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Do you know the importance of a follow-up letter? It is the last piece of the overall resume package but it can be the most powerful and persuasive piece of material you can have in your job-hunting arsenal. Not sending one to someone, who has interviewed you for a position, can be the biggest mistake that you can make. It is the one thing that can be used to sell your skills to an employer, one final time before they make a decision. It actually serves two purposes.
1. It thanks the interviewer for taking the time to interview you. This is especially important because they are busy people and it's a nice way of acknowledging that you value their time.
2. It gives you one final chance to remind the interviewer what skills and experience you will bring to the position. This gives you an edge over the competition for 2 reasons. A) Many candidates never send one and B) It keeps you and your skills fresh in their minds.
This can give you the edge needed over the competition to sway their decision in your favor. Since it can have a dramatic impact on the hiring decision, it should be written carefully and with much thought.
Because hiring managers literally view hundreds of resumes for a single position, they can't remember all the details of a particular resume. It's your job to make sure they don't forget you or your skills. This is why it is extremely important to use a follow-up letter to get their attention one last time.
Constructing a good follow-up letter is key to continuing the professional appearance you need to portray to a potential employer. The first paragraph should “thank” the hiring manager. The second paragraph can restate key skills, abilities or experience that you mentioned during the interview. Keep it brief, but choose your words carefully. Make sure to mail it no later than the day after the interview.
Don't pass up the chance to sell your qualifications to a perspective employer one last time, it really is your final opportunity. It can mean the difference of getting the position or losing it to someone else. So send it off and put yourself one step ahead of your competition.
1.Write The Follow-Up Letter Immediately: Once you return home, write the follow-up letter the same day as the interview. Being late with the letter can potentially reflect badly on you, or worse, make you be forgotten.
2.Include An Incident That Occurred At The Interview: Make reference to any small but pleasant incident (or subject matter) that might have occurred at the interview that will catch the interviewers' attention. How will this help you? This makes you stand out from the crowd and triggers memories of the entire interview. It gets the interviewer to think beyond the notes he or she made during the interview.
3.Write To Every Interviewer: Writing individual letters not only demonstrates your manners but emphasizes your recognition of individual opinions. Not everyone will be impressed with the same things in the interview; there can be at least one person who is either more or less impressed or even indifferent. Address each one of them independently, and write each letter differently. One another point here is they may (and probably will) discuss the letters among themselves at some point.
4.Show Your Awareness Of Company Culture: Employers like it when they know that a candidate is knowledgeable about company work ethics and culture. This helps eliminate any ambiguity that whether you will fit in at the company.
5.Write In A Positive Tone: Don't make the letter a ritual or boring one. Use language and a format which is as lively and professional as possible. Proofreading the letter is critical. There is no restriction on handwritten letters or the delivery method; mail it, email it or even hand deliver it, but make sure it gets there.
You can't ignore the hidden power of interview follow-up letters. They help cement your candidacy, considering there were probably countless other candidates for the position. The fact is, not many interviewees will write any type of letter, let alone a follow-up letter. The follow-up letter demonstrates your interest in the company and position so pay lots of attention to writing it carefully. By following the five tips above, you will be able to write compelling follow-up letters that work in your favor.