Job Interviews

How To Follow Up After A Job Interview

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You interviewed for a job a few days ago but haven’t heard anything. Now what?

Here’s some guidance for how — and when — to follow up after a job interview.

Preparing for the Job Interview Follow-Up Even Before the Interview:

The best time to decide how to follow up is in the interview. Asking about the next steps in the process at the end of the job interview can help provide a lot of clarity for your follow-up actions.

Near the end of the interview, ask the interviewer when you can expect to hear back from them about a hiring decision or the next step in the hiring process. This will help guide your follow up. If the interviewer doesn’t have a specific timeline, ask if it’s okay for you to check in with them. Ask if he or she would prefer you to call or email. And determine a specific date for doing so — usually a week or two at a minimum.

If you do establish a specific follow-up follow up process, make sure you follow it. That can solidify you as an even stronger candidate when you follow up at the time and manner you established you would.

What if you don’t hear back from the interviewer?

If you don’t hear back from the interviewer on the date promised, that’s not unusual. It doesn’t mean you weren’t selected for the role. Often, things come up that can delay the hiring process. Sometimes an organization’s priorities for hiring have changed. If the interviewer is also a manager, other job responsibilities can have an impact. Maybe they got sick or had a family emergency. All of these can impact the hiring timeframe — and may not necessarily be communicated to you.

  • When to Follow Up:

For situations when there was a definitive schedule provided — but that date has passed — an email follow-up is often the best way to touch base (if you have an email address for the interviewer). Write a short email reiterating that you interviewed for the job on [date] and are still interested in the position and would like to know if anything else is needed.

Following Up When You Didn’t Establish a Follow-up Schedule with Your Interviewer

What if you didn’t ask the interviewer about the next step(s)? And what if the interviewer didn’t mention a timeframe for making a hiring decision? What then?

The first step is to wait. See if you hear back from the interviewer. How long should you wait? You’ll generally want to wait at least a week. But you won’t want to wait more than 10-14 days before you reach back out to inquire about the status of the hiring decision.

  • How to Follow Up When There was no predetermined timeframe:

Again, you’ll want to send an email or perhaps call the hiring manager or Human Resources (HR). If you’re having trouble connecting with anyone, it might be helpful to get some “inside information.” If you have a contact at the organization, reach out and ask if they know anything about the hiring for the position. You may also want to reach out to your references to see if they have been contacted.

Keep Applying — and Interviewing

Even while you’re waiting to hear back about this job opportunity, keep your job search going. Focus on the things you can control (applying and interviewing for other opportunities) rather than the things you can’t control (an employer’s hiring timeline).

What Not to Wear…For a Job Interview

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Dressing for interviews has gotten harder as workplace attire has become more casual. But one thing that hasn’t changed in the job search process is that people will judge you based on first impressions.

What you wear to an interview may have changed — in some situations — but the need to dress appropriately for the interview has not. It used to be that a suit (for men) and a dress (for women) was required attire for a job interview. Now, wearing a suit might actually work against you — for example, it might signal to a prospective employer that you don’t understand the organizational culture. (Particularly if the employee dress code leans more towards jeans and sneakers than ties and loafers.)

While it’s important to feel comfortable in what you wear to an interview, you don’t want to look too comfortable. Little details about your attire will likely be noted by the interviewer and can make the difference between getting a second interview (or job offer) or not.

Dressing appropriately for an interview demonstrates that you’ve done your research and that you pay attention to detail. Just like you study the organization’s website ahead of time to be prepared for a job interview, studying the company culture — especially as it relates to employee attire — demonstrates your interest in working for the organization.

The hiring manager can form an impression about you in the first five seconds of meeting you. Dressing appropriately conveys a very different impression than an impression made with poorly hemmed pants and shoes that are falling apart. It’s very difficult to change a first impression.

Even if your interview is a virtual interview (telephone or video — i.e., Skype), you should still “dress to impress.” Don’t make the mistake of only dressing your top half for a video interview either. There are dozens of horror stories about having to stand up suddenly or change positions and your suit-on-top-shorts-on-the-bottom look is revealed.

Interviewing When You’re Currently Employed

If you are job hunting while you are currently employed, you might find yourself wondering what to do if you have a job interview scheduled for a day you have to work. How do you dress for an interview when the interview attire is significantly different from what you wear to work in your existing job? You don’t want to show up for work in a suit when you normally come to work dressed in khaki pants and a button-up shirt.

Instead, plan to change clothes before your interview — but don’t change at your current workplace or at the company where you are interviewing. Instead, change somewhere in between — preferably some place that you will have access to a full-length mirror so you can double-check every detail of your appearance. If you don’t have time to go home, a mall or clothing store can be options. Be sure to allow yourself plenty of time to change and still get to the interview a few minutes early.

Interviewing at a New Organization

First, you need to research the organization’s dress code. How can you do that? Ask someone who works there. If you don’t know anyone who works there, go by the worksite at the beginning or end of the day (or during lunch) and see what people are wearing as they go in and out of the building.

Once you have a general idea of dress code, you need to decide how to apply that information to what you’re actually going to wear. One guideline for interview attire is to “Dress One Step Higher.” Once you know what an employee in the position you’re applying for would normally wear to work, elevate it one notch. So, for example, if the typical employee wears khaki pants and a button-up shirt, you might wear dress slacks, a blazer, and a shirt with a tie. For women, a pair of black dress slacks can be worn with a nice sweater and/or button-up shirt or blouse, or button-up shirt and blazer or jacket, and dress shoes or low-heeled shoes. A modest dress (knee length or longer in an interesting color or a muted pattern) is also an option.

Regardless, don’t let your clothes be a distraction. You want the focus to be on you, not what you’re wearing. Be remembered for your interview answers, not your interview attire.

What to Do After a Job Interview

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Congratulations, your interview went well and you’re excited. It is not the time to rest on your laurels—you’ve got work to do! Here are the steps you should take following your interview to keep the momentum going:

  • Send a thank you note. Send a separate note to each person who interviewed you. Your thank you notes should be sent no more than 2 days after your interview; the next day is even better. For government interviews, you should use an email note.
  • Keep applying for positions, even while you wait to hear back on this one. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. For one thing, there’s no guarantee that the jobs will actually get filled. The budget for the new position might not be approved. Or the responsibilities of the job opening may be distributed to one or more existing employees. Or an internal candidate may have suddenly become available, and the position is offered to him or her.
  • Develop any specific skills that were mentioned in the job interview but that you’re weak in — for example, specific software platforms. Not only will this give you something to do while you wait, but it’s also an opportunity for you to demonstrate your serious interest in the position, because you can mention what you’re doing to strengthen your skills in your follow up with the interviewer.
  • Reach out to your network. If someone you knew at the organization had passed your resume along to the hiring manager or endorsed your application, be sure to check in with him or her after the interview. Your contact may be able to provide you with insight about the number of candidates interviewed, how your candidacy was perceived, and other valuable information about the hiring process and the organization culture.
  • Tap your references. Let them know that you’ve interviewed for the position (give them the job title and organization) and that they may be contacted. Make sure they have an updated copy of your resume. Ask them to let you know if they hear from the organization.
  • If this was a first interview, start preparing for a second one. The second interview requires even more preparation than the first one—get busy!
  • Follow up. If the interviewer didn’t mention a timeframe for making a hiring decision — or you didn’t ask — you have a couple of options. The first is to wait a week and then reach out to inquire. How should you follow-up? Unless the interviewer has stated otherwise, a phone call is usually the best method for follow-up. Try to reach the person directly; only leave a voice mail if you can’t reach them after a couple of tries. Don’t forget to check USAJOBS as well to see if the status of the job has changed.

Remember, even if you aren’t selected for the position you were interviewing for, many organizations do keep your application and resume on file, and you might be contacted later about another opening.

The Top 10 Reasons You Were Not Picked for an Interview

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Over and over I hear, “if I could only get an interview, I could get the job…” Yet, far too many times, you’re not called for an interview. What could have happened…you thought you were the perfect fit…and you may have even received an email saying that you were referred to the hiring manager.

Of course, truly knowing the precise reason for not getting interviewed for a specific position is difficult to figure out but here are some of the more common reasons why you were not called for an interview:

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