Most candidates put their best foot forward for the job interview. They suit up, turn up and show up to make the best impression with the employer.

But about 90-95% of interview candidates forget this one thing and assume that everything is done once they wrap up the interview, shake the interviewer’s hand and leave the company’s premises.

This is less about what happens before or during the interview.

It’s what happens after the interview.

Most candidates forget to follow up.

All things being equal, the candidate who follows up will stand out, leave a stronger and better impression, and ultimately land the dream job.

A former software engineer for Google mentioned that for the 150+ interviews she conducted for software engineering positions, she only received 1 thank-you note!

22% of hiring managers say they are less likely to hire a candidate if they don’t send a thank-you note after an interview. – CareerBuilder survey of more than 2800 US employers

And I can tell from experience that of the countless individuals we send for internships, only a mere 5-10% bothered or remembered to follow up.

The whole point of following up is to keep the connection fresh, reiterate your interest in working for the company and hopefully set the stage for the next engagement (i.e. getting hired).

Crafting a thank you note need not be tedious. For it to be effective, it:

  • should be short and sweet,
  • should be 100% authentic and personalised (no copy-and-paste), and
  • should be sent within 24 hours after the interview.

Here’s how a sample follow up note looks like:

***

Dear Sam,

Thank you for taking the time to interview me today.

I really <insert something specific which was discussed during the interview> enjoyed hearing about the great things XYZ company is spearheading, especially a few of the pro-bono marketing projects which your team is doing for charities.

Let’s stay in touch and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Thank you.

 

Regards,
Dominic

***

That wasn’t too hard was it?

Now you know what to do after your next interview!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...