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What to Do After an Interview: A Quick FAQ Guide

what to do after interview

You thought your job interview went very well. You were very pleased with how you handled yourself and you thought that your interviewer really took to you. But what now? Do you just sit and wait around for them to contact you? Is there anything else you can do that could further improve your chances of landing the job? 

Well, yes you should keep the momentum going. Here’s how. 

What to Do After an Interview 

The job interview certainly is the hard part. But you are not fully done just yet. To keep the ball rolling, here are 6 thing you need to do after an interview:

  1. Send a thank you email after interview
  2. Analyze how your job interview went 
  3. Consider your general feelings about the company
  4. Send a LinkedIn connection request to the recruiter 
  5. Proceed with a follow-up email after interview
  6. Continue with other job applications. 

Let’s break down these steps further. 

1. Pen a Quick Thank You Email After Interview

Don’t underestimate the power of a thank you note after the job interview: 80% of recruiters admit that they take thank you emails into account when assessing job candidates. After all, interviewing job candidates can be a tireless task, so a little appreciation for their efforts can go a long way. Who doesn’t like to be thanked and praised, right?

writing a thank you note email

So don’t skim on writing that short note and sending it to the recruiter. 

Apart from actually thanking the person for the provided opportunity, you should also weave in comments that help to reinforce your key skills and qualifications. Bring up those that are particularly relevant to the role. For example, if the interviewer asked you a lot of questions about using CRM software in your current role, you can mention that you appreciated the opportunity to discuss your in-depth knowledge of CRM systems.

Here’s a short template for writing a thank you email after interview:

[Name],

I really enjoyed our conversation at [day, time] and would like to again thank you for your time and the insights you’ve shared about [Company Name]. 

Our discussion about [key skills/competency] seemed very productive and I kept thinking about how I could use my knowledge to help [Company Name] get [some positive outcome].

Hope to hear from you soon! 

Bonus: What Else To Do After The Interview to Follow Up? 

A short thank you email isn’t the only good way to follow-up after the job interview. Depending on the sort of company you’ve applied to, you can also choose to phone the recruiter personally. (Or mail an old-fashioned, but highly effective handwritten thank you note). 

handwriting thank you note

At either rate, use your follow-up as a pretext to remind of your competencies yet again. Briefly highlight any special skills or qualifications that make you especially suitable for the role.

Thinking back to the key questions you were asked during your interview, you can see what the interviewer was looking for in a candidate. You can use this knowledge to plan out your thank you letter, email, or phone call.

This brings us to the next point…

2. Do a Retrospective of Your Job Interview 

In a day or two, when the initial antics die up, have a quick sitdown session with yourself, and analyze how your interview went. 

Try to deconstruct the general flow of the conversation into two buckets:

  • Areas where you did well 
  • Interview aspects that need further work. 

Self-analysis can be tough. But try to be objective (without being overly critical). The easiest way to analyze your performance during the job interview is by asking yourself the following questions:

  1. How well did I tackle different job interview questions?: Think both content (Were my replies on-point or too rambling?) and delivery (Did I sound natural or a bit too rehearsed?). Try to remember the interviewer’s reaction to different responses.
  2. Were my examples good enough? The job interview allows you to reiterate the skills listed on your resume and place them in extra context. Everyone can say that they have ‘strong leadership skills’, but much fewer people can come up with situational examples or interesting stories that illustrate that. So think again about how relevant your stories were and if you could come up with something better for the next round. 
  3. Did I know enough about the company/role? Interviews can easily go wrong when you have little clue of what’s expected of you in the new positions. Even if you are applying for a similar job, chances are that a lot of things will be different from the employer (e.g. they may have different operational policies or pursue different goals). And when you miss that context, you cannot position yourself as the ‘ultimate solution to the company’s problem’ during the interview. 
  4. Did I manage to avoid hard corners? A lot of candidates choke during job interviews when they get asked about their resume gaps, weaknesses, or salary expectations. Think if you did well with those tougher questions. 

Ultimately, the point of such a retrospective isn’t to make yourself feel like a loser. But to critically assess your performance and find ways to do better during another interview. 

3. Consider How You Feel About the Company 

Job interviews aren’t just for HRs to assess you. They are also meant to provide you with a first glimpse into the company’s inner works. So after you are done with a self-assessment, think about how the potential employer performed. 

In particular, try to remember if you’ve experienced either of the next major red-flags:

  • The interviewer was too formal, cold, or distracted, showing little effort in trying to be at least somewhat friendly. 
  • The office itself feels tense and the people you’ve seen when visiting didn’t look very contemptuous or friendly. 
  • During the interview, they mentioned some sort of ‘free work’ in the form of a “can you do a sample marketing plan for our company?”.
  • The recruiting process was very ineffective with slow communication, delayed responses, and little extra information provided, based on your requests. 
  • The role description keeps changing during the interview and differs a lot from the job post.
  • The employer makes no effort in selling you the job at hand.

Also, it’s perfectly okay to not feel great about the job or the company for a variety of other reasons. So don’t push yourself to accept the offer you are doubting for some reason. High chances are that you’ll end up being miserable in that role.

4. Connect with an Interviewer on LinkedIn 

Feeling great about the company? Excellent. Remind about yourself once again by sending a connection request to the recruiter on LinkedIn

connect with recruiter on Linkedin

Networking can be a very useful tool to help you in your career. If you have a goal to work for a particular company, then building networking relationships with key personnel within that company through LinkedIn will give you a great advantage should a job vacancy arise. Not only could you find out about a potential job opening before anyone else, but having well-established connections with existing staff can also lean in your favor. People like a certain degree of familiarity, so if you go into an interview with established links to the company, you will be looked upon more favorably than an unknown person with none.

Pair your request with a short personalized note, reminding how you’ve met (aka at interview on day x).  

5. Proceed with a Follow Up Email After Interview

What to do if you haven’t heard back after an interview in 14+ days? Send an interview follow-up email to remind of your candidacy and request a quick update regarding your application status. 

Following up your job interview will bring you back to the forefront of your interviewer’s mind if they simply forgot to issue an update (which happens a lot).

Also, it’s your opportunity to re-confirm your interest in the position, plus give the person a chance to ask you any further questions. 

We wrote another guide detailing how to write a follow up email after the interview (with samples included!). So go check it. 

6. Keep Up with Job Search and Interviewing 

Don’t get hung up on just one interview and one employer. Even if things went particularly well (to your knowledge), you still may not get hired.

In fact, according to Jobvite, the conversion rate from interviews to offers is just 28%, meaning that every 1 in 4 candidates will receive an offer. 

As a rule of thumb: you shouldn’t decline other job interviews up till you’ve signed a contract with a new employer. So keep your schedule open and continue pitching for other job opportunities while you are waiting for the results.

Who knows, maybe you’ll find an even better job opportunity next!

Final Tip: What Not to Do After an Interview

Unless you deliberately want to sabotage your chances of getting a callback, don’t do the next things after the job interview:

  • Avoid harassing the recruiter. A thank you note or a call, plus a LinkedIn connection request is the maximum you should do during the first week. In a fortnight, you can also send an interview follow-up email and then pace a second follow email in another 7 days. If there’s still crickets, don’t go calling the person round the clock, leaving voicemails, or text messages asking to “Get in touch ASAP”. Doing so is a sure-fire way of never getting another interview opportunity with the company.
  • Ghosting the recruiter is bad too. Playing hard to get yourself is another bad practice. If you are waiting upon another company’s reply, do the adult thing and tell the hiring manager that you need extra x days to think. If you’ve changed your mind entirely, honestly tell them so too. 
  • Do not bash the person/company on social media. Again, this plain immature, plus sends the wrong signal about you to all your contacts (and future employers who may someday discover the rant). Just don’t get publicly emotional. 

Finally, don’t despair! If this interview didn’t pan out, there will be others, far better ones!

This article has been originally published on October 2, 2017 and has been extensively revised and updated on December 15, 2020.

Author

  • Elena Prokopets

    Elena runs content operations at Freesumes since 2017. She works closely with copywriters, designers, and invited career experts to ensure that all content meets our highest editorial standards. Up to date, she wrote over 200 career-related pieces around resume writing, career advice... more

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