Interview Follow-Up

[Bill Swallow]

> I try to look for clues on this during the interviews.  Some
> companies do all their communications electronically, and
> if your interviewer invites you to call or email, snailmail
> may make you look slow.  And then there are some
> companies that move at warp speed.  I've had interviews
> where voicemail to schedule the second round was waiting
> for me when I got home from the first round and the offer
> was made over dinner after the second round.  No time
> even to send email.

You can follow up in other manners, but the formal thank-you is, from
my experience, best delivered in hard copy (and don't start thinking
fax on me now). Just as you could wish someone Happy Holidays over the
phone, or in e-mail or over IM, people seem to take more notice when
they go to their mailbox and pull out a letter - not a bill or
junkmail - addressed to them in pen, and open a short greeting signed
by the sender.

> As a hiring manager/interviewer, these days thank-you
> followups from candidates come so rarely that when one
> comes in the manner of its delivery or even its content is
> secondary to the positive impression made by the mere
> fact that it came at all.

While I agree that thank-yous are scarce, I maintain that some
delivery methods have a greater impact than others. Perhaps not
everyone agrees, but from my own standpoint, receiving a letter in the
mail had a greater impact (even when from candidates I'd ruled out at
the interview). I think it's classy, but YMMV.

-- 
Bill Swallow
HATT List Owner
WWP-Users List Owner
Senior Member STC, TechValley Chapter
STC Single-Sourcing SIG Manager
http://techcommdood.blogspot.com