<p>It's that time of year again! If you are a senior and interested in banking, consulting and a few other industries, you have probably already started looking for your full time, post-graduate job (if you haven't, you should start NOW!). And, of course, with the job search comes interviews.</p>
<p>Now, everyone knows that in order to get a job, you need to have a good resume and then follow it up with a good interview. However, it is shocking how few people recognize the importance of the follow up. When I went through recruiting, follow up letters were considered a formality by most of my peers - in their eyes, it would be very conspicuous if you didn't send a letter at all, but hiring managers aren't going to make a decision to hire you based on your follow up, right?</p>
<p>Wrong! The follow up letter (well, let's be honest, today it's a follow up email) can absolutely be the factor that makes you the more appealing candidate than similarly qualified peers. I can say this with confidence since a hiring manager explicitly told me that my follow up letters throughout the process showed a very positive attitude, so much so that they decided to extend me an offer even though others were ostensibly more qualified.</p>
<p>So what makes a good follow up letter?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Personalize me! Most of your peers will have a form letter of sorts. They might throw in a line here and there, but for the most part, they will be sending the standard, "Thank you for your time, [NAME]." When you send your letter, start from scratch. It will take longer, but the sincerity of it will be apparent, and that is worth the extra time.</p></li>
<li><p>You remembered that? Many times (not all of the time, though), you will walk away from an interview with a bit of personal knowledge about the person who interviewed you. Don't be afraid to make note of that. For example, a hiring manager mentioned during an interview of mine that she had just come off of maternity leave a week before our interview, and she joked that she hasn't slept since she had her baby. So in my follow up, I said, "I hope your son lets you get a good night's sleep soon!" Clearly, I did nothing to prove my qualifications as a consultant with that line, but the line stuck with the hiring manager.</p></li>
<li><p>I need to know! During any normal interview, you will be given the opportunity to ask questions. In my experience, it helps to have at least three questions ready for the interviewer before you even start the interview; inevitably, at least one of those questions will be answered over the course of your conversation, so it is important to jot down questions that come into your head (you should always have a pen and notepad with you!). When you get to ask your questions, don't ask all of them. Hold back at least one question, and include it in your follow up letter. This will engage and challenge the recipient; a simple "thank you" is something to throw away, but a "thank you" with a question thrown in will force the person to reply to you. Because this is not a common practice, it will make you more memorable, so when the interviewer is asked for his recommendation (usually 24 hours after the interview), he might remember you more than the kid who gave him a form letter.</p></li>
<li><p>Timing, timing, timing! Many people drag their feet OR jump the gun. Don't do either of those things. If you are very excited about a job opportunity, you will be tempted to get on your smartphone and send a follow up email as soon as you finish an interview. Not only is it a little terrifying to have a follow up email appear in your inbox faster than it took you to get from the interview back to your desk, it also shows that not much thought went into the letter. However, if you don't send the letter until 48 hours after your interview, you probably missed your chance to impact decisions made - the decision to hire or continue the recruitment process was probably made 24 hours after your interview.</p></li>
<li><p>Who knows who's important? When you are interviewed on campus, you are probably going to be interviewed by a hiring manager and by a first year employee (probably one who graduated from your school last year); when you are interviewed at a company's headquarters or at a satellite office, it will probably be with another hiring manager and at least two more tenured employees, one of whom will probably be a director/partner (i.e. someone with pull). The thing is, because you don't know the politics of a company if you're interviewing, you don't know who the most important person is. Usually it will be the director/partner whose say is most important. In other cases, offers will only be given if everyone agrees that you should be hired. To be prudent, send follow up letters to EVERYONE you talk to, and that even includes the person at the front desk who tells you to wait for someone. People talk, and it might make an impression if the receptionist mentions to the hiring manager how surprised she was to get a "thank you" from you. That does mean that you should ask for a business card from everyone - if you don't get one, be sure you get a full name so you can do the research to figure out their email address.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Interviews are tough, and the job market is tougher right now, but a good follow up can give you that extra little push that it might take to get you from stressed out senior to gainfully employed twentysomething!</p>