When Should You Follow Up After an Interview?
Hi friend,
Last week three different people asked me the same question:
Hello Karissa, from your personal experience, how long should you wait before sending a follow up on an interview call?
After your job interview you can’t wait to find out if you’ll advance to the next stage. You think you did well, so how fast will the recruiter get back to you? Maybe the recruiter promised to follow up on the outcome and missed the deadline, or maybe you forgot to ask during the interview (whoops!). Either way, you don’t want to come off as too needy, desperate, or clingy, but you really want to know how your interview went.
Whew!
First things first: Did the recruiter or hiring manager tell you when you could expect to hear back after the interview? Respect the timeline you were given unless you have new information (i.e. another company has extended an offer and you need to accelerate the timeline for interviewing and making a decision).
If the recruiter didn’t contact you when they said they would, wait until the next business day and send a follow up email like this:
Hi Tara,
I just wanted to check in because I didn’t hear back from you yesterday. I’m still very excited about the position; please let me know if something on your end has changed the timeline!
Best,
Karissa
If you don’t know what the hiring team’s timeline is and you just got out of the interview, include it in your thank you note:
It completely slipped my mind to ask, but would you mind sharing your timeline for this stage, and when I can expect to hear back about next steps?
If it’s been a few days and you already sent your thank you note, wait one business week before reaching out:
Hi Rathika,
I hope you are doing well! I wanted to check about your timeline for this stage and when I should expect to hear back regarding the outcome of last week’s interview. I remain excited about the team and the Living History project and hope we can continue the conversation soon.
Best,
Karissa
That’s it! Be respectful of the dates and times that recruiters or hiring managers give you, but don’t be scared to follow up and hold them to it. Do remember that recruiters and hiring managers are people too and things happen— sick days, internet outages, or project emergencies. It’s not necessarily a bad sign if you don’t hear back right on time. However, be cautious of situations where your reminder doesn’t receive a fast and reasonable response. Companies should observe the same respect and professionalism they expect from you.
See you Thursday!
Karissa
P. S. Don’t let your job search anxiety convince you that a delay is negative. Immediately after following up with the email template above, my friend Anmol got a response from the recruiter— he passed the interview and advanced to the next stage!
