Writing the Ideal Interview Follow-up Email (& Samples)

Job searching has never been an easy task, especially in this day and age where competition is high and candidates have to find ways to stand out among the pool to become more noticeable.

With job application processes now becoming lengthier and recruiters having more tasks at hand, following up with a recruiter is one of the best ways to ensure you stay in touch and updated during a job searching process. 

Many candidates however seem to struggle with how to follow up with a recruiter after a job interview, finding it difficult to communicate clearly without sounding too demanding or desperate. 

Below is a guide that will help you with your follow-up email to recruiters, with explanations to why your message to a recruiter may have been missed, principle steps to consider when writing a follow-up email to a recruiter and some samples and templates you can refer to while drafting your own. 

Here are some steps to consider when writing a follow-up email after an interview. 

🖋 Write a clear subject line.

Communicate clearly about the key message you are trying to send across. The subject line is the first thing recruiters will read when scanning through an inbox; hence it is crucial to make sure your subject line for your follow-up email to a recruiter is concise and eye-catching.

🖋 Start with personal greetings and a sincere thank you.

Always make sure to write your post-interview follow-up email with a professional and respectful tone. Beginning the first line of your follow-up email to a recruiter with “hope you are doing well” is far more likely to make a recruiter want to respond than just a “hi”.

Ending your post-interview follow-up email by sincerely thanking the recruiter for their time and effort will also show that you are a respectful candidate who understands how to communicate a request professionally. 

>🖋 State the purpose of your email.

This will be the content of your first paragraph after the greetings. Be clear and concise about the purpose of the follow-up email for the job you applied for.

Say why you have emailed the recruiter after an interview, what it is the job role you have applied for, when did the last interview take place and what actions you are hoping them to take. Again, remember to stay professional and respectful in your tone.

🖋 Reiterate your interest in the position.

Emphasize how passionate and excited you are about this job opportunity in your follow-up email to the recruiter. Remind the recruiter what attracted you to apply for this role in the first place and how this interest has continued. You want to leave an impression that you are an enthusiastic candidate who is eager to take on the job and join the team in your post-interview follow-up email. 

🖋 Highlight your strengths.

Apart from showing your passion and excitement, remind them again why you are the perfect fit for the job and what your strengths are!

Recruiters are often dealing with a sea of talented candidates and they would likely interview a few before making comparisons among the interviewees and finalizing a decision. In other words, use the chance of your post-interview follow-up email to remind them why they should hire you.

🖋 Wrap up with a professional signature and contact details.

Just like every other professional email that you write, you want to finish a follow-up email to a recruiter with a lovely touch of personality and professionalism in your signature.

Make sure to include your preferred contact details so the recruiter can reach you easily after reading your post-interview follow-up email.

Now that you understand the importance of writing a follow-up email to a recruiter, take a look at some extra tips for writing your follow-up email after an interview. 

✨ Keep it concise.

The average time a recruiter takes to read an email is about 10 seconds, which means you need to catch their attention in just a few words of your post-interview follow-up email.

When writing your follow-up email to a recruiter, make sure to keep the contents concise and easy-to-read. Recruiters that work in a busy HR team will not have time for lengthy interview follow-up emails, especially if they have other more urgent tasks to deal with. 

✨ Be professional.

The number one rule for any business-related email is to be professional.

This is no different for your post-interview follow-up email. Make sure the word choice and tone are professional, but feel free to add a personal touch (within reason of course) - it is always nice to see something more human among a sea of cold business emails.

Staying professional in your follow-up email to a recruiter will also leave a positive impression, making it more likely for them to get back to you. 

✨ Proofread your email.

Proofread, proofread, proofread. Just as with all types of writing, proofreading should always be taking place at the end of your post-interview follow-up email.

It may seem time-consuming but taking the effort to go over your follow-up email to a recruiter will show that you can pay attention to detail and understand the importance of checking over for mistakes.

A post-interview follow-up email full of spelling mistakes or grammatical errors can undermine your chance of getting the job. 

✨ Choose the right time to send your email.

When to send your follow-up email to a recruiter will depend on the stage of the job application you are currently at. There are no hard and fast rules here, but don’t wait for too long to follow up with the recruiter after an interview.

Generally leaving two to three days between messages and never sending a follow-up email to a recruiter over the weekend are good guidelines to follow. 

If you are looking to send a thank you email after an interview rather than a follow-up email to a recruiter, you can contact them straight away, should you wish.

✨ Chase up again if you still don’t hear back. 

The general guideline here remains to stay polite and professional. Not being demanding in your post-interview follow-up email will indicate to a recruiter that you respect their priorities and know how to communicate well. 

However, in the case that you have not received a response after your first follow-up email to the recruiter, consider sending a second follow-up email after an interview two to three days later. After you send out a second interview follow-up email, don’t overthink the situation and stress yourself.          

It is acceptable to send a post-interview follow-up email and a second interview follow-up email, but it is recommended to leave it there. 

In the case that you do not receive a response to your check-in emails after the interview, take it as a learning experience and move on to the next job application.

It does not matter how polite or timely your message is, some businesses may choose not to respond as they receive hundreds and thousands of applications for each job opening as well as follow-up emails to the recruiter – it is their choice which you must respect. 

While it can be difficult to be in this situation, the best action you can take is to remain persistent and never take a lack of response from recruiters to your post-interview follow-up emails personally.  

Below are some examples of how to write effective follow-up emails to a recruiter that gets results. Five fundamental principles that all emails share include:

• Clear and noticeable headings and subheadings
• Most important message(s) at the top
• Section text appropriately
• Use plain and simple-to-read language
• Ensure consistent formatting throughout 

Take a look at these interview follow-up email samples below. We hope these will get you started on writing your own.

✉️ Interview Follow-up Email Sample

✉️ Sample Second Follow-up Email after an Interview 

✉️ Sample Follow-up Email to a Recruiter after No Response 

✉️ Sample Follow-up Email after a Phone Interview 

✉️ Interview Feedback Email Sample

--- Originally written by Wayne Chang ---