{"id":8521,"date":"2025-04-22T09:24:07","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T16:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/?p=8521"},"modified":"2025-04-22T09:24:07","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T16:24:07","slug":"how-to-write-the-perfect-follow-up-email-after-an-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/2025\/04\/22\/how-to-write-the-perfect-follow-up-email-after-an-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Write the Perfect Follow-up Email After an Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jeremy Schifeling, 2024<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congrats! You just survived a big interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your job is done, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t make the mistake of crushing the interview but neglecting the follow-up email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s how to do it right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why You Need to Follow Up After an Interview<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To understand why follow-up is so important, think about what an interview team does right after an interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the individual interviewers may have made up their minds about you (and you\u2019re unlikely to change those after the fact), the team is still undecided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s because different interviewers may have different opinions about the various candidates, and so there\u2019s a need for the team to come together to make a final decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During this candidate review meeting, you can typically count on a little bit of give-and-take. For example, the most-favored candidate across the team may not be the most-favored candidate for a specific interviewer. And so the conversation will often turn to that holdout interviewer to see if they can live with the candidate that the rest of the group prefers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enter the follow-up email!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve sent a good, gracious one, that holdout interviewer may not love you – but they can see how you\u2019ll be a good teammate worth accepting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But woe if you sent no follow-up email or, worse yet, a bad one – now you\u2019re just giving them ammunition to take you down!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So bottom line: Think of the follow-up email less as a chance to completely reverse your interview performance (unlikely!) and more as a chance to smooth over any potential detractors during this final team decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Follow Up After an Interview<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Now that you understand why you need to write a follow-up email, let\u2019s talk about how you should do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The magic recipe for a great follow-up email is as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. How to follow-up on an interview with gratitude<\/strong>
    Gratitude speaks to the fact that if an interviewer is going to accept you as a good colleague, they have to see you as a good person first.

    So the best way to open your follow-up email is with a note of appreciation:

    \u201cHi Dhara,

    Thanks so much for taking the time to share your expertise and insights today!\u201d
    <\/em>
    While it might seem OK just to say, \u201cThank you for interviewing me,\u201d focusing on something that they had to do as part of their job isn\u2019t exactly super gracious.

    Whereas if you focus less on what they had to do and more on how they went above-and-beyond (e.g., giving you great insights into the team and company), that just strikes a warmer, more appreciative tone from the get-to.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. How to follow-up on an interview with specificity<\/strong>

    Specificity is critical because it demonstrates two other traits that matter to future colleagues:

    1. Authenticity
    2. Listening

    That\u2019s because the more specific you are in the things you refer to, the more authentic you come across. After all, any bloviator can skate by with generalities like \u201cI learned so much from you,\u201d but only someone who\u2019s authentic can point out the exact things they learned.

    And of course, to come up with these specific points in the first place shows that you were listening in the first place. And there\u2019s no sweeter sound than your own words repeated back to you!

    As a result, a good conclusion to your email is something along the lines of:

    \u201dI especially appreciated your perspective on how Google is adapting to the new world of generative AI. While it\u2019s a huge challenge, as you pointed out, it also feels like a big opportunity – and that\u2019s super exciting!\u201d<\/em>

    Now you show that you were paying attention to what your interviewer said – and demonstrate your own authenticity at the same time!<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. How to follow-up on an interview with brevity<\/strong>

    While it might be tempting to go on for several more paragraphs, put yourself in the interviewer\u2019s shoes.

    They already had to spend multiple hours away from their own work to conduct these interviews. And now you expect them to read a whole treatise even after taking up an hour of their time originally?

    So skip the dissertation and show some respect for your interviewer\u2019s investment and time by wrapping it up succinctly:

    \u201cThat said, here\u2019s wishing you good luck with the final decision. And tremendous success on the new projects ahead!\u201d

    *Sincerely,

    Zaya\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    When to Send Your Thank You Email After the Interview<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    With your email complete, the last question to tackle is: When to send it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    While it might be tempting to sit on it to show how thoughtful you were in deliberating over the perfect prose, remember what\u2019s happening behind the scenes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. The interviewer is expected to upload their comments about you into the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) within a few hours of completing the interview.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. The hiring committee may meet right after the final interview is finished to discuss while the opinions are fresh.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Thus, to avoid missing a chance to influence both these private and group decisions, I recommend sending your thank-you note as soon after the interview as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      That way, you give yourself the best possible shot of managing perceptions before the final decision is rendered!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      How to Thank Someone for an Interview<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      So there you have it: A simple explanation of why, how, and when to follow-up after your interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Note that this isn\u2019t rocket science but just common human courtesy. And with an incredible opportunity on the line, it just makes common sense to invest in a great follow-up!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Jeremy Schifeling, 2024 Congrats! You just survived a big interview. Your job is done, right? Wrong. Don\u2019t make the mistake of crushing the interview but neglecting the follow-up email. Here\u2019s how to do it right. Why You Need to Follow Up After an Interview To understand why follow-up is so important, think about what an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43581,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[547,546],"tags":[586,579],"wsuwp_university_location":[],"wsuwp_university_org":[443],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8521"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43581"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8521"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8522,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8521\/revisions\/8522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8521"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_location?post=8521"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_org","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vcea.wsu.edu\/student-success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_org?post=8521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}