come off as annoying and that may deter their decision to hire you.  You want to show that you're interested and proactive but you don't want to overdo it.  Respect their time by allowing them time to reply to you. 

5. If possible, get feedback

In case a company decides that they don't want to move forward with you, take that opportunity to find out what you could have done better.  Sometimes, the hiring manager may be too busy to answer this question but if you can get some constructive feedback as to why you weren't selected, it can help you improve for your future interviews.  It might have been something you said in the interview, or it might have been something that showed up on your resume.  Whatever the reason, try and get some feedback so you can avoid making that same mistake again. 

6. Don't take it personally!

Don't take it personally if you didn't get hired.  There could be hundreds of reasons why the candidate decided to move forward with someone else.  The company might have decided that they didn't need to hire someone after all, or they could have decided to switch what they were looking for.  No matter what happens, take every interview as a learning process to improve on your job search.  Your interviews can improve if you learn from each one and apply it to future ones.