After the Interview A Thank You Note Isnt Enough - Your Career Intel

After the Interview A Thank You notenzeichen Isnt Enough - Your Career IntelYou just had a great job interview. Youre convinced its the right job for you. Now what? There are different ways to follow up on a job interview. Much depends on who you talked to and the priorities of the hiring organization.At a minimum, you should send a thank you note to everyone you spoke with. Make sure you have the right titles and name spellings and send the notes within 48 hours of your interview. If your interview was on a Friday, follow up first thing Monday morning to stay top-of-mind.But if you truly want the job, you need to do mora.Assume that the employer is interviewing other candidates. To stand out from everyone else, you must continue to sell yourself and express your enthusiasm for the position.Ultimately, you want to convince the employer that youre the best person for the job, the solution to their problems, and that you will fit in very nicely with the company culture.For a moment, pu t yourself in the shoes of the employer.Lets say the leading candidate follows up with a polite, but generic, thank you note. The second-best candidate writes a much more thoughtful note that demonstrates close attention to what the interviewer said and provides ideas on how to tackle the biggest challenges associated with the position.In all likelihood, the number two candidate will jump to number one. Heres a game plan on how to win the post-interview follow-up.How to Follow Up After a Job Interview The First RoundWrite personalized notes Get the business card of everyone you spoke with individually and follow up with emails that reflect an important point from each conversation. Dont send the same note to everyone.Youll probably interview with the hiring manager and the hiring managers boss. In many cases, youll also interview with a HR person, colleagues who youll be working with closely, and perhaps a manager from another departement that will be impacted by your performance.Tr y to understand and address the concerns of each individual.For example, lets say youre interviewing for a product development position reporting into the director of new business. You spoke briefly with the director of marketing who talked about the importance of collaboration and trust between the two departments.Your follow up might say something like thisI appreciate the importance of soliciting input from marketing at every stage of product development, from the initial concept to the building of prototypes to the final design. By working together throughout the process, I know we can maximize our chances for building products that meet customer needs and that we can market successfully.Focus on the hiring manager In most situations, the hiring manager will be the person youll be reporting to and will have the biggest say in who gets hired. Provide that person with the most detailed and persuasive follow-up note.Again, avoid any language that sounds generic. You want to demonst rate that you listened very closely in the interview, you understand the hiring managers needs, and your qualifications and experiences are a perfect match for the position.Following Up Again The Second and Third RoundsIn the second round, it is a good idea to send a work product from a previous job that closely relates to the position youre seeking. For example, if the hiring manager said that part of the job will involve evaluating acquisition candidates and this is something you did at your previous job then send your best research reports to the hiring manager.If you dont have a relevant work product, you should create one to demonstrate that you have the job skills needed for the position. You can also present your thoughts on how you will proceed with a new initiative that will be an important part of the job. While you dont want to come off as presumptuous, you do want to give the hiring manager a tangible sense of how youll perform in the role.For C-Suite positions, Ive fo und that some candidates send an example 30/60/90-day plan in their first follow-up email. In my opinion, this is not a good idea as hiring managers may interpret this as over-stepping. Wait until youve completed the second or third rounds of interviews to demonstrate that you understand the growing pains of the company and show how you can problem-solve with your expertise.In either scenario, be mindful and respectful of not disclosing any trade secrets or confidential work product from a current employer. Redact names and hide proprietary information.Emphasize culture fit Through your research and interviews, youve probably gotten a good sense of the company culture. Is it entrepreneurial and collaborative with open work spaces and a loose hierarchy? Or, is it more traditional and bureaucratic? What are the qualities that are most valued in employees? What is the companys overarching mission?In your follow-up notes particularly to the hiring manager and the hiring managers boss express your understanding of the organizations values and mission and your conviction that youll thrive in their organizational culture.Waiting for the Decision The Final CountdownAfter youve sent all of the appropriate follow-up notes, give the organization time to make their decision. If they didnt give you a specific date for a decision, its fine to follow up a week later. If they did give you a specific date, follow up within 48 hours. You want to appear interested but avoid coming across as desperate.Sometimes things happen like hiring freezes or other events and the organization has to postpone the hiring decision. If they leise appear to be interested in you, stay in touch with the hiring manager by occasionally sending emails about industry events or topics of mutual interest.If you dont get the job, try not to be too disappointed. Even in todays tight labor market, theres multiple candidates for most positions.Send a polite note thanking everyone for their time and your a dmiration for the company. Ask them to keep you in mind for other positions in the future.Authored by Carolina King

How To Decide When To Start Your Maternity Leave

How To Decide When To Start Your Maternity Leave To leave or not to leave before the birth? Figuring out when to begin your maternity leave is quitethe conundrum. On the one hand, youre exhausted. Spent. Swollen. And want to spend just a few more minutes in the nursery which obviously is now the most expensive room in the house. On the other, you want to spend every minute possible of the (terribly-allotted) three months off you receive on FMLA with your new baby. The solution? Balance. And here are three ways to ask for it so you get the best of both.Ask for a modified work schedule. Before you go ahead and abflug the FMLA clock four weeks before its necessary, consider speaking with your employer about a modified work schedule until the baby is born. Ask if you can work part of the day in the office and the other part from home. See whether you can take half-day Fridays by working an extra hour Monday-Thursday. Your anfhrer may or may not be able to accommodate these requests, but please. Just ask.Ask for a flexible arrangement. The research is clear that when our workplaces give us the freedom and ability to work from anywhere (ahem, home, please), productivity skyrockets. platzset up a one-on-one with your boss to let her know that youre 100% committed to seeing your work through before the baby arrives and youll best be able to accomplish that in a modified work setting at this point. Bonus? If you can prove to her that the arrangement works nicely for everyone, you might be able to swing something more flexible after the baby arrives.Ask for intermittent FMLA. If youre searching for a more holistic approach, ask for intermittent FMLA. Come to terms with the fact that your post-baby version of work-life balance looks a whole heck of a lot different than it did before baby arrived. Replace the lofty idea of achieving day-to-day balance by looking at your work/life scenario as a whole. When you can adopt this perspective, it may be worthwhile to begin asking for intermittent FMLA beginning the month before baby is due to arrive and continuing on an intermittent basis when baby is here. Express to your boss that you are ready to have some time off before the baby comes and youre willing to do that at the expense of logging on a bit to work from home during your three months off. This scenario is a win-win. Your boss gets to benefit from not losing an entire person in the workflow, and you get to maintain a very small amount of professional channeling as you learn how to wear this new mom identity. Oh yeah, and you wont miss out on as much pay since theyre probably not paying you for your leave anyway (sigh).The overarching message is that if you dont ask, you wont know. Set the precedent today that you know you are a valued, contributing employee and that part of continuing on that path means fighting for your rights as a mom in the workplace. So go ahead, ask. Ask for that modified work schedule. Ask for that flexibility. And ask for a more holistic approach to FMLA. You got this, mama, you got this.--Allie Hofer, a self-proclaimed career matchmaker and work-life balance enthusiast, is a Professional in Human Resources (PHR), Society of Human Resource Management - Certified Professional (SHRM-CP), and Recruiter Academy Certified Recruiter (RACR). After having herfirst child, she opted out of the traditional office setting to work from home. Since then, she hasbeen consulting with organizations in the public and private sectors to support the Human Resources function in recruiting, compensation, training and development, and performance management.She started Office Hours with the belief that instead of creating resources and companies to help women return to work, we should help themfind flexible opportunities so theynever have to leave.Fairygodboss is committed to improving the workplace and lives of women.Join us by reviewing your employer