You may have heard plenty about how to follow up after an interview, but what about how NOT to follow-up after an interview? This is a question few job seekers ask, but one that is of considerable importance. So, is there a way you can seriously bomb your interview follow-up and destroy what was once a good impression and turn it into a bad one?
There certainly is. And not just one, several.
Watch out for these 7 interview-follow-up mistakes that could potentially harm your job search.
- Following up too much: If you follow-up once, or maybe even twice after a large time lag (i.e. several weeks), it’s understandable. But if you’re following up with calls, text messages, and thank you emails constantly, you’re making a huge mistake. The decisions to hire you rests with this person, and the last thing you want to do it pester them.
- Add them on social media: You may be tempted to look up your interviewer on social media. First of all, looking them up is something that you should be doing before you went for an interview so as to know who you’re dealing with. But if you decide to do so even after the interview, it’s fine as long as you don’t add them! Adding them will give them the message that you’re stalking them, and perhaps have heightened expectations about your potential to earn the job.Which leads us to the next point…
- Pretending you’ve got the job: Imagine being an employer and receiving an email from a candidate about how she’s excited about her new job while he’s still interviewing other candidates. It’s good to be positive, but not egotistic. And yes, it’s a complete turn off for employers. They’ll appreciate your follow-up attempt, but not your attempt to be brash and over-confident
- Never saying thank-you: The whole point of a follow-up (from the employer’s point of view) is that you get to thank your employer and show your interest in the organization. Sending a follow-up note without a thank you is as if sending someone a wrapped present without a real present inside it.
- Being too negative: You might be afraid about not getting the job, but it doesn’t mean you start sending hate mails to your (still) potential employer about why you didn’t get chosen. Not only will you NOT get the job even if there was a chance you would have, but also make your credentials and previous mentors look bad.
Or perhaps, you’ve sent an application at a time when they are not hiring. If you’re planning on a sending a cranky email on how they should hurry up with the decision, you’ll make a big mistake. Avoid being emotional in your follow-ups and remain positive!
- Being sloppy: What could have been an amazing first-impression can be ruined by a horde of grammar and punctuation errors in your follow-up email. Apart from thinking that you have poor writing skills (something that can easily be solved by a proofreader or dissertation mall), your prospective employer will also doubt your earnestness towards the position because of your sloppiness.
- Bringing up other job offers: You may have applied for several other positions, but that doesn’t mean you try to threaten any one of your potential employers with the fact. Using another job offer as an excuse to force your employer to reach a quick decision is completely unprofessional and unwelcome by recruiters. Apart from feeling like you’re forcing a decision on them which they are not yet ready to make, you’ll be revealing that you’re okay with not having the job which is why you have applied elsewhere.
Author bio:
Katherine Szalay is a digital marketing manager. When she isn’t at her desk, she loves to write creative blogs and often informational ones as well.
