By Joe Redshaw

How long should you wait after a phone screen and/or an in-person interview to follow up with the company – 1 week, 2 weeks, before calling or emailing again?

No more than 24 hours!

If I get off the phone with a candidate after screening them and I don’t get at least a quick e-mail saying thank you, it is a Red Flag.  And this is even more important with an interview.  I would say no later than the following day.

But that is the easy part.  What is a more difficult question is… “After I sent my thank you letter, how long should I wait to follow up?”.  This one is trickier.

I would say that in the phone screen or interview, you should be asking about the hiring process.  Depending on what they say should answer how long after the thank you letter you should follow up.  The general rule is if you haven’t heard back after about 3-5 days I would follow up.  This would be a time to write how interested you are and why you are such a fit.   And ask if you could get an update regarding the process.  You could call or e-mail.  Or you can e-mail and say you will be following up with a call in the next day or so.   You have to walk the fine line of being a pest and seeming like you don’t care, or don’t want the job.

But most importantly ask the hiring manager what the hiring process looks like, when they want to fill the job, how many » Read more: Q & A: After the Interview