Think carefully about how you want to express yourself – after all, you are still in the application phase. So, when you send a follow up e-mail after the interview, pay attention to the wording. If you seem too impatient or unfriendly, you can ruin everything you have achieved already. In order not to put your foot in your mouth, make it clear why you are asking and don’t forget your counterpart’s perspective. Make sure you remain friendly and polite.
Of course, it would be nice to receive an answer directly, but even more important would be to get employment out of this – and that’s what we’re waiting for. So, don’t push for a decision, but find out what’s going on. Let your interest in the position come through, instead of pressing for an answer or expressing your frustration.
What you should express, however, is understanding: There could be many possible reasons why you have not yet received an answer. Changes in the department or a delayed interview process are more likely than you think. This insight also tells you how to write the follow-up e-mail: keep it short.
Get to the point quickly and formulate what you want to know clearly. This will make it easier for the recipient to respond. A rambling e-mail, which may contain several paragraphs, will be left for later and may be forgotten. However, if they can reply within a few minutes, recipients do tend to do so directly.
When formulating the e-mail, the subject is also important: Make it as easy as possible for the recipient, and formulate the line in such a way that the e-mail can be clearly assigned to your application. In the body of text, refer directly to the interview. Here it can be useful to address concrete points from the interview again briefly. This shows you’re paying attention and gives the recipient another clue as to whose message they are dealing with.