By Simone Emmons

You’ve had your interview with a perspective employer. Now what? Do you simply wait for a response or do you take a more proactive stand? The fact is that job searching doesn’t end with the interview. It’s what you do in the days that follow the interview that can shift things in your favor.

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.

Simone Emmons is a human resources professional of 18 years and founder of Hispanic-Jobs.com and Asian-Jobs.com, 2 niche job boards for bilingual professionals.

At Hispanic-jobs.com & Asian-jobs.com we provide thousands of job opportunities for bilingual English/Spanish and English/Asian-speaking professionals ranging from entry level to executive level - nationwide.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 7th, 2006 at 11:54 am and is filed under Resume Writing Tips. Both comments and pings are currently closed.