How To Send An Effective Follow-Up Email After A Job Interview

Send follow-ups for the right reasons after a job interview

The ultimate purpose of your follow-up email is to help you land the job. It's the right thing to do for lots of important reasons...👇

• It shows you are interested in the position.
• The follow-up email is a courtesy that shows respect for every individual you meet.
• It’s your opportunity to demonstrate what you learned in the interview.
• Your follow-up email is a great time to share what impressed you about the organization and the culture.
• It’s a perfect time to ask thoughtful questions.
• It may even be a good time to respectfully share any concerns you may have that you want them to address further.
• Even if you don’t ultimately get hired, at a minimum, it plants seeds for the future. Because you never know when an opportunity might present itself again within that company. Or with a person you interviewed with, who is now at a new company.

Timing Of Your Follow-Up Email

Send a follow-up sooner rather than later after a job interview

The best rule of thumb as to when to send a follow-up email is the sooner you send it, the better. But, definitely send it within 24 hours. ⏱

If it’s been longer than 24 hours should you still send a follow-up email? Yes, of course. It’s just the right thing to do. ✅

Tone Of Your Follow-Up Email

Formula for getting your job interview follow-up noticed

The tone of your follow-up email should use GRACE. As in the word, grace. But, also using the words that make up the acronym, GRACE...

• Genuine 💎
• Reflective 🤔
• Articulate 💬
• Curious 🔎
• Excited ✨

Who To Follow Up With After Interview

Follow up with each interviewer individually

The simplest answer to whom you should send a follow-up email to after your job interview?

Everyone who interviewed you.

And, anyone who helped you (even the admin who got you the coffee).☕

Each email should be sent to each person individually and uniquely personalized to reflect on the interaction you had with that person.

What To Include In Your Follow-Up

Your job interview follow-up is more than just a thank you note

First off, obviously, include a thank you in your follow-up email. 🙏

Beyond that though, share the top reasons you’re excited. Ask questions. Reference any next steps that were discussed.

And, last but not least, include a showstopper–do something different than what everyone else sends–something that gets attention and helps you stand out. 🎉

Below are three follow-up emails examples you could send after a job interview. A bad one. A better one. And a show-stopping one.

Sample Email #1

A bad follow-up email example

First off, sending a group follow-up email is not the right way to do it. It should have been sent to each person individually and uniquely personalized to the recipient. 🛑

Second, it does nothing to demonstrate your GRACE (Genuine, Reflective, Articulate, Curious, and Excited). 🚫

Delete.

Sample Email #2

A better follow-up email example

Definitely better, right? It's personalized to one person. It demonstrates excitement for the position. It reflects on things that were said in the interview.

It's a good email. 👍

It's just not a show-stopper.

Sample Email #3

A show-stopping follow-up email example

Why is this follow-up email a show-stopper that will get better results than the previous email examples?

• First and foremost, it's different. The use of the personalized, branded Popr from Popr.ai stands out and will get noticed. 🎉
  
  Assuming there are multiple people who are interviewing for this job, standing out from the crowd by being unexpected and different is paramount.
  ‍
• Second, it's clear that Ian took some real time to craft this message and make it relevant to the company and the person he interviewed with. This clearly isn't a cookie cutter follow-up email. 🔥
  ‍
• Lastly, it's evident that Ian is genuinely excited about the potential opportunity at Kanga. Genuine excitement can go a long way. 💜

Things To Do In Addition To Sending A Follow-Up Email After A Job Interview

The follow-up email is critical. Don't skip it. But, here are a few things to do in addition to sending a follow-up email after a job interview....

Use LinkedIn

If you haven't already connected with each person you interviewed with on LinkedIn, now's the time. Send a connection request that's accompanied by a short and sweet personalized message. 📨

If you have already connected on LinkedIn, then a LinkedIn message to thank them again and reference your follow-up email is appropriate.

Send a handwritten thank you note

After you've sent your follow-up email to each person who interviewed you, don't miss the opportunity to drop a thoughtful handwritten thank you note in the mail (as soon as possible after the interview). This, in addition to your show-stopping follow-up email, will make you hard to resist as a candidate! 🤩

Send a second follow-up email

After a week or two go by, hopefully you will have heard something back from your first follow-up email. Or, you will have received some sort of direction in terms of how long until you should expect to hear back.

When that time comes, now's not the time to disappear. 👻

Send another show-stopping follow-up email and let your future employer know you mean business! 🎉