Written by Vaclav Koranda

The Shocking Truth: Following Up After an Interview Can Destroy Your Job Prospects

I often receive questions from job seekers about the best way and timing to follow up after an interview. Your usual “interview guru” will tell you that you must send a thank-you email to the hiring manager immediately after your interview, the sooner the better. And then you should follow up tirelessly until you receive a response. According to them, it will apparently make you “stand out”. While it certainly can make you stand out, I am afraid that probably not in the way you’d like.

Recruitment processes are often complex and take time. Large companies typically have dozens of vacancies open concurrently and interview 5-10 candidates for each position. Multiple stakeholders are involved in the decision making whilst their schedules are filled with diverse important tasks. Reading, let alone responding to, candidates’ emails is naturally at the very bottom of their priority list (except, perhaps, if the email comes from a senior candidate who is already in an advanced interview stage). They might in fact not even notice your email, and if they do, it just adds to their workload, potentially causing irritation — something that won’t earn you extra points, as you can imagine. They may consciously or unconsciously disadvantage your application and in the worst-case scenario your persistent communication attempts might eventually lead to blacklisting.

On the other hand, what if you haven’t heard from the company for a while, and you want to know the status of your application? Is it appropriate to send an inquiry, or is it better to wait quietly and hope the company remembers you one day?

Here’s my advice:

  • If you’d like to send a thank-you note after your interview, go ahead. However, send only one and don’t expect a reply or significant impact. Ensure that your message is genuine, aligns with the overall communication flow, and reflects what transpired during the interview, rather than merely copying someone else’s advice.
  • If you’re curious about your application’s status, wait for the response deadline the company provided. After that deadline passes, you can follow up in an emotionally neutral, polite manner.
  • If there’s no specified deadline, consider reaching out around two weeks after the interview. Follow up once, maximum twice.
  • If you still don’t receive a response, it’s best to consider it a closed case and shift your focus to pursuing other opportunities.

Pro-tip: At the end of every interview, always inquire about when you can expect to hear the result and what the upcoming steps in the recruitment process will involve.

Pro-tip II: Never fall in love with a single job opportunity or company. If you want to speed up your job search, you should pursue multiple job opportunities at the same time instead of following up with one company and waiting for their response.

Stand Out the Better Way

Believe me, there are far more effective ways to stand out from the competition in an interview than spamming people with emails. Discover them in my article here: The Secret Psychology to Make You Stand Out in the Job Search

Good luck!

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