Do follow up emails make you look desperate? I highly recommend sending follow emails, as long as you say the right things. Following up after your interview, makes you look interested and shows that you value the opportunity. That matters a lot more than you think. Companies want people who take initiative, follow through, and actually want the role. Many candidates apply, interview, and don't want the job (let's be honest, you've interviewed with companies before where you knew if you took the job you'd leave it as soon as something remotely better came along). So following up thoughtfully makes you stand out. Remember their team is hiring because they have more work than they do people. They're being pulled in so many different directions so be that helpful push notification to stay on their radar. A follow up doesn't make you look desperate, it helps the hiring teams refocus and move the hiring process along. If you need some direction on what to say, I created free follow up email templates. I will link it down below!
No, that is generational. You always follow up after your interviews. You were always polite even if you don’t get the job they at least took the time to select you for it. It’s called being professionally polite.
Half the jobs people are applying to are ghost jobs and then all these companies are bombarded by follow up emails coming from a desperate sea of applicants- and it's very much okay to be nervous in this mess of a job market. The generic contacts you can find probably route most of these follow ups to the bin. Applicants good at digging for better email addresses probably end up on a black list for bothering some irritated, office politics obsessed HR rep. Few actual businesses hiring ever give a polite response unless it's "canned" which is still more appreciative than nothing.
I don't know how things work in the business world, but in the education sector I think these follow up letters have little merit. (From what I have been told, it is the proper thing to do.) I certainly think it makes you appear professional, but it is my experience it has little influence with education administrators or interview committees. I have been in education 30+ plus years and I have witnessed many candidates get jobs without any post interview follow up.
A follow up is a priority; however, my initial approach was not nor should it be via an e-mail. My approach was a telephone call. Nothing says 'personal' like a telephone call to the person who interviewed you. If you can choose the right words to write, you can choose the right words to say. There should be very little difference between the two. Sell yourself by talking rather than writing. The writing part has already been done via your CV. The speaking part was done during the initial interview. Continue, to a lesser extent, that speaking part.
A good follow‑up doesn’t make you look desperate. It just shows you’re serious about this role and respectful of the team’s time.
Yes you should follow up. Not every day.
I have begun looking for hiring managers’ contact details to email them within 24 hours of applying. When my experience aligns even somewhat with their vacancy’s description, I always hear back quickly. It shows initiative and demonstrates your interest in the position.
If you waited 4 or 5 days to follow up and didn't hear back, the ship probably has already sailed, and it's time to focus on the next job search. I would just send one email and wait a few days while focusing on other searches.
And the reframe that the hiring team is drowning and you're helping move things along is spot on. People assume silence is polite when it's really just leaving yourself off their radar.
Here's Follow Up Email Templates - Use these to craft the perfect follow up email after your interview to hear back & land the next interview: https://madelinemann.ck.page/dcb128d6fd