Should I follow up after the interview?

SHOULD I FOLLOW UP AFTER THE INTERVIEW?

Question:

I had an interview for a job that I am very interested in about a week and a half ago. At the time, the person I interviewed with asked me to email him some additional info and said that he would get back to me within a week. I’m really excited about this opportunity, but since so much time has passed I think I probably didn’t get it. Do you think it would be ok to email or call him to check in- maybe offer to send him another paper from school showing that I’m qualified to do the work?

Answer:

Absolutely. If you have interviewed for a job and didn’t hear back, it’s absolutely fair to write to the person and/or call. The most important part of this follow-up call or email is that you express excitement and interest in the job, and never express frustration or impatience. It happens all the time that the employer will tell you that he/she is going to get back to you within a certain timeframe, and then it ends up taking longer than that for all sorts of reasons.

So, you can call or write to say something like “I truly appreciate your taking the time to meet with me last week. I wanted to follow up to let you know that this would be a dream job for me, and I am very excited about the opportunity. Please do let me know if you have any further questions or if I can provide you with any further information. I would be glad to send you any further examples of my work, references, etc.

If you have any updates regarding when you will be able to make a decision, please let me know.”

Heather Krasna is the author of Jobs That Matter.