Making An Impression With Your Job Search

Followup is a dying art.

15 years ago, I got personal thank you letters all the time from people I interviewed or reached out to.

Now no more than 10–20% of the people who apply or interview even bother to take the 2 minutes to send a “thank you email”.

I know this goes both ways. Most employers aren’t any better. I get lots of “thank you for letting me know” emails from people who I reject, and they explicitly mention that they applied to “dozens of jobs and this is the first time they’ve even heard back”.

This lack of follow-up (by job seekers and employers) certainly makes an impression, but not a good one. I’m sure my psychology and anthropology friends would love to understand WHY people think it’s OK to just ignore people these days (information overload, impersonal communication, monetization of people, entitlement, whatever)… but the fact of the matter is it’s not a good trend.

But the other day I got a really amazing, fun, creative thank you letter from someone who isn’t a match for us right now. She CERTAINLY made a very good impression with me. A little bit of followup goes a long way…

Job Seekers take note… THIS is the baseline that you’re judged against!