How To Follow Up Email After Job Interview - Complete Guide

Follow up email after job interview - We walk out of a job interview for our dream job position. We were stressing out about it for days and it’s finally over. We answered all their questions on point.

They’d love to give us a shot, but we just don’t seem too interested. And so they move on to the next candidate.

What went wrong?

We never followed up.

We will follow up after the interview. And it will make the employer want to hire us.

When to follow up after an interview? The sooner the better—the same day as the interview or the next, but definitely no later than 24hours after the interview.

Follow Up Email After Job Application

Wait one or 2 weeks after sending our job application. If we don’t hear back by then, consider sending a letter.

Keep in mind that it'll take at least a couple days for the letter to get to the company. If we are in a rush, consider following up in a different way. We can also send an email, make a phone call, or even visit the office in person.

If another week or so passes after sending our letter and we still haven’t heard back, we can send another. At that point, we might also follow up in a different way, such as a phone call or email.

If we're sending our follow-up message via email, list our name and the job title in the subject of the message. Our contact information should be listed in our signature. For example:

Subject: Kim Jenny - Nurse Position

How To Ask About Job Application Status After Interview

We finished the interview a couple days ago. Now comes the most nerve-racking part: the wait.
After waiting a couple of days, we can’t stand it anymore. We deserve to know what’s going on.
Did we get the job or not? We can only wait so long. If they’re not going to choose us, we’ll want to move on with our life.

We can try over phone or email. Phone might get us an immediate response. Whereas email might work well, especially if our recruiting contact is traveling is difficult to get a hold of over the phone.

The structure of our interview responses should include:

• Formal greeting and salutation (e.g. Dear Mr. / Ms.).
• Thank the recruiter or hiring manager for their time to interview us.
• Ask for interview status.
• Offer to answer any open questions or concerns they might have.

Second Follow Up Email After Interview

A lot of job search experts tell the job seeker to ask about next steps at the end of the interview.

We think it's a great question during the interview itself. But that doesn't mean that the focus of our thank you note or follow up email should be about what we need from them.

A good follow-up note should remind them of our strong interest in them, perhaps 2 points or three about why we especially feel us match, and then ask if there is anything else they need from us.

We can also ask politely if they have a tentative timeline for making their decision.

We know that it isn’t satisfying to tell someone waiting with bated breath about a job we really want and need that it will take as long as it will take.

If we want to follow up, give it time between each one – maybe 2 weeks. Just know that too many too often can actually hurt us!

So by all means send a thank you note right away. And we can politely follow up once or twice.
We can even try to find someone in the company to help champion our cause (it can also turn people off if done too aggressively.)

But in the end, the process still has to meet the company’s timing needs – not ours. So set our mind to making peace with what we can’t control, and giving it our all where we actually can make a real difference.

And in the meantime, keep looking for another job. It helps keep us sane and leaves us less dependent on whatever they decide.

And we just may surprise ourself and find something we like even more.

Follow Up Email After Phone Interview

We are robbed of the ability to read our interviewer’s body language and facial expressions, so figuring out how to navigate them without losing our cool can be tough.

Just because we’ve finished an interview doesn’t mean that we’re home-free. After a phone job interview it’s in our best interest to send a follow-up email or thank you note.

Though it’s not mandatory, sending a note is a great way to demonstrate our continued interest in a position and build raport with the hiring manager.

Always following up after every encounter in the hiring process — it’s important to thank the person for taking the time to meet with us, whether it was for 10 minutes or a whole afternoon.

At this time, we can allude to next steps by mentioning the next applicable step depending on our situation. It’s important to say that we enjoyed the conversation and express our continued enthusiasm for the role.

Try to relay back a piece of information that our interviewer mentioned that we found interesting (this is why it’s important to take notes if we can).

It can sometimes be tempting to repeat reasons why we would be a great fit for the job, but incessantly stressing how perfect we are for the job can get to be a bit much.

It’s worth taking time to personalize our note and make sure that it’s appropriate for the job and interviewer we met with.

Even if we’re meeting with different people at each stage of the interview process, always switching things up. If we send the same thank-you note every time they’ll probably notice it’s not authentic - adding that even if we’re emailing separate people, we don’t know whether they are sharing our emails amongst themselves.

It is important to remember that people make decisions based on their emotions — whether or not they want to admit it. We don’t want to give recruiters any reason to pause and wonder if we’re the right candidate by not taking a few minutes to follow up.

After all, something as simple and easy as a follow-up email shouldn’t be the reason we’re eliminated from a job we want.

Interview Follow Up Email Template

How to write the email message itself? Take a look at template below for a follow-up email right after the interview.

How to Write a Follow-Up Email After an Interview

• Open with a greeting (address the hiring manager by name).
• Thank them for their time. If we interviewed with several people, send a separate thank-you note to every one of them.
• Express our appreciation and reinforce our interest in the position.
• Personalize our interview follow-up email. Refer to specific company plans that we discussed during the interview. Suggest how our experience and skills can help our prospective employer with their challenges.
• Say that we’re willing to provide the hiring manager with any additional information if necessary, and confirm when a final decision is to be made.

And here’s an interview follow-up email sample we can adjust and use for our thank you message:

Subject line: Pleasure to learn more about [Company Name]

Dear [Hiring Manager’s Name],

Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me about the position of [the position we’re applying for] with [Company Name] this morning. It was a pleasure to learn more about your [innovative strategy / upcoming challenges / core values / industry insights].

The details you provided me with about the position convinced me that this is a job I would enjoy and one where I could make a valuable contribution with my skills and experience [refer to our specific area of expertise and how it can benefit our employer].

I was also thinking about what you said regarding [specific issue discussed during the interview]. In my last role as [our current or most recent position] I found that [data-backed explanation of how we would tackle the issue in question].

Finally, attached you will find the details of some of my projects we talked about. Please feel free to contact me if you find you need any more information. I look forward to our call next week as discussed.

Thank you once again, [Hiring Manager’s Name].

Best regards,

[Our sign-off]

Also check out job interview questions with answers articles below:

• Job Interview Questions and Answers Samples in (PDF)
• 14 Best Job Interview Questions and Answers (PDF)
• Top 20 Questions and Answers in Job Interview
• Top 27 Common Job Interview Questions and Answers Samples