How To Write a Follow-Up Email After an Interview With Templates

Digital Marketing News

How and When To Send a Follow-Up Email After an Interview

Follow Up Email After Interview

Have you sent a follow-up email after every interview you’ve ever had? Probably not. 

When you started in your career, you probably didn’t know you had to. And even now, when you’re trying to fit in interviews around work and other life’s responsibilities, it’s not the most important thing on your mind…

But a follow-up email after an interview can really help you stand out from the crowd. Given how competitive the digital marketing job market is right now, you need to use every advantage you have to get that job offer you’re after. And the Follow-up email is one that not enough people use. (Statistics on how many people send follow-up emails)

Why Should You Send a follow-up Email After your Interview?

A follow-up email after your interview is all about standing out to a recruiter or hiring manager, in a positive way.

If your interview went disastrously, sending a follow-up email after your interview probably won’t save your chances, or change the hiring manager’s mind. But often if you’re making it to the second and third interview stage, the difference between you and the other candidates for the role can be very small. So every little can help.

And, sending an email after your interview can help prevent recency bias. Recency bias is where someone has the best recollection of the interviews that happened most recently. And if a hiring manager interviews 10 people over 2 weeks and you were earlier, they may not remember you as well as they did the last person.

But emailing them to say thank you for the interview, brings you back to the top of the list in their mind. And you can also use the opportunity to remind them of some of the best bits about your candidacy for the job and interview.

But this doesn’t work if you wait too long and they have already made their decision. So how long should you wait before you send a follow-up email after your interview?

When Should You Send a follow-up Email?

For your first follow-up email, 24 – 48 hours is generally a good timeframe. Too soon, and you may not seem just eager for the role, but desperate. But any later, and your email may be too late and have missed the mark. Additionally, the interviewer may have conducted another 5 or 10 interviews after yours, and forgotten all about you. (It’s not uncommon for interviewers to group interviews close together, meaning they can have back-to-back interviews over a few days period.)

In some instances when you don’t hear back, it’s appropriate to send more than one follow-up email. The aim of the first email is to simply thank the interviewer for their time and leave a favourable impression: But a second, post interview follow-up email, gives you the opportunity to remind the interviewer of your conversation in greater depth, and to say exactly why they should hire you.

Generally, a good rule of thumb for your second follow-up email is to wait 10-14 days after your interview. Or, if you were told to expect a reply by a certain date, and didn’t, then sending a second follow-up email a day or two after that date is a good decision.

when to send a follow up email

What Your Follow-up Email Should Say

But most importantly, we’re here to tell you exactly what to say in your follow-up email.

A Clear Subject Line

A recruiter or hiring manager can receive hundreds of emails a day. So having a simple and clear subject to it clear why you’re emailing.

Of course the easiest and simplest route to take is to simply reply to any pre-existing email chains you have with the hiring manager. But if that isn’t a possibility, then one of the below is a great place to start your follow-up email:

  • “Thank you for taking the time to interview me last Tuesday – Jane Smith.”
  • “Jane Smith: Thank you for interviewing me for the SEO Manager position.”
  • “Jane Smith: Re: PPC Executive Interview on Wednesday, 12th of April.”

Be Friendly but Professional

This isn’t a cold-email where you need to be more professional. If you’ve had an interview with someone then you can be less formal and more casual. After all, you’re aiming to create a connection and relationship with the interviewer, and leave a positive impression. 

But you still want to be professional: You want this person to give you a job, not to be your best friend.

The Structure of Your Follow-up Email

Here we’ll break it down into two sections, with the second being what to include in a second follow up email.

Your post interview follow-up email should:

  1. Explain who you are and that you are following up on your interview.
  2. Thank them for taking the time to interview you, and for considering you for the position.
  3. Be enthusiastic and reiterate your interest in the position. After all, you’re reaching out because you want the job and you’re interested in the company.
  4. Sign off and thank them again.
  5. And lastly, keep it short. You don’t want to take up too much of the recruiter’s time by writing paragraph after paragraph. 

If you’re writing a second, later follow-up email, then you may choose to include a few extra bits of information:

  1. Maybe reference some specific parts of your interview to help remind the interviewer who you are: especially if it’s been a significant amount of time since your interview.
  2. Refer back to some of the questions you answered or examples you gave in your interview. You may even offer some further information, including images to strengthen the points you made. Your aim is to remind them why you’re a strong candidate for the role.
  3. If you’ve been waiting a while to hear back, then now is a good time to ask when you can expect an update on their decision making process.

Ending Your Email

We advise ending your email with a short summary of why you’re emailing in the first place: by telling them how much you enjoyed speaking to them, how much you are looking forward to their reply, and how excited you are for the opportunity. 

And as for signing off, you should treat it like any business email where you’re hoping for someone to reach out to you. So be respectful and leave your contact details at the end. Obviously they will already have these somewhere on their system, but it looks professional. And you want to make it as easy as possible for them to contact you. 

After Interview follow-up Email Templates and Examples.

Here are some example email templates that you can copy, when writing your own follow-up email.

The Thank You Email Example: 1 – 2 Days After Your Interview

This email is the simplest, and you don’t need to worry about dedicating too much time to it. All you are doing here, is thanking them for their time. 

Subject line: “Thank you for meeting with me last Tuesday – Jane Smith”

Dear “Interviewers Name”,

Thank you for speaking with me regarding the SEO Executive role. I really enjoyed learning more about the opportunity, about XXX company and about your own experiences there. I’m even more eager to progress and learn more about the role.

I’m looking forward to hearing from you regarding any potential next stages of the interview process.

Yours sincerely, 

Jane Smith

Phone: +44 0123 456789

Email: janesmith123@email.co.uk

The Second Follow-up Email Example Template: 2 Weeks After Interview

Your second follow-up email should contain more information than your first. Not only to remind the interviewer of who it is emailing them, but to remind them of why you’re a fantastic candidate for the role.

Or if you’ve been told to expect to hear back, and haven’t, then you should try to resist the urge to convey your annoyance. While it can be upsetting to be waiting, showing your frustration won’t do you any favours.

Subject line: “Regarding our interview on Wednesday, 12th of April: Jane Smith”

Dear “Interviewers Name”,

I hope that you’re doing well since we last spoke. We spoke two weeks ago regarding the Head of Paid Media position. It was an absolute pleasure to speak with you, and I especially enjoyed our discussion into the relationship between Organic and Paid media campaigns.

I just wanted to inquire about the status of my application. I understand that hiring a new member to the team is a complicated task that takes time. But I wanted to ask when I can expect to hear your decision on my candidacy?

I’m very interested in the role and very eager to hear from you, and hope to hear from you soon. Until then, all the best.

Yours sincerely, 

Jane Smith

Phone: +44 0123 456789

Email: janesmith123@email.co.uk

Second or Third Interview Follow-up Email Example/ Template

After your second or third interview, you’ll know more about the job and the company, and they’ll know more about you. Which changes the objective of your follow-up email. At this point they should know who you are, and shouldn’t need reminding. Instead, your email should aim to reiterate and expand on some of the strongest points you made in your interview.

Subject line: “Thank you for interviewing me – Jane Smith”

Dear “Interviewers Name”,

Thank you again, for taking the time to speak with me last Tuesday. It’s been a pleasure getting to know you personally throughout this interview process. It’s become clear over these past few weeks how passionate you are about your work and about XXX company. 

In our last meeting you mentioned that the most important skill for your new Senior SEO Manager is the ability to develop the growth of new SEO Executives as you take on more client accounts and grow the business. Having grown the team here at (current company) from a team of 3 to now 7 SEOs, I am more than confident in my ability to effectively develop your team, and am eager at the prospect.

I understand that at this stage, making a decision isn’t easy. But this role is something I am eager to be considered for. I have attached a testimonial from an SEO Executive from my team, to help in your decision. If there’s anything further I can do aid in your decision-making, then please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at the below.

Yours sincerely, 

Jane Smith

Phone: +44 0123 456789

Email: janesmith123@email.co.uk

In Summary

A follow-up email isn’t the most important part of your interview process. After all, if your interview goes disastrously or you’re underqualified for the job, the best written email in the world won’t save you. 

And sending a follow-up email that’s riddled with spelling mistakes (or just poorly written), can actually work against you and harm your chances of securing the next interview. Which means ensuring you’re sending a well-written email is all the more crucial.

But post interview follow-up emails can be a useful tool that can give you that little bit of advantage that you need over the competition. And in our experience from years of recruitment, a hiring manager is just a person, and small differences like this can be all that it takes.

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