Level 2 · follow-up or refusal
Follow up after an interview: an annotated email example
Follow up to learn the decision timeline.
The situation
Aurelia FayRecruiter — Talentis
You interviewed last Tuesday for the Digital Project Manager role. You were promised an answer within a week. You haven't heard back.
Warm but buried in applications. She remembers candidates who are precise and courteous.
Goal
Follow up to learn the decision timeline.
The winning structure
A good email for this situation includes these elements, in this order:
- A greeting with the recipient's first name.
- The role (Digital Project Manager)
- The interview date (Tuesday)
- A request for the timeline
- A clear ask at the end: a question or an action with a deadline.
- A short sign-off, then your name.
Common mistakes
- Leaving out the role (Digital Project Manager) : « Which role? I'm handling ten. »
- Leaving out the interview date (Tuesday) : « When did we meet again? »
- Leaving out a request for the timeline : « What do they want from me? »
- A refusal or follow-up so polite it becomes vague: the reader doesn't know how to answer.
- Over-explaining instead of proposing a next step.
Write your own version: the recipient reacts and you get a score out of 100.
The annotated example
Try it yourself first: you'll remember more. Click to show the example.
Subject : Follow-up – Digital Project Manager interview
Hi Aurelia,
- Greeting by first name: the reader knows it's for them.
Thank you again for last Tuesday's interview for the Digital Project Manager role. I'm still very interested in the position.
- Includes: the role (Digital Project Manager).
- Includes: the interview date (Tuesday).
Could you share the timeline for a decision?
- Includes: a request for the timeline.
- Clear ask: the reader knows what to do.
Kind regards,
Alex
- Short sign-off, then the name.
Why it works : 33 words against a target of 75, 6 words per sentence on average, no filler phrases.