Jessica Lee: Don’t Forget These Post-Interview Follow Up Steps
Congrats on completing your interview! What’s next? After an interview, it is very easy to overthink your answers. The truth is, it may seem like there is very little you can do as you wait for an answer about whether or not you’ve advanced to the next round of an interview process or if you’ve received an offer. However, there are a few concrete steps you can take after an interview to continue to show your interest and that may help set you up for success.
During your interview, the interviewer will most likely give you a range of time for when you will hear back from them. Within the first 24 hours of your interview, you should think about sending the person/people that interviewed you a thank you note. It’s fine for this thank you to be sent as an email so it’s received in a timely manner. Keep it short and sweet and make sure to mention something specific that was discussed in your interview. Lastly, thank them for the opportunity and make sure to mention that you are looking forward to hearing from them soon. Pro tip: write down the names of the people who interviewed you so you don’t forget to include them. Recruiters can help make sure your thank you emails get to the right people.
If you do not hear back from your recruiter/interviewers within the time frame that they mentioned, don’t panic. Their process may be taking longer as they make decisions about candidates. Wait at least a day before sending a follow-up note, possibly mentioning something positive about their organization and your interview, and inquire about the status. When you receive a response and (fingers crossed!) you are extended an offer, congrats!!! Now you can spend time considering the offer and responding by the deadline. If you are not offered the job or internship, you can send an additional note to ask for feedback from the interview. Feedback is very helpful, especially during job hunting, so you can learn from the experience and apply that to your next interview. While it may be disappointing to not receive an offer, understand that communicating your appreciation for having the interview is a good practice as you never know when you might interview with the same recruiter in the future!
Good luck with your interviews and if you have any questions, reach out to the Peer Career Consultants by emailing careerconsultant@scu.edu.