Follow up email after interview

[LoveHartnett]

That, simply. Is it a good or bad idea to send a follow up email after an interview for a job you really want? Is it naff or keen??

unnecessary and just adds to their work load to respond

It depends on the role and organisation. I work in the public sector and it would make absolutely zero difference.

It's unlikely to affect your chances either way; they'll decide 99% of the time based on your application and interview performance.

It is a bit of a gamble - there's an outside chance it will land with someone who thinks it's courteous and is impressed by it, and equally a small chance it will land with someone who thinks 'uh-oh, she's needy' - but the overwhelming likelihood is that it won't make any difference.

I would certainly be inclined to wait until any deadline for hearing had been reached, then it's legitimate to politely chase a response.

I’ve never done this, seems very arse-licking to me and I’m not an arse-licker. As a hirer, it would put me off a candidate.

What would you envisage saying @LoveHartnett in the email?

I interview regularly and it wouldn’t have an
impact.

I read something saying that employers really regard it highly. Told this to my dd and she has a second interview after doing this the other day.

Maybe things have changed but I’ve never done it. Mind you, you never used to be ghosted either after an interview.

A quick thank you for their time, role sounds great type email is absolutely fine as long as its not pushy. It wouldnt change the outcome but if good comms were part of the role and i was considering you anyway it would be a plus point for sure 😊

Good luck!

When I interview I know who performed best and came across well during the process. And email wont sway it regardless of how much you want it. If your not the selected candidate it would make me cringe.

Not quite the same but I once did this having been rejected for a role. I said thank you for their time, I really liked the organisation, people who spent time with us were lovely etc.
A few months later another role came up. I applied and was interviewed and successful. They said they remembered my previous email and knew I was genuinely interested in working there.

Good comms is knowing the time and place for communication.

and all this will do is clog up hiring managers email and necessitate a response from them.

It’s empty froth. The op will have thanked at the end of the interview. So why repeat thanks

Worked (or at least did not harm his chances) ds2 for an internship. I would keep it pretty brief though.

I remember a thread years ago when I was job
hunting and it being a real marmite type action then too. Some enthused, some said it would be cringe. I’ve done it once before, just saying thanks for the opportunity etc and got the role, but whether or not the email made any difference I don’t know. I’m playing the waiting game at the moment, which is so hard as you can’t help but hope but equally trying to prepare for the worst. I wasn’t inclined to email, but I had an interview back in Feb which i didn’t follow up and then didn’t get, so just checking the general consensus of whether it was great or awful idea!

I've never heard of anyone doing this, except where it's been a speculative 1-1 chat rather than an advertised position.

If you don't get the role, email thanking them and saying blah blah blah

Don't do a disingenuous "thank you" email which is clearly looking to chivvy them along to give you the job , or at least give you the result. That's yuk

We are quite a small public sector organisation, and are really happy to get a follow up email. We are sometimes thinking about recruiting in the near future too, and knowing someone is keen/genuinely interested ….that helps.

February. No.

No this isn’t for the Feb interview I had one Friday

Every recruitment round I get 1, maybe 2 of these “it was lovely to meet you and learn more about the role at X” out of 5-6 interviewed.

I don’t reply to them and I am neutral about them.

I think we often know the moment you interview someone, even when there are others to follow. Once the panel has sat down down to decide, which is immediately after interview, that's it. Unless they turn the job down. Which they don't tend to do.

From someone who has been interviewed and came very close to getting the job and offered the next job that came up, I wasn't even told they was interviewing again. Trying to get honest feedback would be better, but lots never do that either on request

Please don’t - I feel irritated when I get these emails. One guy that we did hire sent me a gushing LinkedIn message which gave me the ick and made me irrationally annoyed - as if I weren’t able to judge his character and skills from the interview alone but needed a kick along. I was overridden in my caution by others on the hiring committee. Turns out he is a lot of hot air and no substance and his contract isn’t being renewed.

I've been sent two of these. One was a candidate we did actually appoint but their email made no difference to my decision. I'd already sensed they were really enthusiastic about the job which is what swayed us. The other candidate who emailed was by far the worst candidate (completely different in the interview to how they'd come across in their application) so that was a bit awkward!

We aren’t allowed to consider it in any hiring decisions we make and I probably wouldn’t be able to respond anyway. Unless we made you an offer and it became part of contract negotiations. It has no impact on hiring decisions because those are very tightly determined by the interview scoring.