Follow-up on an Interview & not hearing from a recruiterMr. EndicottPersonal Career Planning Class 110

Why should you follow-up on an interview?• It is expected• To remind the recruiter• Help them remember you• You will stand out• Keeps your name in front of them• To be proactive• It shows you care• It shows you are interested• If the search drags out they still have your name• Typically you can assume the company hired someone else

within 3-4 weeks from your interview

How do you follow-up?• Either via email or a card/letter• In most cases, they say, an email

is the best way to follow up after an interview—it's fast, friendly, and unobtrusive, and doesn't put pressure on the hiring manager to stop everything they're doing and take your phone call, listen to your voicemail and call you back, or return a paper letter.

• Within 24-48 hours• The follow-up should always include: 1) your legitimate and

enthusiastic interest in the job and 2) why you’re best candidate for the job, including a quick highlight of applicable experience and skills.

What do you say when you follow-up?

• Show appreciation for the employer's interest in you. • Reiterate your interest in the position and in the organization. • Review or remind the employer about your qualifications for

the position. If you thought of something you forgot to mention in the interview, mention it in your follow-up / thank-you letter.

• Demonstrate that you have good manners and know to write a thank-you letter.

• Follow up with any information the employer may have asked you to provide after the interview.

Send that thank you note/email NOW!

• To view various examples of thank you letters go here-• http://www.salisbury.edu/careerservices/students/OtherCar

eerEmails/Default.html

What do you do if you did poorly on the first interview?• Make sure you are not overreacting. Ask for feedback on your

interview• Follow up with the hiring manager/ HR person• Ask what they thought went well/what you could do better• See what kind of response you get• Remember that follow up is also part of the

interview• Being open to feedback is a sought after

characteristic from employers• Some may refuse due to company policy

• Be honest and ask for a second chance• Find folks who work in the company/trusted

colleagues connected to it. Have them act as supportive references for you

What if you don’t hear from the recruiter?

• Before your interview ended, your interviewer should have informed you of the organization's follow-up procedures

• If the interviewer did not tell you, and you did not ask, use your follow-up / thank-you letter to ask.

• If more than a week has passed beyond the date when you were told you would hear something from the employer, call or email to politely inquire about the status of the organization's decision-making process.

• A polite inquiry shows that you are still interested in the organization and may prompt the employer to get on schedule with a response.

• In your inquiry, mention the following: name of the person who interviewed you, time and place of the interview, position for which you are applying (if known), and ask the status of your application.

• Rule of Thumb-email immediately after interview>wait 10 days to 2 weeks and contact again>after 3-4 weeks of contacts it is time to assume they hired someone else

Why don’t you hear from recruiters? (By Lisa Rangel-Yahoo small business advisors)

• Corporate HR people and search firm recruiters are middle men/women

• Most are well-intentioned and want to move candidates through the process to get the open job off their desk.

• To keep the candidate hopeful, the recruiter says things like “I will let you know by Friday” or “I am expecting the manager to get back to me ASAP” with full intent on making that happen. Then the manager does not get back to the recruiter, leaving the recruiter in an awkward and frustrated position.

• Some recruiters simply manage the process poorly • The bottom line is most middlemen/women have little to no control in

the process and often make promises they cannot keep. Example: “I hope to hear by Friday, but you have to know I have no control over when they will tell me. If you have not heard from me by Monday or Tuesday the latest, please feel free to check in with me. But know that if I hear anything, I will let you know.”

Why don’t they return my emails?

• Hiring managers (or line managers) that are responsible for pulling the trigger typically have no idea that a communication deadline was made to the candidate by a recruiter.

• Also there are hiring managers that know this, but just frankly do not care. They often do not get back to the corporate recruiters or the third party recruiter that might be in between in a timely fashion.

Why don’t you contact me?• Lastly, but certainly not least, many people have a hard time: • 1. Giving bad news (the manager chose someone else) • 2. Saying they were wrong (I am sorry that I said I would have

an answer for you by tomorrow and now that tomorrow is here and I do not have an answer)

• 3. Saying they have no clue what is going on “I must admit the manager said this was a priority, so that is why I communicated urgency to you. I have no idea why they are now not responding on the next step).

• As a result, with any of these scenarios, many people choose to just avoid it and never make the phone call or send the email and focus on other priority jobs.

What about all that time I put in the application?• Do not hold on to the results of the actions the recruiter takes

personally.• Take the actions to move forward during the job search

transition (send emails, do follow-up, go to interviews, apply for the job, network, etc.) and try not to tie expectations to each result.

• When you can let go of expectations, you are not often disappointed and you are then open for other wonderful things to come into your life.

The moral of this pp is• Don’t be upset if you do not hear back from an employer• Don’t take anything in the job search personally-stay positive

and hopeful