Follow-Up After The Job Interview - To Send or Not to Send a Letter

Best regardsheard from
Carole MartinJim.
Follow-Up After The Job Interview - To Send or NotThat afternoon, Catherine closed her door. She was
to Send a Lettergoing tocatch up and then work on her decision
Your letter could be the tiebreaker between you andregarding thebusiness analyst position. The first thing
two, oreven three, candidates so put some thoughtshe did was openher mail. Among the mail was a
and effortbehind what you say. Even if it doesn't getletter from Steven. Itcaught her attention because of
you the job,what do you have to lose – the costthe depth she could see hehad gone to. She stopped
of a postagestamp? Hedge your bet it could land youand read the letter.
a job.Dear Catherine:
To send or not to send - will it really make aChoosing the right candidate is not an easy task and I
difference?wantyou to know I have been in your shoes before.
Catherine was looking for a business analyst for aBased on our interview, I have done some thinking
positionthat had been vacant for four weeks. She wasabout theposition and how I could bring added value to
eager to hire,but wanted the right person in the job.yourorganization and support some of the problems
She had narrowedthe field to three candidates, Jim,you discussedin during the interview...
Kelly, and Steven.What followed was a spreadsheet with the issues
She had promised to call them by Friday, and onSteven hadpicked up during the interview. He not only
Wednesdayafternoon she was still vacillating. Eachidentified someof the problems, but also showed how
had a strengthshe was looking for, but each also hadhe could be thesolution based on past experience. As
some issues that hadmade her stand back and beCatherine read theletter she became intrigued, and
objective. Jim had held severaljobs in the last fewliked what she read. Thisguy not only heard the issues,
years. Would he stick around for thetough timesbut he had given them somethought and did some
ahead? Kelly was ambitious, but didn't have thedepthanalysis - looked beyond what wassaid. This was a
of experience interacting with difficult people. And,trait she was seeking. She wanted to talkto him again.
Steven was the quiet type who didn't reveal himselfThe follow-up, thank you, letter is more than a nice
enoughfor her to get to know what he could offer,"thankyou for the interview." It is one more chance for
particularlyinterfacing with other departments andyou tosell yourself, and to tell them what you can do
working underpressure.for them.
When Catherine opened her email that morning sheDon't assume the interviewer remembers everything
had 42emails. She had glanced over them and thoughtyou said.
she had seenWhen three candidates are interviewed and
Jim's name among the many, but hadn't taken the timecompared, some ofthe highlights you hoped would be
toread it. She had 17 voice mails and there was a oneconsidered, got lost orforgotten. Remind them of what
fromyou can do for them –not what they can do for
Kelly, but she only listened long enough to hear thatyou.
shewas thanking her for the interview. She hadn't