By: Nicole Hitch

To some this article may seem like common sense, but you would be surprised how often much of the following gets overlooked and how many job seekers seemingly can’t be bothered to put forth the effort to follow up once they have been interviewed.  I stress over and over to the candidates I work with, the importance of following up after an interview; phone interview or in person interview, it does not matter, the follow up is the piece that keeps the flow of building the relationship with the hiring manager/company going.

You know how they say that sales is all about building relationships and knowing the product right?  Well interviewing is no different, except that the product is you and it is your job to do the best job you can to build as meaningful of a relationship with the interviewers (who are the buyers) as you can…  Now we are not talking BFF type or lovey-dovey type relationships, but a get to know you, respect you, and show interest in the company/position and that you can make a positive difference in both, type relationship.

Following up (if done correctly) helps to continue to create rapport with the person who interviewed you;  it shows that you are interested in and serious about the position/company,  you pay attention to details, you have good manners and can write articulately, it gives you another opportunity to reiterate how you will be able to help the company by using your fantastic skills and it also sets you apart from many of the other people who are also interviewing for the same position because many of them will skip this step.

I have outlined below the basics of the follow up and what you need to do during and after the interview to be prepared to follow up.

During the Interview

• If it is a phone interview be sure to get the correct spelling of the interviewer’s first and last name prior to the interview either from the recruiter/HR person who set up the interview, or if you know the name, but are unsure of the spelling, you can always check LinkedIn or Spoke, and if either of those steps don’t work, don’t hesitate at the end of the interview to ask for the correct spelling.
• If it is a face to face interview, be sure to ask each person interviewing you for a business card at the end of your time with them (if they don’t offer one at the start), if they don’t have one, be sure to write down their name so you can follow up with the HR/Recruiting contact to get the correct spelling.
• Regardless of if it is a face to face or phone interview, be sure to ask the interviewer when you should expect to hear of their decision.  This will help give you a time frame on when to follow up again once you have sent your thank you note.

Immediately following the Interview

• Take the time as soon as you get back to your car/bike/bus or whatever to write down everything you can about what you talked about and with whom during the interview.  This will help you personalize your thank you notes when you sit down to write them.

Within 24-48 Hours of the Interview

• Write a rough draft of the thank you note and then have another person you trust to look over it to make sure you didn’t miss any grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors and also to make sure it sounds good, then write your final draft.   This is one area where mistakes can be extremely hazardous, so be sure there are NO spelling, punctuation or grammatical mistakes!  If you are sending the thank you via e-mail, it should be sent within 24-48 hours of the interview, if you are mailing the thank you (either hand written or typed and printed), you should have it in the mail within 24 hours of the interview.
• If you are mailing the thank you note, address the envelope as follows:

Company Name

Attn: Interviewer’s First and Last Name

Address

City, State   Zip

• If you are unsure of what to say in your thank you note, Google “interview thank you letters” and you will find tons of sites with suggestions.  DON’T cut and paste any of the templates and only choose to change a few words!  Use them as a guideline and put your own words in.  Try to tailor each thank you to the individual you met with and connect it to things you spoke with them about during your interview.  Make them professional with a personal touch.

Now if you want to truly get that job and set yourself apart from the crowd follow these steps.

• Get a hand written thank you card in the mail within 24 hours of your interview.  If your hand writing is so bad even you can’t read it, then maybe type one, but I always prefer to get a hand written thank you in the mail because it shows the person made a little extra effort. Besides, who doesn’t like getting nice mail???
• Personalize every thank you!  Even if you met with ten people during your interview for one position, each person should get their own thank you note and it should be different than the ones you sent to everyone else… tie in things you spoke about with that person.  Make a connection with them so they remember you.
• Make sure in your thank you letter that you show your appreciation for the interviewer’s time!!!
• Once you have sent your thank you letter, mark your calendar on when you will follow up again.  This will depend on when the interviewer said they plan to have a decision.  If they say they plan to have a decision by the end of the week and you haven’t heard anything by the end of the week, mark your calendar to make a telephone call on Monday to follow up.  Don’t call before, because you will come across as desperate and as having poor listening skills.  If you don’t have a time frame for when the decision will be made, mark your calendar for 1 week from your interview date to make the follow up phone call.  If your interview was scheduled by a staffing firm, the thank you note is all you will have to do, because they will do the rest of the follow up for you.
• Look at every interviewing opportunity as a networking opportunity, you never know where or when you may be looking for another job and who will be hiring, so make sure that in all of your interviewing and follow up you are always polite, positive and professional (no matter what!!!!)!
• If you have sent your thank you notes, done your follow up call and haven’t heard back for several weeks, assume you did not get the position and move on.  Give yourself closure so you can move forward with all other opportunities with a positive mind set and knowing you put your best foot forward.

Best of luck to you in your job search and as always if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave a reply below or e-mail me at nhitch@bluewaveprofessionals.com.

I found this interesting article in the Reader’s Digest about things candidates should be aware of (both good and bad) when heading into an interview and decided to re-post.  Some of the points I definitely disagree with and are unethical and in fact are things that job seekers cannot control but should definitely be aware of.  However, many of them are also good reminders and come back to doing your homework prior to the interview.   I have highlighted in red some of my favorites that I think are great points.

Condensed from Reader’s Digest Magazine, April 2011

These are all tips from HR individuals from across the US on what to do and what not to do in an interview.  Food for thought.

1. “It’s amazing when people come in for an interview and say, ‘Can you tell me about your business?’ Seriously, people. There’s an Internet. Look it up.” –HR professional in New York City

2. “A lot of managers don’t want to hire people with young kids, and they use all sorts of tricks to find that out, illegally. One woman kept a picture of two really cute children on her desk even though she didn’t have children [hoping job candidates would ask about them]. Another guy used to walk people out to their car to see whether they had car seats.” –Cynthia Shapiro, former human resources executive and author of Corporate Confidential: 50 Secrets Your Company Doesn’t Want You to Know

3. “Is it harder to get the job if you’re fat? Absolutely. Like George Clooney’s character said in Up in the Air, ‘I stereotype. It’s faster.’” –Suzanne Lucas, a former HR executive and the Evil HR Lady on bnet.com

4. “I once had a hiring manager who refused to hire someone because the job required her to be on call one weekend a month and she had talked in the interview about how much she goes to church. Another candidate didn’t get hired because the manager was worried that the car he drove wasn’t nice enough.” –HR professional at a midsize firm in North Carolina

5. “Don’t just silence your phone for the interview. Turn it all the way off.” –Sharlyn Lauby, HR consultant in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

6. “If you’ve got a weak handshake, I make a note of it.” –HR manager at a medical-equipment sales firm

7. “If you’re a candidate and the hiring manager spends 45 minutes talking about himself, the company or his Harley, let him. He’s going to come out of the interview saying you’re a great candidate.”  –Kris Dunn, chief human resources officer at Atlanta-based Kinetix, who blogs at hrcapitalist.com

8. “Make sure you’re nice to everyone, especially the admin person at the front desk. If you’re not, we’ll hear about it.” –Michael Slade, HR director at Eric Mower and Associates, a marketing communications agency

9. “We do understand that sometimes your cat really is sick, or maybe you really did have stomach problems the morning of the interview. But we probably aren’t going to believe you.”  –Rich DeMatteo, a recruiting consultant in Philadelphia

10. “Never tell us you were fired from a job. Your résumé will automatically go into the trash. In 90 percent of the cases, depending on the reference immunity laws in your state and your former company’s policy, we have no way of finding out.” –Cynthia Shapiro

11. “Know how to pronounce my name, even if you have to call and ask the receptionist before you come in.” –Senior HR executive in New York City

12. “One time I said to a candidate, ‘Tell me a little bit about yourself.’ An hour and a half later, I was afraid to ask question No. 2.” –Sharlyn Lauby

13. “How soon should you send a thank-you note? The next day seems a little desperate. Wait a week, and I’ve probably interviewed a bunch of other people and you can remind me again how great you are.” –Cynthia Shapiro

14. “When it comes to getting a job, persistence does not pay off. Checking in once or twice is fine. But if you call and call and call, you’re not going to get the job, because you’re annoying.” –HR manager at a medical-equipment sales firm

15. “Sometimes we’ll tell you we ended up hiring someone internally—even if we didn’t—just to get you off our back.” HR representative at a Fortune 500 financial-services firm

16. “If your former supervisor hated you, don’t give me his direct line for a reference. Instead, give me the number to HR. Most of us will give out only the dates of your employment and what your title was.” –HR professional at a midsize firm in North Carolina

17. “Yes, we do look at your credit as part of our background check. And if you’ve got a bankruptcy or if your credit score is below 650, you’ll have a hard time getting a job. [But] background checks are expensive. Sometimes we bluff, get you to fill out the form, and don’t even run it.” –Cynthia Shapiro

By: Nicole Hitch

You have been applying for jobs, networking, and trying your best to get your foot in the door for a new opportunity.  The phone rings and you hear the words you have been hoping to hear… “Hello Mr./Ms. _________ we are calling to schedule you for an interview with so and so at______________ company.”  You have your big toe in the door, you have secured an interview…  ok, now what…???  Here are some steps to help you prepare to knock the socks off whoever is interviewing you and have a better chance of making it to the next step in the interview process.

1. Dress to Impress!  You only get one chance to make a first impression.  Because everyone’s fashion sense is different I recommend that you wear a dark solid color suite with a clean and pressed white button up shirt for men and a white blouse or button up shirt for women.  Guys don’t wear a crazy tie, keep it simple, a solid color tie is best.  Your hair should be neat and clean, keep jewelry to a minimum, and your shoes need to be polished and clean.  Also, many people are sensitive to smells and an overwhelming smell can also leave a bad impression.    Keep perfume, cologne, scented lotions, body sprays and aftershave to a minimum, don’t smoke in your suite, and try not to sit in a coffee shop prior to your interview as you most likely will smell like a coffee bean when you walk in and shake hands.
2. Do your homework!  Check out the company website, any press releases, what do they do, are they involved in the community, if so how, have they acquired any companies recently… know about them and then prepare genuinely interesting questions to ask about the company and take notes on topics that you may want bring up during the interview to help you build rapport with the interviewer and show your interest in the company.  When you ask your questions, actively listen to the answers, be genuinely interested in the answers and where appropriate ask follow up questions.
3. Prepare for difficult questions!  There is a plethora of resources with practice interview questions online.  Take the time to practice answering these questions.  You don’t want your answers to sound “canned,” but you also don’t want to leave the interview thinking, “ I should have said this or that about…”  You can also look at my blog entry of practice interview questions to also get some to practice.
4. Prepare your elevator speech!  What is an elevator speech?  It is the reason why any company should hire you.  Come up with about a 30 second bit about your strengths or accomplishments that are tailored to the position you are interviewing for.  This goes along with #3 above, you may get the question, “What are 3-4 of your strengths or accomplishments?” or the statement “Tell me about yourself.”  This is where being prepared with what you bring to the table will enable you to answer these questions with ease.
5. Be confident.  If they are interviewing you, that means there is something in your background on your resume that has peaked their interest.  If you do the 4 above steps, you should be well prepared to answer any questions they throw your way, so be confident in the fact that you are well prepared and in the fact that they are already interested.   When they ask, tell them where you have excelled and what you bring to the table.  At this point it is your interview to either win or lose.  Always go in with a positive attitude and a smile on your face as well.  You’ll be surprised how far those two simple things can go!
6. Basic body language.  Smile! Show that not only are you there to learn about them, but you are friendly and easy to work with/speak to.  Sit up straight!  Sitting back in your chair can show a lack of interest in the interviewer, position and/or company.  Give a good firm handshake, let them know you are there and interested.  Look the interviewer(s) in the eye (this shows confidence)… if it is a panel interview; be sure to make eye contact with everyone when you answer questions to make sure they all feel included in the conversation.  Keep your hands in your lap!  This is for a couple reasons… first, crossed arms does not show interest or willingness, arms touching, crossed or folded in front of you (even on the table) often times comes across as a barrier between you and the interviewer.   The second reason for keeping your hands in your lap is if you fidget when you get nervous your hands are less noticeable and if your hands sweat when you are nervous, you have your pants or skirt to do a quick brush off when you get up at the end or your interview to shake hands so as not to extend a slimy wet handshake. J
7. Let them know you want the job!  At the end of the interview, be sure to reiterate that you are not only qualified for the position, but very interested in joining the team/company!  Managers want to extend offers to people who not only have what they are looking for, but also that they know want to work there.
8. A thank you goes a long way!  At the end of your interview, don’t forget to thank the interviewer for his/her time and then within 24 hours follow up with a thank you note.  Be sure to proof read your thank you note before sending it out!!!!!

Good luck in your next interview and if you have any questions or would like more information, please contact me at nhitch@bluewaveprofessionals.com.