Post Interview Follow Up

You found a job ideally suited to your qualifications. You went into the interview well prepared and with confidence, and got good feedback from your interviewer. Now is the time to sit back and wait for the offer to come, right?

Wrong. While acing the interview is great, you don’t have the job yet. Going on a job interview can be an unnerving experience, and often the applicant feels that it is a great relief to get it over with. There is a real temptation to see your role in getting the job as complete and simply hope for the best. If you truly want the job in question, this is not sufficient. The interviewer may be seeing many other people after you and you want to leave a lasting impression in his or her mind. He or she may be on the fence with their decision and you want to tilt things in your favor. This is why doing post interview follow up is key to getting that job you want.

You should definitely send the interviewer a note thanking them for seeing you and reminding them of your continued interest in the job in question. If you have an e-mail address for the person who interviewed you, this is a fine method to use, especially since the interviewer will receive it much sooner than they might get a note sent by regular mail.

If you interview with more than one person in the same company and you send a follow up thank you note, be sure your note to each individual is distinct. There is always the possibility that your interviewers will cross paths and literally "compare notes," which can make you look unprofessional and hurt your chances rather than help them.

You can also give the interviewer a phone call. This can be especially effective as it is an immediate reminder of who you are and how you feel about the position available. Your main goal should be to thank the interviewer for his or her time in seeing you. You can also add a quick question or a piece of information about you that you may have neglected during the interview. Only do this if the information will be relevant to the decision and keep it short. You are not trying to have a second interview over the phone.

While these seem like simple steps, they are ones not all applicants will take and they can be the difference between the career you want, and waiting for the next opportunity, especially if you are up against other job applicants with similar skills. Next time you have a job interview, be sure to do a post interview follow up. If you do, it may be the last job interview you ever have to go on.

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