Follow-up is Key to Opportunities, Referrals and Your Online Reputation
Following up is professional. Follow-up is a common courtesy and it’s what it takes when you’re committed to long term relationships for career building. In a networked world, people know people and they talk and…they remember.
Following Up is Key to Networking
Whether it’s for an informational interview or a job, there’s no substitute for following up.
There’s a plethora of online articles that address why employers don’t respond after an interview and advice for candidates to keep the flame alive. Still, it’s not cool to not follow-up, by the employer or the candidate.
When the candidate does not respond, there’s little to nothing an employer can do when candidates go cold after the interview. No thank you, no follow-up, no return calls, they just disappear!
- Was it that the candidate had other intentions?
- Perhaps they received a counter offer from their current company or returned to school, or gave up on both (this happens to 10% of college grads!).
- Maybe the candidate was considering other offers and sitting pretty so they felt that follow-up was not required.
The good news for the employer is…without follow-up, they’ve discovered this bad trait before they hired a candidate. It’s a pattern that would surely be repeated with clients, partners and coworkers and hardly what a company is seeking in an employee.
How to Follow-up
Send a professional email, or you can stand out by making a different effort:
- Ask to connect on LinkedIn
- Send a handwritten note.
- Call the person that you met with.
- Attach a pertinent article along with a statement of thanks in email. The article can be based on some of your business conversation from the interview or something you learned about the interviewer on a personal level, such as “their love of travel”.
- Comment on a positive review of your interview experience if the company has an online review form.
- More suggestions for staying in touch
Competition is Stiff
You worked hard to get the meeting, referral or interview. Take a moment and thank people in your network, the interviewer and the person that referred you. Why not? Even if it doesn’t result in an immediate opportunity, you’ll stand out and be remembered as the pro that you are.
