Interview Follow Up
In Ch. 4: Interview Questions we went over the questions that jobs seekers ought to be most familiar with when hunting for new opportunities. Reviewing those questions should have helped establish yourself as one of the leading candidates in the candidate selection process.
But now that you’ve separated yourself as one of the leading candidates, how do you go from being considered — to being the one?
An interview follow up is critical in ensuring that you separate yourself from the final candidates, and become the leading candidate to secure the job.
In this chapter, we'll discuss the follow up thank you email that's customary after the interview has been conducted.
You had the interview and you think it went well. Good. Now what? Take this downtime to send thank you letters. Thank you notes will help maximize your chances of landing the job.
It is important that you send the letters within a day of the interview; a quick follow up indicates a strong interest in the position and shows them you are serious about the job.
Also, consider the company culture when making thank you letters. You can either send an email or a nice, handwritten letter. Handwritten letters are usually for more traditional, old-fashioned jobs. Seeing as how you are writing one for the healthcare industry, you should probably just stick to email.
Follow up emails are really simple to make, and you can make changes on the fly without having to rewrite them with a pen as you typically would with a handwritten follow up note.
In this chapter, we’re going to discuss what you should include in your follow up, how following up can help you land the job, do’s and don’ts you should consider when following up, 4 ways you should not follow up, how to craft an email follow up, and what type of follow up you should use after each scenario.
In addition, once you send the follow up, we’ll cover what you should expect, and how you can get started on what to do next after you have followed up and are awaiting a response.
How Following Up Can Help You Land The Job
In today’s competitive job market, every job seeker needs to go above and beyond to take extra steps to separate themselves from the competition.
Following up with the interviewer or hiring manager is a great way of separating yourself from other job seekers who aren’t willing to spend a little extra effort.
Many individuals feel that they will be bothering their interviewer if they follow up with them and remind them how passionate they are about the job posting and remind them why they want the job opportunity.
One of the many reasons you should send a follow up is because you can strut your stuff a little bit more.
Follow up notes or emails offer you another opportunity to once again detail your credentials, experience, and background.
In addition, you can use this follow up to highlight how you are more qualified than some of the other candidates that the interviewer or hiring manager might be considering for the position.
For instance, we’ve all been in a situation where we left the interview and wished we had mentioned something — or had a better answer to one of the questions they asked.
Following up with them and detailing your experience a little bit more helps you answer some of those questions and qualifications you wanted to mention in the interview but forgot.
If one of the things the interviewer or hiring manager mentioned in the interview was that they want to improve their patient satisfaction levels, or raise the level of care for the hospital or healthcare facility overall.
If you have worked in an environment where you were a team member and accomplished those goals before, you can once again mention that previous experience in a follow up note, letter, or email.
Doing this will help remind them once again that you should be the leading candidate in their eyes.
The next reason you should send a follow up is that it will help give you peace of mind.
One of the biggest concerns of job seekers is that once they have the interview, they usually never hear back about the position — or understand what the status is of their consideration for the position.
A follow up will help give you a little bit more peace of mind.
When you send a follow up you can help understand exactly what your application status is.
Many interviewers or hiring managers will let you know a timeframe as to when they’ll get back with you, but in many cases they are so busy that they don’t get back to you or completely forget.
You can take a little bit of worry off your shoulders by taking the time to follow up with them and reminding them that you are still interested in the position, and getting an update on where things stand.
Like everyone else, it’s easy to get bogged down and start overthinking what it means when they don’t follow up with you themselves and let you know about where you stand in the consideration process.
This is completely natural, and you shouldn’t worry too much.
To ensure you don’t get bogged down with this worry, you should take time to reach out and seek a response about the status of the job.
Before you panic and send several follow ups because they hadn’t followed up with you as they said they would — you should wait several business days. Wait four to five business days to follow up with the recruiter or hiring manager to gauge what the status is.
A simple email that you can send to remind them that you are looking forward to hear back from them regarding the position.
“Hey {name},
I just wanted to thank you once again for the opportunity to interview for {position}. I was just emailing to get a status on the timeline of the candidate selection process for the position I interviewed for on {date}. I am still incredibly interested in the position, and look forward to hearing back from you.
— Sincerely, {name}”
This email is simple and to the point, and lets them know that you’re still interested, and would like to know where everything stands.
And it helps put your mind at ease knowing that you did everything you could to reach out to them once again regarding the status of the consideration process.
Another reason that you should send a follow up is to help gain closure. Sometimes the recruiter or hiring manager didn’t specify whether or not they planned on following up. So we need to determine what the status is ourselves.
This means that we could be left in the dark about whether or not the consideration is moving forward or if we have been eliminated from the consideration process.
It’s a good reason to follow up with the healthcare recruiter or hiring manager to get an idea on whether or not you should keep your hopes high, or move on to the next opportunity.
The last thing you want to do is be turning down offers because you think that interview went well and they will offer you the job soon, only to find out that they didn’t move you into the next step in the process.
In addition, you don’t want to be waiting to fill out additional applications to job postings you are interested in if you feel you have already secured the position you’re waiting to hear back from.
Sending out a simple email asking about the status of the consideration process and hearing whether or not they moved on from you is critical in getting closure and moving on to the next application and job that you’re considering.
It’s important to remember that a simple follow-up can help separate you from other candidates and ensure that you land the job.
The Do's and Don'ts of Job Interview Follow-Up
Understanding the do’s and don’ts of a job interview follow-up will help ensure that you don’t make a critical mistake that will automatically disable you from future consideration for the job selection process.
There are several things you should make sure to include, and plenty of things you should exclude in your interview follow-up.
Knowing which is what will help ensure that you appear as professional as possible, and also stand out amongst other candidates in terms of the professional experience you have, and why you should be hired for the open position.
The Do's of Following-Up After A Job Interview
• Keep It Simple
The first thing you need to ensure that you do when following-up after a job interview is to keep it simple.
You don’t want to overwhelm the interviewer with a complex email or letter follow-up that takes too much time out of their day. You want to keep it simple enough for them to realize that you are still interested in the position, remind them of your experience, and pinpoint why you should be the ideal candidate in their eyes.
One way you can keep it simple is to focus on the individuals who interviewed you. It’s advised that you thank them directly and highlight potential things that were mentioned in the interview.
For instance if the interviewer mentioned that they were looking for a passionate individual, the interview follow-up is a great opportunity for you to mention that you are an individual who is passionate about serving others in the healthcare industry.
When you speak directly to those individuals who were interviewing you, the follow-up doesn’t feel as if it’s an automated message that you are sending to every interviewer who had a dialogue with you.
You want to make each follow-up feel as authentic and genuine as possible, and you’ll naturally set yourself apart from those candidates who use a template or copy and paste methodology for communicating.
While not following-up won’t necessarily hurt your chances of landing a healthcare or hospital job opportunity, it certainly won’t help you. Once again, you want to do whatever it takes to help you land that job opportunity with ease.
In other words, you want to make sure that you take as many helpful steps as possible to get considered for the hospital job you’re considering. One way to ensure that the follow-up isn’t a waste of time for you is to make sure you keep it simple using the steps we provided above.
• Interviews Should Dictate How You Follow-Up
One of the critical things you should remember is that your interview follow-up method and communication demeanor should be dictated by how the interview was conducted.
If the interview was extremely casual, then you can afford to be a little bit more casual in your follow-up letter or email. This doesn’t mean that you can be completely casual in how you reply, but you also don’t have to be as strict.
In contrast, if the interview was incredibly professional — then you don’t want to appear as unprofessional by following-up in such a way that makes it seem as if you should not be considered for the job at all due to your unprofessional nature.
The follow-up demeanor you use is about as critical as the interview itself. An inappropriate follow-up will automatically disqualify you from future consideration.
One way to understand how you should follow up is answering this simple question: was the interview conversational, or formal?
If you can’t quite remember or tell the two apart from how the interview went — then you should always stick with the most reliable option — the formal follow-up.
This will ensure that you come across as a professional who is serious about the job that you are being considered for.
One thing to consider though, is that even if the interview was a conversational setting, it might not be prudent to follow-up in a conversational manner regardless.
When all else fails, it’s recommended that you follow up in a professional manner and format regardless.
In this way, you can protect yourself from getting disqualified from further consideration by playing safe and showcasing that you’re the most professional candidate they should consider.
• Stick To The Conventional Methods
In today’s competitive job marketplace, it might seem like you need to be innovative or unconventional in how you follow-up after an interview.
These unconventional methods might include a text message, social media message, or phone call.
When you follow up with the unconventional formats like a text message, or social media message — you can come across as unprofessional.
Even though you might be able to catch them at a time they are out of the office or remind them of who you are through a quirky text — a lot of people prefer to keep their personal life and professional life separate.
So when you message them on social media or send them a personal message, you are blurring the line between the two and it can make them feel uncomfortable.
Even if the interview felt casual or conversational and the culture might seem normal for you to contact them outside of normal work-hours — technically speaking you still haven’t officially joined the organization yet.
If you feel like you should provide a phone call to let them know how sincere you are, you could potentially catch them off guard and force them to provide a response that you don’t like.
In addition, you might even confuse the interviewer when you call them, and they might say that they remember you when they really don’t.
For instance, you might cause them to say something along the lines of, “Your answer to X question was fantastic. I really liked how you mentioned that you had experience in the ICU wing.”
After they mention that, you then realize that you never mentioned that in the interview. See how things might work against you in the long run?
Therefore, you should avoid avoid going beyond normal procedure when following-up with the interviewer.
Therefore, you shouldn’t assume that you can follow the same rules and procedures that the other employees follow.
While it might seem like you’re going above and beyond to thank them, it’s still best to stick with the conventional method of a follow-up letter, or email.
• Highlight Your Experience
One of the most important things you must do in your follow-up is to once again highlight your experience. Use the follow-up opportunity as a way to once again remind them about why you believe you would be a great candidate for the available position.
An interview follow-up is once again a fantastic opportunity for you to separate yourself from other candidates by detailing why you believe that you’re the best candidate.
• Thank Them
There are so many things that you should and shouldn’t do in your follow-up interview letter or email — that we can forget the most important part. The most important part is thanking them for the opportunity to be considered, and get a chance to interview with them for the position.
You want to make sure that you let them know you greatly appreciate the time and effort they put into considering you for the position, and that you look forward to their reply.
There are plenty of ways to accidentally forget the most critical part of the follow-up letter, so make sure you remember. Otherwise, it might seem as if you’re just nagging them about the position and the consideration process.
You don’t want to appear impatient, but at the same time you want to understand where you stand.
The Don'ts of Following-Up After A Job Interview
Now that we have covered some of the Do’s of Following-Up After a Job Interview, we also have a list of things you should completely avoid when following-up.
• Don’t Use Unconventional Methods of Contact
No need to rehash what we covered earlier in mentioning that you should stick to conventional methods — you should avoid unconventional forms of follow-up to ensure that you appear as professional as possible.
• Avoid Non-Relevant Experience
One critical thing you need to do in your follow-up letter is to once again remind the interviewer about your experience and why that experience would make you a good fit for the position.
In contrast, the one thing you should avoid in your follow-up letter is to avoid mentioning anything that would detract from your applicable experience.
Avoid mentioning non-relevant experience that doesn’t have anything to do with the interview or why you should be considered for the position.
For instance, if you’re applying for a Registered Nurse (RN) position, and one of the critical skills required in the job application was that you had to have good patient-centered customer service, the last thing you should mention is that you have graphic design experience.
This will only serve to confuse the interviewer, and question whether or not you have any other experience that you should have mentioned but didn’t.
Only including relevant experience is critical to ensuring that your consideration for the job posting advances to the next stage.
• Don’t Just Thank Them
Another critical thing to remember about the follow-up letter is that you don’t just want to thank them. You want to use the follow-up letter as an opportunity to remind them of your experience and why you want the position itself.
Similar to the above point about forgetting to thank them, we can forget to remind them about our critical experience.
• Avoid Mentioning Salary
Another thing you do not want to do in your follow-up interview is to avoid mentioning your salary requirements or expected salary that you’d like to earn in your new position.
Salary negotiations typically occur later down the road once an offer has been made.
If you mention that you want a specific salary that is out of their range in the follow-up letter, you might automatically disqualify yourself from future consideration.
In addition, when you mention money in the follow-up letter — it makes it seem as if all you care about is the money. Employers, recruiters, and hiring managers are always looking for new employees who can bring new value.
The value that you are expected to bring in the healthcare industry is about patient engagement, patient treatment, and more. The last thing you want to make them think is that all you care about is the paycheck at the end of the day.
In other words, you want to convey that you are passionate about your job and that you are passionate about the opportunity.
• Don’t Apologize For Mistakes During The Interview
One critical thing that you should avoid at all costs in the follow-up interview is to avoid apologizing for mistakes you made during the interview.
We all make mistakes in an interview. Perhaps we struggled over how we phrased something, or we forget where we were going with the answer mid-sentence.
Or perhaps you even attempted a joke and it fell flat.
The last thing you should do is mention the mistake you made during the interview, because you’re reminding them about the mistake once again.
As we previously mentioned, recruiters, employers, and hiring managers like to schedule their interviews on the same day — so they can get them over with at one time.
It’s more likely than not that your mistake was quickly forgotten when the next interview occurred. So the last thing that you want to do is remind them about the interview mistake.
• Avoid Exaggerated Statements
Another thing you want to make sure you avoid is exaggerating any statements. These exaggerated statements might be along the lines of, “I am the perfect candidate for this job out of all the ones that you are considering.”
While it might seem to you like you’re incredibly passionate about the position, it can also turn people off on your personality.
While most people like individuals who have confidence, one thing they don’t like is individuals who are incredibly braggadocious.
There is a fine line that you must tow when expressing your experience and how that experience would make you a fantastic fit.
• Avoid Talking About Something Else Besides The Interview and Your Background
One thing you need to be careful about doing in your interview follow-up note, letter, or email is to discuss something other than the interview or your background.
Just like the interview, you want to keep the follow-up focused on yourself and the position. This means that you should only focus on reminding them about your experience and why you believe you would be a good fit for the position.
When you accidentally go on a tangent or discuss something other than the interview and position — it can make it seem as if you are unprofessional or have difficulty focusing on important matters.
You don’t want to convey that you have difficulty focusing on important matters or have difficulty communicating effectively — so you should focus on sending the most focused and professional follow-up letter.
One way to ensure that you remain focused in the interview follow-up is to review the notes that you might have taken from the interview. Reviewing the notes you took will help jog your memory about things you want to ensure you cover in the interview follow-up.
It is typically deemed as unprofessional to send multiple follow-ups because you forgot to add something to an interview follow-up and need to seek clarification later on about something you were confused about or ask another question.
In this way, when you take the time to review your notes you can create a structured outline of how you want your follow-up to be documented, so that you can ensure you cover all your bases.
In addition, when you take the time to structure how you want to cover in the interview follow-up — you can take your time and ensure that you don’t rush things. While it’s important to follow-up in a timely manner, you don’t want to rush a critical piece of communication that will help separate you from other candidates.
Have you ever attempted something and got it perfect the first time? I doubt you have. Don’t worry — you’re not alone. The same goes for crafting your follow-up letter.
Crafting the perfect follow-up letter takes time, and is something that you shouldn’t rush if you truly want to be considered for the job you recently applied to.
• Avoid Mentioning Something You’re Concerned About With The Position
One thing you absolutely want to avoid doing is mention something that you are concerned about with the position.
Essentially, you don’t want to make it seem as if you have any reservations about the position — even if you do. Hiring managers, recruiters, and employers are seeking new qualified talent that is excited about the position and ready to dive in.
If you do have any reservations about the position, then wait until the consideration process advances further before bringing them up.
It’s always a good idea to ask questions, so feel free to do that — because it makes it seem as if you are interested and ready to begin. But asking questions that are directly vital to the job or mentioning things that you have reservations about can quickly disqualify you from the job.
For instance, if you are worried about the amount of hours that you will be standing throughout the day, the last thing you want to do is mention something along the lines of, “For the position I was curious as to how many hours I would be standing? I don’t really want to exert too much energy standing around all day.”
This simple comment can really turn off a prospective employer on your consideration status right away.
If you have a question, make sure that it won’t automatically disqualify you from future consideration.
• Don’t Appear Aggressive or Act Aggressively
Another thing you want to make sure that you don’t do in your interview follow-up is to appear aggressive or act aggressively in how you phrase your follow-up.
The problem with written or text communication is the fact that you cannot determine intent.
This means that you might see a phrase as a simple question, whereas the individual you’re communicating with me see it as an aggressive comment.
For instance, you might be seeking clarification on what the timeline might look like for the position and say something along the lines of, “Are you going to get back to me about the job?”
While this is a direct question, it can certainly be phrased much better. For instance, a better way to phrase this might be, “I was curious as to what the timeline for the consideration of applicants is going to be. I really enjoyed learning more about the position and am excited about starting soon.”
This makes it seem as if you’re really passionate about the opportunity, and also go about a much better route in asking the questions you have regarding the position.
In addition, it makes it seem as if communication is a strong suit for you. Whereas in contrast, rude or aggressive comments will make it appear as if you have issues communicating effectively with others.
Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible for you yourself to determine how a comment might be perceived. That’s why it is so critical to have someone else help you review your follow-up letters or listen to what you are saying.
In this way, you can ensure that your intent comes across properly — and you don’t sound rude or aggressive.
All it takes is a few minutes to ask a friend or family member to quickly review what you are going to send in an email or letter, to make sure that your tone comes across as professional, and you don’t appear to be rude or aggressive in how you are phrasing certain things.
3 Non-Annoying Ways To Follow-Up
So now you understand that there are things you should do, and shouldn’t do when following-up. But what are some ways that you can follow-up without being annoying?
A lot of people are worried that when they follow-up, they can be perceived as annoying. While this is a reasonable concern, it’s one that you shouldn’t be too concerned about.
The reason being, you can separate yourself from other candidates by following-up. It helps separate you from other candidates who interview — and then the recruiter or employer never hears from that individual again.
When you follow-up you keep your name and experience fresh on their mind, and make it obvious that you want to begin working with them as soon as possible.
There are a few ways you can follow-up with the recruiter, hiring manager, or employer to ensure that you don’t appear annoying.
• 1. Ask To Connect On LinkedIn
One great way of separating from other candidates is to ask them after the interview if it would be appropriate to connect with them on LinkedIn.
When you connect with them on LinkedIn, you are showcasing that you want to create a lasting professional relationship. LinkedIn is a great platform to use when connecting with other professionals and showcasing work-relationships, and you can demonstrate that you’d be a great fit with this simple connection.
In addition, you might find out that you two have similar common connections, and mention them in a follow-up letter.
The sooner you follow-up on LinkedIn by connecting with them, the more likely you are to showcase your experience once again.
You might be asking, “How will LinkedIn help separate myself from other candidates when I follow-up on there?”
The answer to that is quite simple, your profile. When someone receives an invitation to review a LinkedIn connection request, they have access to your profile. If they don’t remember you, they might review your profile once again to see what experience or background you have.
In this way, you can once again indirectly showcase your experience and background to them from a simple connection request.
If they remember your name, but don’t remember much about your experience or background — you can remind them about your experience and credentials when they review your profile on LinkedIn and remember how your interview went.
LinkedIn is a great way to once again bring up your background and experience to the recruiter or hiring manager with ease, and in the event that you don’t get selected for the most recent position you interviewed with them — you now have a professional connection with them where you can find out about future openings — or check in about upcoming openings that aren’t yet posted or online yet.
In addition, the stronger relationship you develop with them on LinkedIn, the greater chance you might have of receiving a recommendation to apply to a separate job.
In other words, there really is no bad reason to connect with the employer/recruiter/hiring manager on LinkedIn, as long as they say that it is alright. There are plenty of long-term benefits that can be associated with connecting with them.
• 2. Ask About Next Steps Before Leaving The Interview
Another great way of ensuring that you don’t appear annoying when you are following-up is to follow-up right before you leave the interview.
In this way, you can let them know that you intend on following-up with them at a later date, and get an understanding as to what the timeline for the consideration and deliberation process is going to be.
When you ask about next steps for the consideration process, you get a greater understanding of what the timeline is. This means that you can get a better understanding of when it is acceptable to follow-up with them if you haven’t heard back.
If they mention that they have a rather lengthy timeline, then it might be more socially acceptable for you to follow-up in two weeks to ensure that you don’t appear to be nagging them about the position, or annoy them in anyway.
• 3. Check In Periodically
Another way that you can avoid appearing annoying is to check in periodically. Now this doesn’t mean that you should check in every single day at the same time for weeks on end to get the status of the application or the consideration process.
Instead you want to check in every other week or so. This will help ensure that you are a fresh reminder to the individuals reviewing your application that you’re still interested in the job and are eager to get started.
Most individuals will say that this is the most-common follow-up method when checking in after an interview.
The reason this is the most-common follow-up method that individuals use is because it is easy and efficient. You can quickly ask about the status of the consideration process, and get an update pretty quickly.
Another great benefit to periodically following-up is that you can also improve your network connections in your professional setting.
For instance, by periodically following-up with the recruiter, you can ask them about any other positions that might be available if they determine that they are going to move forward with someone else.
Or, if they find that they are going to fill the position with someone else, they might even recommend your name to a recruiter or an employer for a separate position that you previously hadn’t applied to.
If you hadn’t bothered to follow-up with them, then you couldn’t have improved the relationship with the recruiter, or received the potential recommendation to the new job from the recruiter.
As one can see, there are plenty of fantastic reasons that you should follow-up in an easy and efficient way, without having to worry about whether or not you appear to be annoying.
What to Include in Your Interview Follow Up
First, be sure to thank them for their time and for the opportunity. Include something to flatter them. Flattery is always a useful tool to use when trying to get something. Say something relevant though. Don’t be dishonest.
You also want to be careful when you attempt to flatter them, as you don’t want to make it seem as if your only intention is to make sure that you get on their good side.
You want to appear as genuine as possible, to make it seem as if you are a pleasant individual who would be easy to get along with in a professional setting.
Second, make sure to reiterate why you’re a good fit. This will help refresh in their mind all of the highlights of your qualifications and give them something to remember if it takes them a couple of days to read the letter or get back to you.
Lastly, close by saying you’re looking forward to the next step and thank them ahead of time for a timely response. It makes people more willing to act if they are already being thanked for that action.
They will want to live up to the expectation set in front of them, which is exactly what you want.
Essentially, you want your follow-up to do two things. 1.) You want to remind them about why your qualifications, experience, and skill make you an excellent fit for the position, and 2.) Get clarity as to when you might hear back from them in regards to the consideration process for the position.
You don’t want your follow-up letter or email to be too long and read like an essay. You want to create a follow-up that is short and to the point, and highlights why you’re the best candidate to consider.
When To Send Follow-Up Emails Or Letters
There are different scenarios when you should send follow-up emails or follow-up letters. Some are scenarios require a follow-up more than others.
In addition, you don’t want to send a follow-up that directly contradicts what you said in the interview. Therefore you need to remain consistent in the language you use throughout your follow-up. For instance, you don’t want to send a follow-up letter that makes it seem as if you doubt your skills when you spoke highly of them in the interview.
In other words, you want to remain consistent in your follow-up communication to the same communication or atmosphere that was in the interview.
• 1.) Email After A Phone Interview
In most cases, companies prefer to do a phone interview before an in-person interview to get some of the technical and skill experience out of the way. In these interviews, it’s important for the healthcare recruiter, hiring manager, or employer to gauge whether or not you can effectively conduct the job at hand before advancing you to the next consideration stage.
In addition, it offers a brief opportunity to get to know the candidate a little bit more, and you want to ensure that you make a solid impression in the phone interview.
In a follow up email after a phone interview, you want to once again express your gratitude for them taking the time to interview you over the phone for the position — and highlight why you believe you are a great candidate.
In most phone interviews, the individual conducting the interview is frantically taking notes based on your answers. And frequently they will be writing down your skills and how you applied those skills in your professional experience.
In your follow-up email, you want to detail your skills once again, so that they can recall it in their consideration process.
Another frequent talking point during the phone interview (especially during healthcare phone interviews) is whether or not you would be comfortable working in a group or team setting.
If this is the case during the phone interview, you want to once again remind them that you look forward to the team environment and have previously worked in teams successfully in the past.
To demonstrate what your ideal follow-up email or letter should be, here is an example:
“Mrs. Smith,
I wanted to thank you again for the opportunity to have a phone interview for the Registered Nurse position with (name) hospital. I believe my previous RN experience over the last five years would make me a positive fit, and look forward to working with a team of individuals dedicated to providing the most efficient care.
Getting to work with a team dedicated to improving their patients’ well-being is something that excites me, and I believe I would fit in well based on my previous experience working in a team-driven healthcare environment. I look forward to hearing back from you about the position.
Sincerely,
(Name)”
In this follow-up example, the individual details their appreciation for the phone interview, details their experience, and mentions the excitement in hearing back from them in the future.
• 2.) Email After Initial In-Person Interview
If you’ve advanced to the in-person interview stage, then you should rest assured that you are one of the final individuals getting considered for the position.
After you have successfully attended an in-person interview, a follow-up is critical to ensuring that you separate yourself from the narrow margins separating yourself from the other candidates.
Following up after an in-person interview is critical to reminding the interviewers about your interview experience, credentials, and professional experience.
Typically, interviewers will schedule several interviews in one day. This means that they might unintentionally forget the little details about you and your experience on accident.
The follow-up email or letter is critical to reminding them about you and standing out from the crowd or group of individuals they interviewed in one day.
• 3.) Email After The Second In-Person Interview
If you’re interviewing for a position that requires two in-person interviews, then with each step you can rest assured knowing that the competition and candidate pool is getting smaller and smaller.
With the candidate pool getting smaller and smaller, you should also rest assured knowing that you have an opportunity to get a better.
You should ensure that you send another follow-up letter or email after the second in-person interview to highlight some talking points that occurred during the interview.
In addition, you should take the time to mention that you are growing increasingly comfortable interacting with them and learning more about the healthcare facility, hospital, or healthcare business - and look forward to learning more about the role and business itself.
• 4.) You Didn’t Hear Anything
In the event that they told you they would contact you soon, or would let you know about the future of the consideration process and never got back to you, you should definitely send a follow-up email or letter asking for an update on the current process.
Sometimes it can feel like an eternity when you’re waiting for that phone call or email to let you know what the status of your application or consideration is in the process.
If you don’t hear from the recruiter or hiring manager with a week to two weeks, then you should most definitely follow up with them and politely request a status update.
In many cases, the recruiter or hiring manager has gotten swamped with other projects or tasks, and they potentially forgot to remind the candidates of where they stand.
In some rare cases, the timeline for selecting a candidate has gotten pushed back, and along with that the candidate notification process has gotten pushed back as well.
These things happen naturally, as the hiring and selection process is very fluid.
Therefore, you won’t offend anyone by asking where you currently stand in the consideration process, in the effort to get a better understanding of where you currently sit in their eyes.
Take the time to follow up with them and once again remind them about your qualifications, how you are eager to fulfill the position, and want to get an understanding of where things sit.
It’s important to remember that you want to appear polite and understanding. You don’t want to make it appear as if you are rude and demand answers when the interviewer might not even have them.
You want to avoid appearing needy or insecure about the position.
You want to appear confident, because you have a lot of value to provide to the potential employer — and it’s up to you to ensure that they understand the value you can provide them if they decide to move forward with you.
A Time To Recover
One of the best things that follow-ups allow individuals to do is to recover from any mistakes they might have made during their interviews.
A follow up is a good time to recover bad first impressions and make up for anything you left out.
This is a time you can send them references and letters of recommendations if need be.
If your reason for worry is minor and are just nervous, then don’t send them references or letters of recommendations; it will come across as needy and insecure. In other words, only send references of recommendations if they ask for them.
Trust your skills and believe in yourself.
Keep your confidence up through the whole process and don’t sweat the small stuff. Take the time to continue networking and sending more resumes to other employers.
Give yourself as many options as possible — it will reduce your stress and insecurities.
Rejection
If they reject you be sure to thank them for their time and consideration. Ask for feedback and see if they will highlight any areas you can improve.
If they don’t, oh well and don’t sweat it. It will show that you have the willingness to improve and you can still keep them in your network.
Keep trying and use the practice to be better next time. Take note of your mistakes and learn from them. Unfortunately, rejection is part of the interviewing process.
Rejection on the other hand can help teach you important lessons each time, and you can gain skills that you can then use in future interviews and potential jobs.
As with anything else, practice makes perfect, so don't expect to do exceptionally well if you're new to the job market or industry. Your interviewing skills will improve over time and everything gets better with practice. The worst thing you can do is take it personally and let it affect your confidence!
The key takeaway you need to remember when you get rejected is that employers, recruiters, and hiring managers are constantly looking for a job candidate that can provide them with value — and that you need to convey that your skills and experience will help provide them with the most value possible.
You Got The Job
In the event that they offer you the job, then you should take the time to send a follow-up letter or email with detail about the offer. Congrats, you landed the job! Now take a moment to take a breath and ramp up for the on boarding procedures of your new employer.
• 1.) Follow-Up With Some Time To Think Over The Offer
It’s important that you don’t jump into automatically accepting the offer that they sent you. You want to make sure that you review the offer proposal they have sent to you, and consider it wisely.
You want to make sure that you ask for time to review the offer. The healthcare company or hospital will understand in most cases, as the offer process is a negotiation.
In rare circumstances the timetable is brief, and they need an answer soon. In those instances, you need to make your decision a little bit sooner, but common practice is to wait a couple days and then reply with an acceptance or official decline.
When you review the offer you want to make sure that you are comfortable with the language in the offer, that you understand all that you are getting compensated for, benefits, time off, etc.
If you have questions, it’s best to write down all the questions you have and ask for clarification.
That’s why you want to ask for some time in a follow-up letter or email to their official offer. That way you have all the information you need to make the most informed decision possible.
• 2.) Follow-Up To Accept An Offer
So you’ve taken some time to consider the offer that they have provided you with and you’re happy with it. All you have to do is follow-up with them letting them know that you are willing to accept the offer, are excited about the opportunity to work with them, and the hospital/facility in the position itself.
Remind them that you are eager to get started and look forward to contributing to the team and adding value.
You also want to ask what the next steps are, whether they are going to schedule a specific date to sign all the paperwork, go through training, or if all of that will be taken care of.
Relax and celebrate in any way you see fit. Clear your mind and congratulate yourself. Your hard work has paid off and you've followed the steps to successfully finding a new position.
Summary
Regardless of how your interview ultimately went over, it's important to send a follow up email after the interview to touch base once again and get more information on what's going on.
Opening a post-interview dialog can help you save time in the long run as you may not even need to continue your job search!
Regardless, it's an important aspect of professional hiring that many overlook. The majority of applicants don't take the initiative to follow through with this step, so if you're the one who does, it'll help put you above and beyond the competition!