How to Follow Up on an Interview with No Response 

Let’s face it, we’ve all been there.  You go to a Product Manager Interview and leave feeling like it went well. Everybody seems to like you and while you are heading out, the recruiter says they will be in touch. BOOM! You never hear back from them. It’s been 2 days, 4 days, 1 week…

Here’s the big question:

Should you wait for them to contact you, or should you make contact?

Problem

The challenge here is you don’t know when to make contact again, how to make contact, and who you should be addressing. A few questions you may be asking yourself:

• What is the best way to reach out?
• Should I contact them?
• (That might be too direct and if you do call) Who should I reach out to?
• Should I email them back?
• What am I going to say?

The minutes are counting down and you know if you do nothing; this will just be another missed opportunity.

What do you do?

Solution

If you are reading this right now, you are in luck. The unfortunate reality is interviewing is as frustrating for the job hunter as it is for the people on the hiring side. “Procrastination occurs in hiring all the time and your best solution is to create urgency by introducing interest.” People have unrealistic expectations and this applies to hire as well. Hiring managers and teams often interview for roles on an average of 3 to 21 months. There never seems to be the right (unicorn) person or the right time.

Think about the last time you bought something. People often want what they do not or cannot have. Why? It is because recruiters think “why would I want something that nobody else wants?” This fact of life is also relevant to hiring.

If the hiring team knows that you have another offer on the table, you’re actively interviewing, or getting farther in the interview process for other companies (particularly their competitors), they will want you more. Why? Because the truth is no company is ever going to make an offer to somebody they are not excited about.

The hiring team would never sit around a conference table and say, “Hmm this candidate is not the greatest but let’s give that him/her a shot.” This never happens. You have to create urgency by insinuating that other companies are excited about you and they should be too.

Implementation

Let’s talk about who you should reach out to.

There is only one person that you should reach out to and that is the recruiter that put you in that interview in the first place. Draft an email and if you do not hear back within two days, get ready to call. The best time to call is right before lunch or 4:30 PM right around that time most people are just counting the minutes to go home.

IMPACT

This is going to show the team that you are respectful, interested, and most importantly not afraid to be confrontational. Being a Product Manager requires you to be assertive; show them that you are willing to do that.

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