What You Need to Know About Business

Asking Questions -- An Essential and Overlooked Step

Other articles:
Putting a Spin on Work Experience

[Chapter 22: continued from here] ...This doesn't happen in most employment interviews, however. And in most cases a straight "thank-you" note is neither necessary nor helpful.

Forget flattery ... talk about the value you offer

This doesn't mean that some kind of follow-up isn't a good idea. It's a sales & marketing axiom that you rarely make a sale after just one contact with the prospective buyer. The chances are that the interviewer never met or even heard of you before in their life. You come in for a few minutes to say how much better off they'd be having you as an employee, and then vanish ... never to be heard from again ... unless you follow up (or are fortunate enough to get invited back based on that single, fleeting discussion).

Following up can be useful to communicate the value you offer an employer, demonstrate enthusiasm, clear up any concerns or misunderstandings, and differentiate yourself from the pack. But it can also be something that completely turns off your interviewer.

Many interviewers will tell you they're adamantly opposed to attempts to follow up. This is undoubtedly because most people do it so poorly. On the top of the interviewer's hit list are thank-you letters with shallow compliments on how well they conducted the interview, or daily phone calls asking "have you decided yet?"

For examples of WHAT NOT TO SAY in a follow-up letter or call, just look at these lines from samples I found in interview preparation books: