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Good follow-up will magnify your networking efforts and leverage the impact you make in job interviews.  Follow-up is also a highly productive activity because it usually takes very little time and can be aimed at the most promising targets.

The follow-up process begins when you first meet anyone by saying "May I have your business card."  Be sure to know what name to use when talking to or writing to him.  In general you want to be informal as early as possible so that you resemble a friend or an insider.

REVIEW YOUR INTERVIEW

Whether a job interview or networking meeting, make written notes immediately after you leave the scene.  Memory of details fades very quickly.  The early psychologist Hermann Von Ebbinghaus studied memory over several decades by memorizing countless thousands of lists of words.  He discovered that memory decays in the same way that coffee cools--rapidly at first, then gradually as it approaches room temperature.  Take your notes while the memory is fresh.  Record all relevant facts, names, nicknames, and ideas to power your follow-up.  Annotate business cards for your contact file.

ITS NETWORKING OR NOT WORKING

Networking is the most effective method of getting the best job interviews.  It is a people-intensive and an information-intensive enterprise.  In essence it involves using your curiosity to recruit allies to generate new allies and advocates for you.  Networking is fun.  Meetings and conversations with fellow professionals are typically intrinsically fulfilling.  Information about people, ideas, companies, and opportunities must be managed in order to be recalled when needed. 

Information and contacts are the life blood of campaigns and need to be maximized.  Maximized means getting a high quantity and good quality of referrals and information.  One meeting is not enough.  That's why follow-up is so efficient and important.

People need to be appreciated ─ send thank you notes or letters.  Some networkers write a quick note immediately and another after researching or mulling over the ideas from the meeting.  My favorite format is:

            Thanks in general.  ("for a great meeting!")

            Thanks for something specific about the meeting.  ("I especially appreciated ...")

            "Since I expect to be on campaign for a while, please call me if you hear of anything that might be of interest to me.  I will get back to you about the leads/information you gave to me and welcome your invitation to stay in touch throughout my campaign."

Too often one meeting takes place and that's the end of it.  The most effective campaigners stay in touch with their network on a repeated basis.  People tend to give you what's on top of their mind the first time you meet.  But during the next few weeks they are still making mental connections on your behalf--usually not enough for them to pick up the phone--but enough to justify your time to harvest with a phone call.

Imagine this typical scenario:  Harry asks Mike for a meeting.  They spend an hour at Mike's office reviewing Harry's background, resume, and career options.  Mike thinks of some good ideas.  He provides three names of associates who may be able to help Harry, along with the name of a good employer.  They enjoy their time together and Mike gets warm feeling for having helped.  A few days later a nice thank you note arrives.  But Mike still wants to know what became of his good ideas.  Did they pan out?  Will Mike's associates get a call?  What happened as a result of those meetings?  Frankly, Mike wants to know that he made a substantial contribution to the campaign.

Networking is like tossing a stone into a pond.  The ripples reverberate in all directions.  People want to know what's going on in their section of the pond, plus what effect they've had on you.  Your campaign is a story, a history of contacts, and their implications.  The logical extension of this concept is a campaign highlights newsletter where you provide regular customized updates to your expanding network.

You have probably already noticed that some people are extremely kind, forthcoming, and supportive of your networking efforts ─ and that others are not.  Beware of putting too many contacts into the deadwood pile expecting that they won't be responsive or productive.  People want to help.

It is very easy for Harry to leave a telephone message with Mike's secretary stating that he has arranged a meeting with Mike's associate on a certain date.  This keeps Mike informed, unobtrusively, and lubricates Harry's subsequent call to report on that meeting.

People will be interested in hearing about your meeting with their contact, what ideas it sparked, and how you used them.  Research and recite the chain of events that led to your current activities.  This is gratifying to your contact, and it reinforces the power of networking.  Follow-up calls leads to new ideas and contacts in the shortest possible time because the ice is already broken and the biography has been told.  Follow-up calls are the shortest, most productive calls you can make!  Contacts will reach down deeper into their Rolodex and bring out the most precious referrals.  Now they know you will treat them right.

FOLLOWING UP JOB INTERVIEWS

Either directly or circuitously, networking meetings lead to job interviews.  You have three objectives in a job interview.  First, learn all about the position; then, sell yourself; and finally, schedule the next interview.

To get from the street into the seat, you need make, and then restate your case to the decision makers.  Any occasionally purchased, high-ticket, intangible product (such as yourself) needs to be sold with lots of TLC.  You need to continually provide positive reasons to buy, reassure doubts, and furnish added value.  In a situation where other things are equal, the candidate who most demonstrably wants the job will win the offer.

FOLLOW-UP WINS THE OFFER!  RESPOND IN WRITING

In the post job interview period, decision-making period, initial assessments are in flux and can be subject to influence.  Thank you letters are essential!  But what to say?  Make the case that you are the one with tons of qualifications and advantages.  You are the solution.  Don't hesitate to be lengthy.  This summary of your case will be read by others whom haven't met you. 

End the letter with something like:

            I will be calling you in a few days with some more questions about your industry and hope we can schedule our next meeting soon.

            Or:       I plan to call you next week to see how your vision of the position and the "ideal candidate" have evolved during the interviewing process.

This technique is so powerful you may want to double it.  The first letter may be a courtesy.  The next can amplify some issues from the meeting with new thinking or homework.  The message is important and so is the medium:  standard letter, non-standard letter, fax, phone, Federal Express, audio or video tape, floppy disk, etc.  To decide, remember that you want to stand above the crowd, not out in left field. 

REGROUP RESOURCES

Early in your campaign you need to line up personal and professional references who are ready, willing, and able to deliver a credible and enthusiastic advertisement about you.  Reference checks are typically a formality used to confirm a selection.  Often they are not performed at all.  What a waste of resources to have your volunteer salesmen waiting for a call! 

It is altogether proper for your references to make an unsolicited call to the employer volunteering their opinion after the interview.  The key is to provide complete background material to each reference.  This includes background on the company, the people you spoke with, and your resume.  These "talking papers" should also describe the current opening and how you are positioning yourself to meet it--your features and benefits.

Give your allies ammunition to reinforce the case they make on your behalf.  Remind them that while they must be enthusiastic and reinforce your positive qualities, it is not their job to persuade the decision makers that you are super human.  They need to be able to talk about the job fit and what a good match you will be.

RECONTACT THE TARGET BY PHONE

One of the most common well-meaning lies in business is "We'll get back to you one way or the other--you'll definitely be hearing from us by the end of next week."  Expect not to receive a call from them--no matter how well it went and how much of a hurry they are in to fill the job.  You must make the follow-up call. 

Selections are based on commercial reasons but can be influenced by enthusiasm, positive attitude, chemistry, and persistence.  For the one candidate who calls too early and too often, ninety-nine candidates fail to follow-up aggressively enough.  "Don't call us, we'll call you" hasn't been seriously uttered by a hiring manager for decades.  In my poll of hiring managers,

Have you ever had anyone follow up too hard, too much too, too often?

            Most common answer:  No.  I like it when people call, it shows interest.

            Some say, well, there was this one person, who called and called.

What happened with the overzealous person?

            Most common answer: I interview or hired them anyway.

            Least common answer, I didn’t interview them (again).  I stopped taking their calls.

You may have to battle the bureaucratic obstacle ─ "We are in the process of reviewing all the candidates' qualifications ...” In this case use the organic attack ─ "During any hiring process new factors are brought to light by the variety of candidates that you consider.  I need to make sure that I have the opportunity to address the issues that subsequent candidates have raised."

When you call you should reiterate the contents of your follow-up letter.  It is not important to learn the current status of the hiring process.  It is important to discover new objections to your candidacy or new factors introduced by other candidates. 

You need this kind of information to create ammunition for your new follow-ups.  Perhaps another candidate brought certain experience (e.g. in distribution) that impressed the interviewers.  You may have experience here too, but hadn't thought it relevant before.  If this is the case you may either write your experience in a letter or state it on the phone.  "If distribution experience has become an important criteria, don't you think I should be given an opportunity to describe my background?"

During the barrage of your enthusiastic follow-up, the hiring manager may decide to extend an offer to you.  When this occurs, express appreciation, joy, and get all the details.  You might ask is there any flexibility in that number if preceeded and followed with enthusiasm for all aspects of the job?  "You've given us a lot to think about."  Then ask for the offer in writing.

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