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Paul Sims shares an article and template that reveals how to write the perfect follow-up email.

When you’re in the job search, you’re going to start meeting influential people in person for job interviews, informational interviews, and networking. You need to impress these people and stand out in order to keep moving along in the hiring process, get referrals, and go into the interview with momentum.

If you don’t impress these people, then you wasted both your time and their time and you won’t likely hear from them again.

There are three critical times you will make an impression, good or bad, on the person you’re meeting:

• Before you meet

• During your meeting

• After your meeting

It’s important that you stand out in a positive way each step of the interaction in order to build a positive connection with that person.  People hire for skills but at the end of the day, they want someone that will be a great overall fit.

We’re going to focus on the follow up today. It’s a very important step that is often skipped. You want to follow up as soon as you can after the meeting in a positive way. Ideally it’s right when you get to your next destination. Even before your follow-up, people will get an additional impression about you from your online presence.

81% of people will search your name online using a mobile device an hour before or after a meeting.

As you’re networking with people, having information interviews, going to career fairs, and going to interviews with hiring-managers and recruiters, you need to follow up. You can follow up over social media messages but the best ways are an email and/or a handwritten card depending on the interaction.  If you met someone for 2 minutes and asked for their card and they gave it as a courtesy, and there’s not a clear next step need then a hand-written card is probably overkill. We’re going to focus on the email but a similar message can be used in a handwritten card (bonus points for card stationery that stands out past your typical white envelope and folded printer paper).

Key points include:

• Timing

• Clarity

• Brevity

Read the full article, The Perfect Networking Follow Up Email, on Linkedin.