Here's When And When Not To Follow Up After A Job Interview

After your job interview ends, your hard work is not over.

Ideally, you want to keep the conversation going with a hiring team so that you can stay at the forefront of their minds. Oftentimes, that means sending a brief follow-up email about your enthusiasm for the job.

You want to be memorable ― but not in a bad way. It’s an art and skill to be polite without pestering about why you’re perfect for the job or why you’re still interested when you have not heard back.

Here’s what recruiters shared for when it helps to follow up and when doing so can backfire:

An immediate follow-up email should not be required, but enthusiasm is appreciated.

After your job interview is over, there is a short window of time where you can follow up about what you talked about in the interview. Take advantage of it.

This follow-up message goes beyond a generic email thanking a hiring manager for their time. A sincere, specific message of enthusiasm that reminds an employer of why you are the best person for the role can help you stand out.

Bonnie Dilber, a recruiting manager with app-automation company Zapier, said she does not think negatively of candidates who do not send a follow-up note after the interview, but it can help them.

“When someone does send a follow-up, it tells me they are really interested, and it can also be a way to highlight their strengths, add on information,” Dilber said. “I had one candidate send me a blog post they’d written on a topic that came up in our conversation as an example, and that can help establish their expertise.”

Gabrielle Woody, a university recruiter for the financial software company Intuit, said a follow-up message has not swayed her hiring decisions, but it has helped candidates stay on her