After taking a good interview, your hiring chances may raise significantly if you write a follow-up email.
Most people think that these emails are just a way to “show-up”, and that all you need is to write a thank-you and few more words… wrong! You need this email to be effective and interesting if you want to get the job!
How to write a thank you email
Right after the interview you should write down all the questions that you’ve been asked, the informations you got and your eventual doubts. If you don’t do this immediately, you probably will forget most of the things you discussed (besides managers’ names, your role, responsibilities, ideas…). Having all these informations it will be much easier to write a highly-effective follow-up email.
I recommend you to leave the “Recipient” field empty until you have checked (over and over) grammar and spelling. This way you will avoid to accidentally send a draft of an incomplete email. You can also send the draft to a friend of yours, so that he can check the grammar once more.
Be short and clear, following for example this structure:
- Personally thank your interviewers
- Answer eventual unanswered questions that you’ve been asked during the interview
- Include eventual unanswered questions that you made to your interviewers, showing interest for the answer
- Conclude with “thanks” and “waiting for feedback” sentences
It’s better to send the email within 24 hours, so that the recruiter will be able to recall immediately and clearly your interview. This way you should receive an answer in short time, especially if during the interview you have already discussed the next steps of the selection.
Don’t worry about being pushy: if you write a good email you will show your interest in the job and you will not annoy anyone.
How to write a follow-up email after an interview
Is it been a long time since you heard from the company? Don’t panic! There could be a lot of reasons for that. For example, it may be an extremely busy period for HRs, or they’re waiting for other candidates for the role. Silence does not mean refuse.
However, it is perfectly normal that you want an update on the situation, especially if the recruiters promised to give you an answer within a certain date, and yet they didn’t. A phone call may look a bit too pushy, because the recruiter could be unprepared and not entirely at ease.
Also in this case, I suggest you to write and email, that is less annoying but as effective.
For example, you can write something like this:
Dear (Recruiter’s name),
It’s been a while since our last interview and I would like to know if you made a choice with regard to the (Role for which you applied) job. I’m still very interested in working in your company
I thank you again, looking forward to hearing from you,
(Your name)
Of course, according to the company, to the role and to seniority, this email can be more or less formal. The most important thing, however, is not being too pushy. Therefore, you better wait at least one week before sending this letter.
Remember that hiring people is not a simple process, so do not panic if you don’t get an answer immediately.
