How Long is Too Long? Following Up After Pharmaceutical Interview
Following up after a job interview is an absolutely critical step in the process. Follow up well and you strengthen your chances of receiving an offer.
Follow up poorly – or not at all – and even a great interview as well as the right skills, education and professional background may not be enough to make up for poor follow up.
Why? Because so few people follow up AT ALL, and if someone does and you don’t, any others who do – especially if they do it well – will blow your candidacy out of the water.
But if you follow up and do so well, you have the chance to stand well above any other candidates.
Read below for tips on how to follow up after a pharmaceutical interview.
- You first should make sure that you have correct contact information for every person with whom you interviewed because you’ll want to e-mail (or mail, if you think it’s appropriate) thank you messages to each person you met. The easiest and simplest way to ensure you have the correct information is to ask people for one of their business cards.
- Understand that if you are asked to come in for a face-to-face interview that you are a serious contender for the position. This is why it’s critical that you make the proper effort to follow up after your first interview and all subsequent interviews (a second or third interview, a group interview, a phone or Skype interview). Following up reinforces the fact that you’re a top contender in the eyes of the people who can hire you.
- Send your thank you e-mail within 24 hours of your interview.
- Your thank you message is more than just thanking the people you met for meeting with you: it’s also a way to sell your candidacy. In the letters, let the people you met know why you’re qualified for the position.
- You can use information that you learned in the interview to advance your candidacy. For example, if you learned that the pharmacy will be expanding soon and will need to hire more pharmacy techs, if you’re a pharmacist who has experience interviewing and hiring pharm techs, make sure you say so!
- If there’s something you wish you had mentioned to the interviewer, say it in your thank you note. You can also use the note to clarify any misunderstandings about your skills, background or experience you feel the hiring manager may have.
- At the end of your e-mail reiterate your desire to be chosen for the position and that you look forward to hearing from the hiring manager.
- Unless you hear from the hiring manager or company within about five days, you’re going to have to follow up again, and this time it means making a phone call.
- Before leaving the interview, you need to ask the hiring manager what the next steps of the search process will be. Will people be called back for second interviews? If so, when will those call backs be made? Will a hiring decision be made in a week? Two weeks? If you don’t hear anything within the allotted time, contact the hiring manager to check in.
- Whether you get the hiring manager live or his or her voice mail, leave a message that says you’re just checking in to see where he/she is in the hiring process, that you’d be happy to answer any and all questions, and that you look forward to hearing from the hiring manager.
- If you hear nothing within two weeks, call again and leave approximately the same message.
- If you continue to hear nothing, drop it. If a hiring manager or recruiter hasn’t called you back within a month, it more than likely means you’re out of the running. It would be nice if the company/hiring manager would tell you so, but they often don’t.
- Never call more than twice. Calling more makes you appear desperate and unprofessional. If you hear nothing back, chalk up the interview to experience and move on.
Are you a pharmacist or pharmacy technician looking for new opportunities? Then take a look at the pharmaceutical job opportunities at Rx relief® and if one or more pique your interest, send us your resume/CV. We look forward to hearing from you.
