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Fast Company | Business + Innovation: Fact No. 1: After you’ve interviewed for a job, hiring managers don’t always get back to you in the time frame they told you they would.
22 comments:
Julian Goldman
said...
The advice in this article is probably good, but I know I’d be nervous to follow it. I always tends to be nervous about doing something I’m not supposed to do. I couldn’t help but worry my “in the meantime” would be seen as desperate, arrogant, trying too hard, or otherwise inappropriate/ uncalled for. It makes a lot of sense to want to set your follow up email apart from all the other follow up emails. I just would worry that rather than setting myself apart in a positive way I am breaking a convention that I shouldn’t break. I feel like it also only works if you’ve done something particularly interesting since the interview, or at least something that seems genuinely worth mentioning, which might not always be the case. That being said, I will try to take this advice when writing follow up emails in the future.
Before I comment on the article itself, I wanted to say that I really enjoyed the related video at the end, especially the final blooper (I wish they had used it as the actual version rather than in the follow-up reel). I also feel as though it was relatively overdone for some of the examples, but the first two and the final “blooper” were funny.
As for the article as a whole, I disagreed a lot with it. Just today, I completed three interviews and sent out thank-you emails. In the past, I have also participated in a number of interviews and written a number of appreciatory responses to my interviewers. Overall, I feel as though I am relatively successful on this return note front, since most of the interest that employers have in me comes from my approachability (as they have told me). That being said, I am very anal about the ways in which I communicate online with my interviewers and recruiters. In the end, my future is in their hands, and I want to make sure I can nudge them for answers without forcing anything on them. I feel as though the “include something good about yourself” approach that the article recommends is a little too forceful—if you sold yourself well, that should have been evident in the interview itself. My approach is more to address a specific detail the interviewer told me during the interview. That way, he or she knows that I paid attention to him or her and I care about his/her background and wellbeing and am driven to email him/her because of his or her own self, not simply because I want a job. However, technical interview communication may be different from that of the industry this article covers (though the article is uncomfortably vague about the types of jobs it is addressing).
This article does a good job talking about this email in a way I have yet to see an article do it before, with multiple examples coming from multiple types of positions. Like Angel and Julian said, this can be quite a scary email to write sometimes because it seems a little too forceful or unsolicited, but usually after an interview you can get a feel for how much continued selling of yourself you can do in the follow up. If they aren't going to hire you, you probably know it. If they are on the fence, you can probably get an idea of whether or not continued selling points in a follow up email are helpful. If they are going to hire you, perhaps you want to keep this more minimal to make sure not to change their mind. A safer approach for situations when you aren't sure how they would feel about you providing a plug about what you've been up to is to talk to them about a conversation topic that came up during your interview. Add something to that conversation, ideally one you are genuinely interested in.
I do not like this article. While it makes sense to put in something a little more about yourself in a followup email just to remind them of who you were, throwing a look-how-amazing-I-am-this-article-I-wrote-got-5,000-shares is a lot too much. Maybe it’s just me, but if I was an employer receiving that email I would just think the person is desperate and bragging about how great they are so why shouldn't I just hire them on the spot. As the writer of the followup you don’t know how busy the other person is. Maybe they legitimately haven't had the time to follow up because they have a real job on top of this hiring search so they need a reminder that you're still there and waiting. They do not need a vomit of everything cool you’ve done. The only situation where this would make sense to do is if you talked about a project you were in the middle of in the interview and you wanted to give them more information about what had happened. Or you wanted to continue a conversation that directly happened in the interview. Don’t just brown-nose with unrelated successes it makes you sound desperate.
When I saw this article I was intruded and it immediately caught my eye and got a click. We're in college to get ready for the big, bright beautiful world, and a big part of being able to succeed is marketing yourself. I was excited for a comprehensive tip-list. Upon reading it however, I was a little disappointed in what I found. The author just summarizes the basic structure of a follow up letter, which most people are already aware of, then introduces this new component, which I refer to as "brag section." I think that showing that you're the right candidate in the form of of enthusiasm and credentials is great, but I feel as if that's more suited for an interview environment. I personally, feel that this showcase of self-ability is more appropriate here, and is closer to the point of an interview : To prove why you should be chosen for the job. In the followup email, I think the fact that it's being sent shows enthusiasm for the job alone, but adding in what you're currently upto isn't appropriate.
I’m really glad I read this article this week. I wasn’t planning on commenting on it but after really thinking about it I realized I did have a few thoughts I wanted to share. First, I think that supplementing a “email me back!” email with reasons to email you back (i.e. why you would be good for the job) is a great idea. More often then not (in my fairly limited experience) you will not hear back in a timely matter and being able to kill two birds with one stone (the birds being asking for a response and promoting yourself) is really a strong move and one I never really thought of. But the reason I really wanted to post a comment is to talk about the video at the end “How your emails are being read between the line.” This video is fairly silly and does not really talk about what I expected it to, but the idea about what you write vs what is read is really important. Whenever I send an email to someone I stare at it for hours (exaggeration) to try to make sure that what I am saying and/asking can’t be interpreted as something I do not intend. I have always been scared that my words will mean something different to the receiver of my emails and I try to be very careful with my words. When I was a sophomore in high school I got into trouble with a bunch of my teachers for sending them an email that I intended to be simply asking for a time to meet with them to go over material I missed when I was out of school for a few days while I was sick. They read it as me wanting to not have to work and either get out of the work I missed or taking the easy way out of getting the notes I missed. This was not at all my intention but since 3 out of 6 teachers felt that way I realized it was not them, but my wording. This was an eye opening situation and since then I try to be very careful about my words in emails.
I honestly don’t know how I feel about this article. I definitely agree that it is important to send follow up emails, especially when you haven’t heard from the company by the time they told you. This allows for the company to see you as a responsible potential employee as well as nudge them to get back to you. However, I think that you should just stick to the first example they gave, and not go with the “In the meantime” format they are suggesting. To me, it seems rather arrogant and presumptuous to put more of your accomplishments into the body of a check up email. The purpose of the email is to politely nudge about your status, not add another resume point. I think that your resume should speak for itself, and unless you have done something incredibly spectacular, it just seems needy to include other things you’ve done.
This article made me feel a little bit uncomfortable. I get the idea of follow up emails and how they can be extremely beneficial for your career. However, this proposal made me feel like a follow up email is an extension of your interview. The interview is where you get to humble-brag and share all of your success. Writing an additional email to reiterate your amazing success feels a little bit pushy and arrogant. Contrary to the article, I think this "pumped up" follow up could make employers think poorly about you. Is there such thing as a try-hard when it comes to interviewing? I'm not sure where the line is between ambitious and arrogant. I think that would need to be established before I ever sent a follow up like this.
When first reading the title I was like wow this will be interesting. Than as I read I got slightly uncomfortable. Having communication with a job you interviewed for is awesome! You should totally go and have a follow up email. Saying that you hope to hear back soon and asking if they would like anything else is great. I feel like a company would not mind that.However I feel that you should not keep plugging your self and what you just accomplished. After the interview if the company has more question they can reach out to you. You should not keep sending them updates unless they asked you to do so. It can come off as too eager which could be bad.
While I agree with the author's idea about sending a follow-up email, I disagree with putting content in that email which might seem excessive. Perhaps it is best to simply thank the interviewer again and ask if there's anything else they need. I could see the possibility of bringing up something specific that was discussed during the interview, but there isn't a reason to add fluff to a follow-up email. Although, it is always important to remember that every interviewer is different. Some might hate extra "bragging," while some might lick it up. I would err on the side of caution and keep the extra information about oneself to the minimum. Sometimes, simplicity and patience can make you stand out from the crowd. Again, not all situations are the same. In our industry, we usually don't have a mind-blowing new fact to share about ourselves within a week of going to an interview. When in doubt, I go with "keep it simple, stupid."
I've always heard that it is a great idea to send follow up emails to anyone that you are interviewing/auditioning for. When I was interviewing for colleges my teachers told me to send follow-up emails to those who interviewed me. I was told to thank them for the interview and to ask another question about the program. This seemed reasonable enough to me, at the time. I think that thanking the person who interviewed you is always a good sentiment. Asking about the program seemed reasonable as you are expressing continued interest. I am not sure how I feel about bragging about your work in an effort to seem more hireable. As a director, if I auditioned an actor I would already have their resume. I would frankly be turned off by them if they sent me an email bragging about how good they'd be at the job. I think it would just be best to send a simple thank you email combined with some sort of check in.
I am not sure really, what to think about this article because, I both agree and disagree with many points that the article makes. I think, after an interview, sending an email to thank those involved for their time and consideration is a good idea. i also believe contacting them about questions you may have, as well as in the case that they have not contacted you by the time they specified, is acceptable. however, i think that it is under almost any circumstances, unacceptable to brag about yourself to your potential employers. while there is much to be said about promoting yourself, continuing to contact your interviewers to brag about all the cool stuff you've done is not a good habit, and will likely make you undesirable and unlikely to be hired. Also i think your resume and interview should speak for themselves, if the interviewers do to have a grasp of you as a person after reading your resume and talking with you for an extended period, then sending them emails with your successes will almost never help, and in most cases, probably be detrimental to your chances of being hired.
I have always thought that sending a follow-up email after a job interview was a good idea. Not only is it a good way to bring your name back into the mind of the interviewer, it also shows that you are appreciative of the team taking the time to interview you. It is a totally professional action and I believe you should always do it. I believe that you should thank them for their time and show that you remain enthusiastic about the position to ensure you are still interested through writing. I think that this communication should be sent about 3 days after the interview, not instantly to ensure when they get onto other interviews or people, you remind them of you.
That being said, I disagree with the second portion of the article that suggests you should offer something you've been working on. (I don't really think this applies in the context of theatre anyways, i.e., "Oh I worked on another show and did X.") Even in other areas, I think this is just pestering and almost sending too much of a message. If I've already interviewed you, it is because I think you are a contender, and from the interview, I've got what I need or I'll call you for more. I don't need you to bog down my brain with further content in your message than a reminder that you exist.
It is definitely important to write a follow-up email if you haven’t heard from your potential employer or interviewer, but I think you have to use your discretion a bit. If they told you they would get back to you on Wednesday, don’t follow up with them on Thursday. Checking in the very next day or very soon after looks anxious and uptight. They might be exceptionally busy – give them some time.
I also have to be honest and say I think some of the examples in this article are a bit “ick.” I wouldn’t remind the employer of when they said they would get back to you. They know when they said they would. Reminding them just sounds like finger wagging. And I find any follow-up phrase like “hopefully as the sales manager at Dolby” to be distasteful. If you’re following up, they know you want the job… phrases like that sound needy and childish to me.
Also, I hereby swear I will never use the word impactful. Ever. Yech.
This article evoked some odd feelings in me about its suggestion. Obviously follow up emails are practically a must do in this world of fast paced digital interaction but the added plugs they suggest seem a little much to me. I guess my hesitation stems from the fact that for the most part I would expect to be able to show off my best pieces in the interview rather than trying to shoe horn them in in an email later. It just feels like an attention grab to me and I’m really not sure if I would feel comfortable putting it in an email to a potential employer. Obviously there are some exceptions to this, if for some reason you didn’t get to talk about your current project in the interview and it’s huge it may be beneficial to include, but something like a standard campaign seems a bit like you are just being pompous.
I think most people know that follow up emails are pretty much a must these days. I understand the authors reasoning behind his recommendation but I'm not sure I agree completely. Simple follow up emails are always nice, but I do agree that adding a little something to make you stand out is a good suggestion. I'm not sure that little something is continuing to show off skills in the email. Maybe a subtle hint at current work may help, but I'd assume that was already discussed in the interview, and writing a thick paragraph about it is something I highly doubt the employer really wants to read. In my opinion, what's important in follow up email is to express your continuous excitement about the opportunity at hand.
Like many previous comments have stated, follow-up emails are important. They should be brief, sincere, light heartening, and focusing on expressing thanks. Among many how-to articles, this article's "in the meantime" tactic puts applicants in a position where they are likely to get backfired. Follow up email is a nice way to remind your interviewer of yourself, tell them that you appreciate they take the time and how you really will thrive in the working environment they provide and strive for better outcome for the company blah blah blah. However, this "in the meantime" paragraph may really rub some interviewers the wrong way. "In the meantime, I've done this awesome super cool thing so please please please hire me I'm really good!" It's like you are showing off how good you are in a desperate way. Depending on what type of person the employers are, they (I) may actually roll their eyes in front of their computer screen. I think asking questions that necessitate a response may be a clever way of actually getting a response, however, again, don't overplay it. After all, let's all hope if you are qualified, you will most likely be hired. If you don't get hired because you didn't send a follow-up email bragging about your no.1 sale, you shouldn't feel discouraged at all.
Yeah, so, we've seen these articles before. But I'm always glad when they make reappearances, because this is a vitally important step in the job search/getting-hired process and I think some people forget that.
As a few people stated above, some of the examples are a bit cheesy, but I imagine that's just for getting the point across in the article. It's important to be real, truthful, and personal in your follow-up email. It doesn't have to be complex, either, really. It just has to remind them that you appreciated their time and enjoyed speaking with them. They will have positive feelings toward you for sending an email at all, really. I would say, in order to keep things genuine, don't mention the "big project you're working on" unless you discussed it in the interview. You don't want to seem like you're desperate for the job, or worse, feel like you didn't show enough of your good qualities in the interview. No interviewer wants an email saying "Oh my gosh, sorry, I wasn't prepared to show you my best self and I left all of these things out: x, y, z, etc." Just be cool. They're scoping out your personality more than anything, so just relax a bit and if you're right for the job you should be fine. But always be appreciative and send that email!
I think the article makes a really strong point, but in practice, at least for me, it is so hard to execute upon. Nobody wants to appear like a showoff in front of a prospective employer, so how do you straddle the line of showing what you've done and avoiding being "that guy". In professional prep we discussed how emails are an unideal format for followups, and we should be sending some handwritten letters to differentiate ourselves from the rest of the applicants. Again, doing something different is hard to execute on, maybe because it's just more "out there". I do wonder if some hiring executives even read what comes through their snail mail inbox. Anyways, back to the article, I have definitely heard the advice before that you should periodically check in with people you aspire to work with and tell them what you have been up to. Ugh, so many professional development things I still have to get better at.
This article was very interesting. I am torn on the follow up email situation. In the moment right after the interview it may seem like the right thing to do, however, i think it can easily become desperate. I know I utilized the follow up email after college interviews and most responses I received were fairly positive, but there's always one or two professors that won't respond and then it ruins your entire perception on how the interview went. Sometimes, in my opinion, it's best to leave the interview alone and just let that be the experience that it was. We live in an age where it's easy to be inpatient because everything is at our fingertips but you can't rush a response from someone. I will not argue a short, precise email to remind an interviewer who you are a few days later- but same day follow ups are desperate and annoying, in my opinion.
This article, in theory, offers some great advice. However, sometimes I am weary about what to say in a follow-up e-mail that is relevant to my employer and myself, but not "braggy." It's definitely a hard line to walk, and something I feel only gets better as you practice in real life. Sometimes I feel as though my future employers may not even read the e-mail. They are busy, and will get to a hiring decision when they have the time. Others I feel appreciate the e-mail, and thought. And some I feel need the reminder. I can imagine that when interviewing for a position, you are most likely not the only qualified candidate. Therefore, reminding someone why you are the best choice could be important. I feel it's important to read your interviewer correctly, and make a follow-up decision post your meeting. Going into interviews at different companies, with prescribed pre and post actions on your part is a bad idea. Molding yourself into the situation that best reflects that company's ideals will leave you best suited to be hired. In class, we are sometimes told to send a hand-written note to stand out. In such a digital age, I wonder if that is always necessary. E-mails are great, and serve a purpose. So do handwritten notes. I guess, knowing when and what to say in each of them differs from scenario to scenario. Respond to your situation, not your regiment.
The follow up email to interview is extremely important, and something that is extremely challenge. Every time I write one of these it always sounds like some combination of awkwardness and desperateness. However, the real thing is the challenge of not making it too long and feel stock. The thing I always try to do is respond to key points from the interview. It does not matter if the interview went well or not you can definitely identify the key point of the conversation. The follow up email is a great way to remind employers of those key points. This shows that you were both paying attention and can put your thoughts into writing. However, this might not always be the best course of action. Now that I am thinking about it, after the interview you will have a clear list of notes. Those notes should be able to help you form a well crafted letter.
22 comments:
The advice in this article is probably good, but I know I’d be nervous to follow it. I always tends to be nervous about doing something I’m not supposed to do. I couldn’t help but worry my “in the meantime” would be seen as desperate, arrogant, trying too hard, or otherwise inappropriate/ uncalled for. It makes a lot of sense to want to set your follow up email apart from all the other follow up emails. I just would worry that rather than setting myself apart in a positive way I am breaking a convention that I shouldn’t break. I feel like it also only works if you’ve done something particularly interesting since the interview, or at least something that seems genuinely worth mentioning, which might not always be the case. That being said, I will try to take this advice when writing follow up emails in the future.
Before I comment on the article itself, I wanted to say that I really enjoyed the related video at the end, especially the final blooper (I wish they had used it as the actual version rather than in the follow-up reel). I also feel as though it was relatively overdone for some of the examples, but the first two and the final “blooper” were funny.
As for the article as a whole, I disagreed a lot with it. Just today, I completed three interviews and sent out thank-you emails. In the past, I have also participated in a number of interviews and written a number of appreciatory responses to my interviewers. Overall, I feel as though I am relatively successful on this return note front, since most of the interest that employers have in me comes from my approachability (as they have told me). That being said, I am very anal about the ways in which I communicate online with my interviewers and recruiters. In the end, my future is in their hands, and I want to make sure I can nudge them for answers without forcing anything on them. I feel as though the “include something good about yourself” approach that the article recommends is a little too forceful—if you sold yourself well, that should have been evident in the interview itself. My approach is more to address a specific detail the interviewer told me during the interview. That way, he or she knows that I paid attention to him or her and I care about his/her background and wellbeing and am driven to email him/her because of his or her own self, not simply because I want a job. However, technical interview communication may be different from that of the industry this article covers (though the article is uncomfortably vague about the types of jobs it is addressing).
This article does a good job talking about this email in a way I have yet to see an article do it before, with multiple examples coming from multiple types of positions. Like Angel and Julian said, this can be quite a scary email to write sometimes because it seems a little too forceful or unsolicited, but usually after an interview you can get a feel for how much continued selling of yourself you can do in the follow up. If they aren't going to hire you, you probably know it. If they are on the fence, you can probably get an idea of whether or not continued selling points in a follow up email are helpful. If they are going to hire you, perhaps you want to keep this more minimal to make sure not to change their mind. A safer approach for situations when you aren't sure how they would feel about you providing a plug about what you've been up to is to talk to them about a conversation topic that came up during your interview. Add something to that conversation, ideally one you are genuinely interested in.
I do not like this article. While it makes sense to put in something a little more about yourself in a followup email just to remind them of who you were, throwing a look-how-amazing-I-am-this-article-I-wrote-got-5,000-shares is a lot too much. Maybe it’s just me, but if I was an employer receiving that email I would just think the person is desperate and bragging about how great they are so why shouldn't I just hire them on the spot. As the writer of the followup you don’t know how busy the other person is. Maybe they legitimately haven't had the time to follow up because they have a real job on top of this hiring search so they need a reminder that you're still there and waiting. They do not need a vomit of everything cool you’ve done. The only situation where this would make sense to do is if you talked about a project you were in the middle of in the interview and you wanted to give them more information about what had happened. Or you wanted to continue a conversation that directly happened in the interview. Don’t just brown-nose with unrelated successes it makes you sound desperate.
When I saw this article I was intruded and it immediately caught my eye and got a click. We're in college to get ready for the big, bright beautiful world, and a big part of being able to succeed is marketing yourself. I was excited for a comprehensive tip-list. Upon reading it however, I was a little disappointed in what I found. The author just summarizes the basic structure of a follow up letter, which most people are already aware of, then introduces this new component, which I refer to as "brag section." I think that showing that you're the right candidate in the form of of enthusiasm and credentials is great, but I feel as if that's more suited for an interview environment. I personally, feel that this showcase of self-ability is more appropriate here, and is closer to the point of an interview : To prove why you should be chosen for the job. In the followup email, I think the fact that it's being sent shows enthusiasm for the job alone, but adding in what you're currently upto isn't appropriate.
I’m really glad I read this article this week. I wasn’t planning on commenting on it but after really thinking about it I realized I did have a few thoughts I wanted to share. First, I think that supplementing a “email me back!” email with reasons to email you back (i.e. why you would be good for the job) is a great idea. More often then not (in my fairly limited experience) you will not hear back in a timely matter and being able to kill two birds with one stone (the birds being asking for a response and promoting yourself) is really a strong move and one I never really thought of. But the reason I really wanted to post a comment is to talk about the video at the end “How your emails are being read between the line.” This video is fairly silly and does not really talk about what I expected it to, but the idea about what you write vs what is read is really important. Whenever I send an email to someone I stare at it for hours (exaggeration) to try to make sure that what I am saying and/asking can’t be interpreted as something I do not intend. I have always been scared that my words will mean something different to the receiver of my emails and I try to be very careful with my words. When I was a sophomore in high school I got into trouble with a bunch of my teachers for sending them an email that I intended to be simply asking for a time to meet with them to go over material I missed when I was out of school for a few days while I was sick. They read it as me wanting to not have to work and either get out of the work I missed or taking the easy way out of getting the notes I missed. This was not at all my intention but since 3 out of 6 teachers felt that way I realized it was not them, but my wording. This was an eye opening situation and since then I try to be very careful about my words in emails.
I honestly don’t know how I feel about this article. I definitely agree that it is important to send follow up emails, especially when you haven’t heard from the company by the time they told you. This allows for the company to see you as a responsible potential employee as well as nudge them to get back to you. However, I think that you should just stick to the first example they gave, and not go with the “In the meantime” format they are suggesting. To me, it seems rather arrogant and presumptuous to put more of your accomplishments into the body of a check up email. The purpose of the email is to politely nudge about your status, not add another resume point. I think that your resume should speak for itself, and unless you have done something incredibly spectacular, it just seems needy to include other things you’ve done.
This article made me feel a little bit uncomfortable. I get the idea of follow up emails and how they can be extremely beneficial for your career. However, this proposal made me feel like a follow up email is an extension of your interview. The interview is where you get to humble-brag and share all of your success. Writing an additional email to reiterate your amazing success feels a little bit pushy and arrogant. Contrary to the article, I think this "pumped up" follow up could make employers think poorly about you. Is there such thing as a try-hard when it comes to interviewing? I'm not sure where the line is between ambitious and arrogant. I think that would need to be established before I ever sent a follow up like this.
When first reading the title I was like wow this will be interesting. Than as I read I got slightly uncomfortable. Having communication with a job you interviewed for is awesome! You should totally go and have a follow up email. Saying that you hope to hear back soon and asking if they would like anything else is great. I feel like a company would not mind that.However I feel that you should not keep plugging your self and what you just accomplished. After the interview if the company has more question they can reach out to you. You should not keep sending them updates unless they asked you to do so. It can come off as too eager which could be bad.
While I agree with the author's idea about sending a follow-up email, I disagree with putting content in that email which might seem excessive. Perhaps it is best to simply thank the interviewer again and ask if there's anything else they need. I could see the possibility of bringing up something specific that was discussed during the interview, but there isn't a reason to add fluff to a follow-up email. Although, it is always important to remember that every interviewer is different. Some might hate extra "bragging," while some might lick it up. I would err on the side of caution and keep the extra information about oneself to the minimum. Sometimes, simplicity and patience can make you stand out from the crowd. Again, not all situations are the same. In our industry, we usually don't have a mind-blowing new fact to share about ourselves within a week of going to an interview. When in doubt, I go with "keep it simple, stupid."
I've always heard that it is a great idea to send follow up emails to anyone that you are interviewing/auditioning for. When I was interviewing for colleges my teachers told me to send follow-up emails to those who interviewed me. I was told to thank them for the interview and to ask another question about the program. This seemed reasonable enough to me, at the time. I think that thanking the person who interviewed you is always a good sentiment. Asking about the program seemed reasonable as you are expressing continued interest. I am not sure how I feel about bragging about your work in an effort to seem more hireable. As a director, if I auditioned an actor I would already have their resume. I would frankly be turned off by them if they sent me an email bragging about how good they'd be at the job. I think it would just be best to send a simple thank you email combined with some sort of check in.
I am not sure really, what to think about this article because, I both agree and disagree with many points that the article makes. I think, after an interview, sending an email to thank those involved for their time and consideration is a good idea. i also believe contacting them about questions you may have, as well as in the case that they have not contacted you by the time they specified, is acceptable. however, i think that it is under almost any circumstances, unacceptable to brag about yourself to your potential employers. while there is much to be said about promoting yourself, continuing to contact your interviewers to brag about all the cool stuff you've done is not a good habit, and will likely make you undesirable and unlikely to be hired. Also i think your resume and interview should speak for themselves, if the interviewers do to have a grasp of you as a person after reading your resume and talking with you for an extended period, then sending them emails with your successes will almost never help, and in most cases, probably be detrimental to your chances of being hired.
I have always thought that sending a follow-up email after a job interview was a good idea. Not only is it a good way to bring your name back into the mind of the interviewer, it also shows that you are appreciative of the team taking the time to interview you. It is a totally professional action and I believe you should always do it. I believe that you should thank them for their time and show that you remain enthusiastic about the position to ensure you are still interested through writing. I think that this communication should be sent about 3 days after the interview, not instantly to ensure when they get onto other interviews or people, you remind them of you.
That being said, I disagree with the second portion of the article that suggests you should offer something you've been working on. (I don't really think this applies in the context of theatre anyways, i.e., "Oh I worked on another show and did X.") Even in other areas, I think this is just pestering and almost sending too much of a message. If I've already interviewed you, it is because I think you are a contender, and from the interview, I've got what I need or I'll call you for more. I don't need you to bog down my brain with further content in your message than a reminder that you exist.
It is definitely important to write a follow-up email if you haven’t heard from your potential employer or interviewer, but I think you have to use your discretion a bit. If they told you they would get back to you on Wednesday, don’t follow up with them on Thursday. Checking in the very next day or very soon after looks anxious and uptight. They might be exceptionally busy – give them some time.
I also have to be honest and say I think some of the examples in this article are a bit “ick.” I wouldn’t remind the employer of when they said they would get back to you. They know when they said they would. Reminding them just sounds like finger wagging. And I find any follow-up phrase like “hopefully as the sales manager at Dolby” to be distasteful. If you’re following up, they know you want the job… phrases like that sound needy and childish to me.
Also, I hereby swear I will never use the word impactful. Ever. Yech.
This article evoked some odd feelings in me about its suggestion. Obviously follow up emails are practically a must do in this world of fast paced digital interaction but the added plugs they suggest seem a little much to me. I guess my hesitation stems from the fact that for the most part I would expect to be able to show off my best pieces in the interview rather than trying to shoe horn them in in an email later. It just feels like an attention grab to me and I’m really not sure if I would feel comfortable putting it in an email to a potential employer. Obviously there are some exceptions to this, if for some reason you didn’t get to talk about your current project in the interview and it’s huge it may be beneficial to include, but something like a standard campaign seems a bit like you are just being pompous.
I think most people know that follow up emails are pretty much a must these days. I understand the authors reasoning behind his recommendation but I'm not sure I agree completely. Simple follow up emails are always nice, but I do agree that adding a little something to make you stand out is a good suggestion. I'm not sure that little something is continuing to show off skills in the email. Maybe a subtle hint at current work may help, but I'd assume that was already discussed in the interview, and writing a thick paragraph about it is something I highly doubt the employer really wants to read. In my opinion, what's important in follow up email is to express your continuous excitement about the opportunity at hand.
Like many previous comments have stated, follow-up emails are important. They should be brief, sincere, light heartening, and focusing on expressing thanks. Among many how-to articles, this article's "in the meantime" tactic puts applicants in a position where they are likely to get backfired.
Follow up email is a nice way to remind your interviewer of yourself, tell them that you appreciate they take the time and how you really will thrive in the working environment they provide and strive for better outcome for the company blah blah blah. However, this "in the meantime" paragraph may really rub some interviewers the wrong way. "In the meantime, I've done this awesome super cool thing so please please please hire me I'm really good!" It's like you are showing off how good you are in a desperate way. Depending on what type of person the employers are, they (I) may actually roll their eyes in front of their computer screen.
I think asking questions that necessitate a response may be a clever way of actually getting a response, however, again, don't overplay it. After all, let's all hope if you are qualified, you will most likely be hired. If you don't get hired because you didn't send a follow-up email bragging about your no.1 sale, you shouldn't feel discouraged at all.
Yeah, so, we've seen these articles before. But I'm always glad when they make reappearances, because this is a vitally important step in the job search/getting-hired process and I think some people forget that.
As a few people stated above, some of the examples are a bit cheesy, but I imagine that's just for getting the point across in the article. It's important to be real, truthful, and personal in your follow-up email. It doesn't have to be complex, either, really. It just has to remind them that you appreciated their time and enjoyed speaking with them. They will have positive feelings toward you for sending an email at all, really. I would say, in order to keep things genuine, don't mention the "big project you're working on" unless you discussed it in the interview. You don't want to seem like you're desperate for the job, or worse, feel like you didn't show enough of your good qualities in the interview. No interviewer wants an email saying "Oh my gosh, sorry, I wasn't prepared to show you my best self and I left all of these things out: x, y, z, etc." Just be cool. They're scoping out your personality more than anything, so just relax a bit and if you're right for the job you should be fine. But always be appreciative and send that email!
I think the article makes a really strong point, but in practice, at least for me, it is so hard to execute upon. Nobody wants to appear like a showoff in front of a prospective employer, so how do you straddle the line of showing what you've done and avoiding being "that guy". In professional prep we discussed how emails are an unideal format for followups, and we should be sending some handwritten letters to differentiate ourselves from the rest of the applicants. Again, doing something different is hard to execute on, maybe because it's just more "out there". I do wonder if some hiring executives even read what comes through their snail mail inbox. Anyways, back to the article, I have definitely heard the advice before that you should periodically check in with people you aspire to work with and tell them what you have been up to. Ugh, so many professional development things I still have to get better at.
This article was very interesting. I am torn on the follow up email situation. In the moment right after the interview it may seem like the right thing to do, however, i think it can easily become desperate. I know I utilized the follow up email after college interviews and most responses I received were fairly positive, but there's always one or two professors that won't respond and then it ruins your entire perception on how the interview went. Sometimes, in my opinion, it's best to leave the interview alone and just let that be the experience that it was. We live in an age where it's easy to be inpatient because everything is at our fingertips but you can't rush a response from someone. I will not argue a short, precise email to remind an interviewer who you are a few days later- but same day follow ups are desperate and annoying, in my opinion.
This article, in theory, offers some great advice. However, sometimes I am weary about what to say in a follow-up e-mail that is relevant to my employer and myself, but not "braggy." It's definitely a hard line to walk, and something I feel only gets better as you practice in real life. Sometimes I feel as though my future employers may not even read the e-mail. They are busy, and will get to a hiring decision when they have the time. Others I feel appreciate the e-mail, and thought. And some I feel need the reminder. I can imagine that when interviewing for a position, you are most likely not the only qualified candidate. Therefore, reminding someone why you are the best choice could be important. I feel it's important to read your interviewer correctly, and make a follow-up decision post your meeting. Going into interviews at different companies, with prescribed pre and post actions on your part is a bad idea. Molding yourself into the situation that best reflects that company's ideals will leave you best suited to be hired. In class, we are sometimes told to send a hand-written note to stand out. In such a digital age, I wonder if that is always necessary. E-mails are great, and serve a purpose. So do handwritten notes. I guess, knowing when and what to say in each of them differs from scenario to scenario. Respond to your situation, not your regiment.
The follow up email to interview is extremely important, and something that is extremely challenge. Every time I write one of these it always sounds like some combination of awkwardness and desperateness. However, the real thing is the challenge of not making it too long and feel stock. The thing I always try to do is respond to key points from the interview. It does not matter if the interview went well or not you can definitely identify the key point of the conversation. The follow up email is a great way to remind employers of those key points. This shows that you were both paying attention and can put your thoughts into writing. However, this might not always be the best course of action. Now that I am thinking about it, after the interview you will have a clear list of notes. Those notes should be able to help you form a well crafted letter.
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