I get a lot of questions about following up after a job interview. Today, I want to give the ABC’s of interview follow-up, as well as some creative options for staying in touch throughout the decision-making process.

First, the basics for thanking the interviewer(s) and others who had a hand in your interview:

1. Follow up within 24 hours (preferably sooner).

2. Consider the audience.

Generally, email thank-you messages are best because they can get to the recipient more quickly. If however, you’ve been interacting with someone for whom email doesn’t appear to be their native tongue, consider a snail mail thank you note.

3. When in doubt, thank.

Consider thank you messages to the secretary who scheduled your interview, the person you met impromptu who spent time speaking with you, etc. What’s the harm?

4. Collect business cards or contact info.

To send thank you’s, you need names (spelled correctly) and email addresses – make sure you get them during your interview so you don’t have to call afterward.

5. Remind them of what they seemed to really like about you.

Here’s an example:

Diane,

Thank you so much for the onsite interview yesterday - I was particularly impressed by ABC’s obvious commitment to the health and wellness of its employees. No wonder your turnover is so low!

It seems like my experience at XYZ in digital marketing makes me a strong candidate for the role of marketing director – and I welcome the opportunity to leverage my knowledge in building brand reputation via a wide range of social media sites.

As I mentioned in the interview, I will reach out at the end of next week to see where you’re at with the hiring process. In the meantime, let me know if you have any follow-up questions for me!

With gratitude,

Lesa Edwards

Now that we have covered immediate follow-up, what about continuing to stay in touch between your interview(s) and the hiring decision?

1. Make a plan – and schedule it in.

The cadence of your plan is largely determined by what the interviewer told you at the close of your interview (make sure you ask about the next step(s) in the hiring process). If the hiring decision is expected to happen fairly quickly, you might want to have weekly check-ins; otherwise, every two weeks might be preferable.

You might also have an informal interview with someone who doesn’t have an immediate opening, but wants to stay in contact for future opportunities. In this situation, perhaps a monthly or every other month follow-up is appropriate.

2. Look for opportunities to add value.

Rather than always just sending an “I’m still here” message, seek ways to provide value to your contact person. This could be a positive article you read recently about the company, something positive you read about your contact person (such as an award or commendation), or something about that industry you think your contact would find interesting.

Your message could read something like this:

Diane,

Greetings! I just saw this article about ABCs award for its employee health and wellness program – kudos! I can certainly see why you were recognized for your initiatives around weight loss and smoking cessation – great job!

As an update, I have had interviews recently with three great organizations and second interviews with two other companies. I hope to hear that I have moved on to the second round of interviews with ABC soon!

3. Let them know of other offers (or close-to offers).

Here’s an example:

Diane,

Greetings! I just received a written offer for a marketing director position at a CPG company. I have until DATE to let them know my decision. I’m still extremely interested in the opportunity with ABC and wanted to know where things stand? I look forward to hearing from you!

The trick here is to give them enough information so they know there actually is another job (in this case, the job title and industry), but not enough information to be able to check the other offer out through back channels (no company name or salary, etc.).

Also – notice I said I was extremely interested in ABC’s opportunity – not that ABC was my first choice (even if it is). I would lose negotiation power if I let them know ABC is my first choice.

4. Notify them if you accept another offer.

It’s just good business etiquette, even if they’ve been ghosting you.

Now for the creative follow-ups. What you do here is really dependent on a) the role you are applying for, b) the industry, and c) your personality.

Any creative follow-up should be on-brand. For example, I was recently working with a client who was applying for marketing jobs. She was following up with a box of delicious chocolates and a marketing-style message.

Here are some other ideas:

-For an accountant: You’re probably pretty serious, and the company you are following up with is probably pretty serious, too – so gimmicks aren’t the right approach.

-For a salesperson: What can you create that further “sells” you to the company? How can you demonstrate your persistence and ambition?

-For an operations director: What could you develop for the company that addresses one of the operations-related concerns you learned about during the interview? You don’t want to give them the entire solution, but how about a piece of it to engage their imagination?

-If the job you have applied for involves presentations, how about a YouTube video where you are teaching them something specific to their company?

-For many positions, a gift basket of chocolates or fruit that the office can share may be appropriate. The trick is to present it as a thank you, rather than a thinly veiled bribe.

Hopefully, I’ve gotten your creative juices flowing, so what ideas can you come up with that are on-brand for you and the industry you want to work in?

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