Interview Follow Up Tips
March 30, 2012

Congratulations, you landed the interview for a job you would love to have! Now, what do you do after that critical first interview?

The most important thing you can do to help you stand out from the crowd is to follow-up on your meeting. Set the stage for your follow-up before you even leave - make sure you get the interviewers business card which will have their correctly spelled name, position and contact information. Ask about the decision making process and when you could expect to hear back from them.

Here are seven tips from Angus One for following up on an interview:

1. First of all, always send a thank you email within 24 hours of the interview. Confirm your interest in the position and thank the interviewer for their time and consideration. This small gesture can sometimes be the tie breaker between two equally strong candidates. In this message (in addition to reiterating your interest in the job and the company) highlight your strengths and mention anything you wished you had said, but didn't, during the interview. Keep your correspondence short and proofread it carefully before you hit send.
   
   
2. Within three to five days, if you haven’t heard anything from the company, it is perfectly acceptable to call the appropriate individual to follow up by telephone. If you are working with a recruiter, then call the recruiter first. When you make the call be prepared to answer some of the questions from the interview again. Keep in mind that they may have interviewed several candidates before and after you and this is a good time to refresh their memory about your strengths. Remind them of your continued interest in the job and ask if there is any further information they need from you to assist with their decision making process. If no one is available when you call, leave this basic information in your message on their voice mail as well as clearly stating your name and phone number.
   
   
3. The follow up call is also an opportunity to elaborate on strong points from the interview — if you remember that they got excited when you mentioned that you had previous project management experience, you could elaborate on that experience and how it could benefit their company. Just remember, everything you say, do, or ask for at this point has to have value in it for them.
   
   
4. If you leave a message and no one calls you back after a couple of attempts - let it go and move on. Don't call back more than a couple of times. Persistence and patience are good, being a pest is not.
   
   
5. When you do speak with someone from the company and you’re given an indication that you’re not the best candidate for this particular position, don’t argue or question their choice. They’ve made their decision. You never want to burn a bridge. What if their first choice doesn’t work out, or more positions open up within the company? You want to be one of the first people they think of calling. A courteous and professional manner in this situation is very important.
   
   
6. If you are turned down, thank the company representative and ask them for feedback that you can use to prepare for future interviews.
   
   
7. Even if you don’t get the job, that doesn’t mean the door is closed to you. This is a great networking opportunity. Most likely, the person who interviewed you has contacts in other similar businesses that may be recruiting and will be more than happy to refer a strong candidate.

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