The interview is finally over, and now you have nothing to do until you hear back about a job offer… or do you? In this episode of Career Cafe, Jerry, Clara, and McKinley discuss the importance of follow-up and how to keep your name in an employer’s head after the interview without annoying them. It's time to get a yummy bowl of soup and prepare for a Career Center dad joke at the end!
00;00;09;08 - 00;00;38;26
McKinley Hatch
Welcome to Career Cafe, a podcast to help you thrive in the professional world. Listeners, welcome to our podcast episode on the hour of Follow Up Nurturing Connections After Job Applications and Interviews. Joining us today, we have Jerry Ross, Clara Webster and Brandon Street and myself, McKinley Hatch. I'll be the moderator today. And let's just jump right in. Talking about following up after an interview and job applications and all of that.
00;00;38;26 - 00;00;43;21
McKinley Hatch
Let's talk about why that's important and how it will help our listeners stand out.
00;00;43;23 - 00;01;11;03
Brandon Street
So I was told there are three keys to success. I was once told that. I asked, well, what are those three keys to success? And they said, Follow up, follow up, follow up. Those are the three keys to success. And it made a lot of sense to me as I thought about that, because a lot of times we start things or talk with people or do things and we forget the most important part of all that, and that is that follow up piece, right?
00;01;11;05 - 00;01;36;29
Jerry Ross
And I think in the world of easy apply, right to where when you upload your resume on LinkedIn or indeed or wherever your handshake that the avenue that you're using and the easy apply to where you can apply to 100 jobs in an hour significantly reduces our thoughts on following up. But the way to truly land that, in my opinion, is step two of what you said following up.
00;01;37;02 - 00;01;37;25
Jerry Ross
Yeah.
00;01;37;28 - 00;01;39;08
Brandon Street
That's it.
00;01;39;10 - 00;01;56;03
Jerry Ross
And I think making those connections and reaching out to people that are going to be the ones that make the decision truly separate you versus other candidates. And I've said this before, recently I had a position open in the office. I had 40 applicants. Three of them followed up on their application out of 43 of them followed up.
00;01;56;03 - 00;02;11;03
Jerry Ross
One of those three was the person that we chose. And it's just, how can you separate yourself? You're in a pool with a million other people that clicked. Easy apply, right? So what can you do to separate yourself? And I think following up is the key to doing that.
00;02;11;05 - 00;02;35;13
Claire Webster
Yeah, I always recommend it for people that come into my office for, you know, job searching appointments and things like that. And I I've had had multiple like people on campus tell me, you know, about students that like you, there is actually one recently where the resume was a little bit iffy, you know, and they weren't quite sure, but they said that follow up email and that put them right above, you know, even the most perfect resume in the pile.
00;02;35;13 - 00;02;48;10
Claire Webster
And they got an interview. And so it really it makes a big difference and helps you stick out because turning in a resume any more in this easy apply world doesn't you know that doesn't help you stick out at all but what does is the following up.
00;02;48;12 - 00;03;10;11
Brandon Street
I always appreciated when you know in our office we hire students at our office and I always have appreciated when a student will either personally bring in an application and make an effort to come and meet me or again, just even simply sending an email, it just says a lot about that person. It means they have confidence. It means that it's important to them.
00;03;10;22 - 00;03;24;20
Brandon Street
Those things, I think, are catch my attention. Obviously. And I think that's what we're trying to say, is that I think it does to most employers catch their attention when someone's willing to put themselves out there in regards to follow up, when they hear from almost nobody. Right.
00;03;24;23 - 00;03;42;25
Jerry Ross
And one of the big things when I was a recruiter, one of the large questions I had for people were, do you want this job or do you want any job and you just don't have the time to follow up on a hundred jobs that you applied to do? Where I feel like that follow up really helps me make that decision as to whether you do you want this job.
00;03;42;26 - 00;03;50;23
Jerry Ross
You don't have the time to chase all of them. Right? So really following up on the ones that you truly want to do separates you versus the other candidates.
00;03;50;25 - 00;04;15;15
McKinley Hatch
Yeah. Awesome. Thanks for diving into that. You guys. I think now separating. I mean, we talked holistically for follow up for interview and job application, right? Maybe Brandon mentioned like coming to meet them and different things. So let's talk about strategies for post application follow up. They've just submitted their job application, they've applied for the job. Now what should they do?
00;04;15;17 - 00;04;19;08
McKinley Hatch
What advice do you have for them?
00;04;19;10 - 00;04;46;18
Jerry Ross
I recommend one of three ways. Thing number one email. But when it comes down to it, I'm going to get 50 of those today, right? So it's probably the most widely used is email. And inside of that email I think it needs to be directed. Right. Hey, I've recently followed I recently applied to your position. I want you to know these are the things that I'm looking forward to do a little bit to where it's not just a cut and paste email that you can send to 30 different employers, but a little bit of detail into what does the job do, your interest and your qualifications.
00;04;46;18 - 00;05;01;19
Jerry Ross
But it needs to be short and sweet. Second is a phone call. My phone rang about two weeks ago and I was like, Man, what's that noise in here? Right, Our phones just don't ring that often anymore. So I think a phone call is a way for you to follow up. Brandon just said it. I feel the best way to follow up.
00;05;01;23 - 00;05;21;06
Jerry Ross
Show up. Look good. Have your resume and your application in your hand and let them know that you truly want it. When you think about your most valuable asset that you have, it's your time and you don't have the time to get to all of these places and walk in the door. So physically following up, I think it's a fantastic way to separate yourself.
00;05;21;09 - 00;05;39;05
Claire Webster
And especially I always recommend this, especially with off campus jobs as students, because a lot of them will find them on kind of these wider job searching platforms like indeed, or LinkedIn or handshake or things like that. And they're getting, you know, just lots of different applications from not only students, but just, you know, people in Cedar City.
00;05;39;06 - 00;05;55;02
Claire Webster
Right. And so, yeah, so I would say if you can, you know, go in person to those places and bring your ads may look nice, just like Jerry said. And that's going to make you stick out a lot more, especially just because they're just getting a lot more applicants. To see you in person is always a good way to go.
00;05;55;05 - 00;06;18;00
Brandon Street
Now, I will say this with all that we've recommended, always pay attention to what Not only what that employer does, but if if they've given you specific instructions, some will say, don't? We don't take them in person. Right. So just be aware of what they've asked. I mean, don't violate things if they've asked you not to do certain things, but at the same time also be cognizant of if you're going in, when are their busy times in their business?
00;06;18;00 - 00;06;41;09
Brandon Street
Right. Like you're not going to want to go into a restaurant or that at lunchtime and try to meet the manager. It's it's a very inconvenient time. It may even upset some managers. You're in there trying to visit with them about this during that time. So be cognizant of that business when their peak hours are maybe try to find a time that's most convenient for that manager to take some some of their time as you're as you're trying to impress them with your application, then.
00;06;41;15 - 00;07;07;07
Jerry Ross
I think 12 to 1 is a bad time for almost any business, right to where if you're a manager making a decision and you're just sitting down to eat and say, Hey, they're here to check on their application now, right? I'm hungry. So I recommend avoiding first hour of business, the lunch hour and the last hour of business, because you've got things you're trying to tie up for the next day or you've got your, you know, checklist on the desk that you want to hammer through all of these before you go home.
00;07;07;09 - 00;07;12;05
Jerry Ross
Think about their productivity schedule. And I would avoid first, last and the lunch hour.
00;07;12;08 - 00;07;14;29
Brandon Street
That leaves you 2:17. Right on a 2:17.
00;07;14;29 - 00;07;31;24
McKinley Hatch
So yeah. What do you recommend, though, like reaching out to them and seeing when works best for them? And then then there's no guessing, right? Like I'm stopping by at two. I hope this is a good time. Right. Like ask them right. Like, that's something else we haven't talked about.
00;07;31;27 - 00;07;49;26
Jerry Ross
I would agree with that. Part of this stop in. I'm looking for like 60 to 90 seconds, right? Like I'm not looking for you to sit down and give me honest time. I'm looking for you to know that I want to be considered inside of the people that you're scheduling time with. I want to just kind of get a little drop in to let you know I really want this one.
00;07;49;28 - 00;08;06;16
Jerry Ross
And with that drop in all ask, Hey, is there some time we get set up to sit down and chat? Right? So I'm not looking for a sit down and chat right now. I'm just looking to you for you to get some energy about how excited I am about bringing into this position. It's never bad to reach out and say, Can we schedule it?
00;08;06;18 - 00;08;09;28
Jerry Ross
But that's kind of the different levels of interaction with the follow up.
00;08;09;28 - 00;08;25;00
Brandon Street
Yeah I agree. I agree with you, Jerry. I think it's important, as you do pop in to help recognize, you know, let them know, Hey, I recognize you're probably busy right now. I'm not intending to take a lot of your time. I just want you to know, as I turn this in, I'm really interested in this opportunity. Do you have another time?
00;08;25;00 - 00;08;42;18
Brandon Street
That would be more convenient for me to ask a few questions about the job? If not that, you know, in that case, if they didn't, it'd be fine. You say. Okay. I hope to hope I'll see you in an interview. But. But the point is acknowledge that, you know, they're probably busy, that you're not going to take a lot of their time, but that you are interested in this job as you turn in that application.
00;08;42;21 - 00;08;57;10
McKinley Hatch
Yeah. Yeah, I love that. So we talked about post application, follow up. Now let's talk about post interview follow up now. You've gone through the whole interview. Now what are you supposed to do? Interviews over how long are you supposed to wait? Do you know? What's that process? Well, I.
00;08;57;10 - 00;09;17;16
Brandon Street
Think I think the starts in the interview, in my opinion. Before you end that interview, I like to ask when can I follow up with you? When is it appropriate time to follow up if I haven't heard from you before, then Right. And they'll they'll usually tell you, you know, if you ever heard from us a week, feel free to follow up with us, but try to set that before and that way, you know, right.
00;09;17;18 - 00;09;31;25
Brandon Street
But I have, you know, individuals who come in like, yeah, they interview me two weeks ago. I'm like, you haven't followed up with them yet. Like, you know, we're looking at the most 7 to 10 days at the most. But but if you've established that in an interview, then you know the appropriate time. Five I've heard. Is it okay if I follow up?
00;09;32;00 - 00;09;35;28
Brandon Street
Yes. Then then you feel natural and and know when to do that.
00;09;35;28 - 00;09;51;11
Claire Webster
So and I would also say I usually recommend because there's there's two different types of follow up. There's the thank you follow up and then there's like the following up on, you know, haven't heard from you in a week in a you know, when we talked in the interview, you said if I haven't heard in a week or so, this is the time to reach out.
00;09;51;11 - 00;10;12;27
Claire Webster
So so also keep in mind, there's those two different different types. I always tell people for the thank you follow up, which is either sending like an email or even sometimes even like a handwritten note or card or something like that, that should be like same day. Like I always tell people after you get out of the interview and go home, open up your laptop and send that thank you email that same day.
00;10;13;00 - 00;10;22;10
Claire Webster
But yeah, but following up to hear you know more about the job and things like that, that's something that you want to establish. Just like Brandon said at the end of the interview.
00;10;22;12 - 00;10;26;26
Jerry Ross
Is there something you would recommend in that same day email that you send?
00;10;26;29 - 00;10;47;14
Claire Webster
Yeah, so I usually say so. First off, you know, just be really gracious to say, you know, thank you so much for taking the time to, you know, to interview me today, you know, taking that time out of your schedule. It was great to meet you and your team. You know, maybe if you're on a panel or something, you know, so just just express your gratitude for being able to meet with them.
00;10;47;16 - 00;11;05;14
Claire Webster
I always say if you can throw in any type of like a little personal anecdote, you know, if anything like happened during the interview that was memorable, that just kind of helps them remember, like, yeah, you know, when they see that an email helps them remember who you were and then, you know, reiterate your interest in the position.
00;11;05;16 - 00;11;23;02
Claire Webster
And if there's anything maybe that you wanted to add that maybe you weren't able to cover in the interview or anything like that, you could take the chance to do it then. But the others, thank you. It's typically not something super long, just kind of those three main points that you want to that you want to hit. And I'll say, you know, those make a big difference, too.
00;11;23;05 - 00;11;36;27
Claire Webster
I've only gotten one. Well, when I when I hired for a position here on campus, I only got one thank you email and that person ended up getting the job. And so it really it just again shows a lot about the type of person that they are. And employers really appreciate that.
00;11;36;29 - 00;11;52;22
Brandon Street
I know employers have changed their mind based on that. Thank you note, I do and more than one. And so I know when it came down to a few a couple of candidates that they're very interested in and one of them sent them that I think, you know, they they made a decision based on that. Now, it wasn't solely based on that.
00;11;52;22 - 00;12;03;12
Brandon Street
Obviously. But but that was kind of the cherry on top, if you will, saying, you know what, this person took the time to do this. It it really says a lot about who you are and your interest in the job.
00;12;03;14 - 00;12;25;01
Jerry Ross
It helps break the tie, right. When you've got just two or three candidates that are all just so level in what they're bringing to the team. And I like in this follow up, when we're interacting with people, I'm really I notice when kind of levels of excitement hit their face. Like especially like as an interviewee, I would ask people part of my question would be, what are some things that you really enjoy about your job?
00;12;25;01 - 00;12;43;24
Jerry Ross
Like what's your favorite part of what you do? Or through that, can you get where they spark up a little bit and then you can tell that they're truly passionate about something? My follow up email would have something about that passion, right? And I have something about I can tell when we talked about this, that's truly one of your favorite things and that's what I want to be a part of.
00;12;43;26 - 00;13;05;28
Jerry Ross
I'm also truly passionate about. People are kind of whatever you want your thing to be connecting yourself into it. Also, if there's something we just butchered in the interview, right? Yeah. And I recommend when people leave an interview, have a place where you write down three things that you just nailed it and you did really well. And then write down three things that you wouldn't do again because you might not interview for five or ten years again.
00;13;05;28 - 00;13;25;29
Jerry Ross
You don't want to make those same mistakes. So keeping something for yourself. But also if you need to clear something up with them, right. They asked you a question and you feel you didn't adequately answer it in a way that you want to be remembered, that's your opportunity to clear it up. Right? And when we're talking about this, I was thinking about a couple of different things, and I want to make sure, you know, this is how I feel about this.
00;13;25;29 - 00;13;41;24
Jerry Ross
This is what I would do in this situation or however you wanted it to be. But if you feel like you left something on the table, I feel like that follow up email is the way for you to clarify if you needed to do it. But again, like you said, Clara, short, concise, do not write them two pages of stuff.
00;13;41;24 - 00;13;45;19
Jerry Ross
They're not going to read it most of the time right.
00;13;45;19 - 00;14;13;11
Brandon Street
Now one area of followup we didn't talk about is following up after networking events and things like that. I think another important area to follow up is if I've met somebody that I connected with at a conference or a work activity or things like that, I mean LinkedIn is a great place to connect with people. I would shortly thereafter connect with them on LinkedIn, remind them where we met and say, Hey, I'd love to continue in our conversations on whatever it was right.
00;14;13;13 - 00;14;35;27
Brandon Street
And I tried to do that. Each time I go to a conference, when I get cards or I meet with people, I usually try to connect with them, remind them where we met, remind them maybe something like you said, an anecdote of something that through our conversation and what what we'd like to do to carry things forward. Because again, if you just meet people and build a network but then stop there, nothing came of that really.
00;14;36;03 - 00;14;44;10
Brandon Street
It was yeah, it was a fun way. We met them, but nothing really comes of that where where real professionalism and growth and this power of networking comes in this follow up.
00;14;44;17 - 00;15;13;08
Jerry Ross
Yeah, I'm working on my tap to connect. So LinkedIn has the new thing to where you it's not new, but there's a way for you to scan a QR code when you're interacting with people socially to connect them via LinkedIn. And there are other ways on your phone to where you can tap to share your business card. How many times do we come home and we've got 30 business cards in our pocket from a networking event, but what are we doing to connect those things to where there are new ways to where we can connect via tapping our phones to where it basically opens up a new page and you've got their contact information there,
00;15;13;11 - 00;15;26;24
Jerry Ross
but also not just storing a contact, but like you said, making that attempt to reach out to them and make a truly meaningful connection that you can store in the database for later when you need it, or continue to build that relationship with them. Right now.
00;15;26;26 - 00;15;50;10
McKinley Hatch
Something at those networking events or when we go to conferences and whatnot. If I get their business card, something that helps me to remember something unique about that person or the conversation we had, I write notes on the back of their business card, like we talked about this, you know, and where we had similarities in this. we were both from this area, you know, originally or whatever it is, to make a small contact.
00;15;50;10 - 00;16;12;19
McKinley Hatch
Because like you said, I've gone back from those conferences and I've had a suitcase full of business cards, and that's a lot of conversations that we have, you know, And ultimately I want to yeah, this is a lot of business cards you know, but like there's maybe 30 or so and I'm trying to reach these people and I'm trying to remember what we talked about.
00;16;12;19 - 00;16;22;03
McKinley Hatch
Right. And so making sure you're having those conversations. And right after before I talk to anyone else, I'm writing down what we talked about, you know, So that's a tip for you all as well.
00;16;22;11 - 00;16;23;12
Jerry Ross
I need to do that.
00;16;23;15 - 00;16;24;18
McKinley Hatch
Yeah me too.
00;16;24;21 - 00;16;30;29
Claire Webster
I need to start the LinkedIn thing. That's I did not know about that.
00;16;31;01 - 00;16;49;26
Brandon Street
You know, but there are a lot that can come from that. We had I met a Olympian from that was an Olympic medalist in bobsled and he had come and spoke with some some youth and I connected with him and and later we were able to go to lunch and things and have, you know, some deeper conversation about business and things at the time.
00;16;49;29 - 00;17;04;13
Brandon Street
But just based on the follow up part, I sent him a message after thanking him for coming and and for what he did for the youth and then let him know what I was trying to do. And we ended up connecting and doing that. So there's a lot to that follow up that people are interested in networking themselves.
00;17;04;16 - 00;17;06;29
Claire Webster
Did you ask him to take you bobsledding?
00;17;07;01 - 00;17;07;28
Brandon Street
I did not.
00;17;08;03 - 00;17;13;13
Claire Webster
Ask. I think you need to follow up with him Brandon. that's really cool.
00;17;13;16 - 00;17;15;08
Brandon Street
Not alone. He brought it when he was with the kids.
00;17;15;08 - 00;17;21;07
Jerry Ross
So you can bobsled in Park City. I've done it and it was fantastic.
00;17;21;10 - 00;17;25;05
McKinley Hatch
Well, it sounds fun.
00;17;25;07 - 00;17;28;04
Brandon Street
I'll follow up with you about that later. I follow.
00;17;28;07 - 00;17;59;04
McKinley Hatch
I love it. Awesome. Thanks for listening today to our podcast on Career Cafe and our episode on Following Up. You know, after an application interview, we're hoping you'll take these tips and utilize them. So don't forget to subscribe to our podcast and connect with us on social media at SUU career center on Instagram. And then of course, tell your friends, you know, we want them to take advantage and listen to this podcast as well.
00;17;59;04 - 00;18;14;15
McKinley Hatch
So tune in next week. The episode on the worth of your work negotiating salary and benefits, which is awesome. We dive into how to do that and so you won't want to miss that one. So Jerry, want you close us off.
00;18;14;17 - 00;18;19;01
Jerry Ross
You know, you guys, if you're looking for a job, you can always try search and rescue.
00;18;19;05 - 00;18;20;03
Brandon Street
Okay?
00;18;20;05 - 00;18;22;14
Jerry Ross
They're always looking for people. Yeah.
00;18;22;16 - 00;18;25;08
Brandon Street
This. Thats true.
00;18;25;11 - 00;18;29;22
McKinley Hatch
See you soon. Thanks.