Durkin’s Getting Hired at a Startup Series (10 of 10): Slap Interviewers in the Face with Follow-Up

February 13th, 2012

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#10. Be memorable FOREVER

Ya ya ya. Following up is super-duper important. Always, always, always thank your interviewers. By email, definitely. By hand written note, maybe. But today, to set yourself apart, you need to slap your interviewers across the face with appreciation and kindness.

Get creative. There’s the open palm slap. The back handed slap. The side slap. The gun slap. The wrist flick slap. The SLAP slap. The fist punch slap. The poke slap. And the tap slap.

Here’s the three best ways to follow-up with someone in a meaningful, longlasting, memorable way:

1. Introduce the person who interviewed you to someone you think he/she should meet. Think about everything you talked about together in the interview. Who would be the best person you could introduce the interviewer to who they would enjoy meeting. Then make the intro.

2. Send the interviewer a book that you LOVE that you think he/she should read. Write a nice hand written note in the book cover.

3. Help a friend of the interviewer. If during an interview, the person speaking with you ever mentions a name, or a list of names, write those names down. Go home. See who they are on Google / Linkedin. See if you have any mutual connections. And find a way to help that person. Nothing says awesomeness better than people helping your friends. And it is certainly memorable.

There are ten million other ways to slap interviewers across the face with follow-up, kindness, and appreciation. I’ve listed three, but there are nine million, nine hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred, and ninety-seven other ways to slap. Find your own, and repeat it over and over again. There simply are not enough red hand prints in this city.