If you made it all the way through what you believe to be the final conversation in an interview process, you may be wondering when a job offer will be coming your way.
To help you with that, this article is going to walk you through how to follow up on a pending job offer. And it’s going to answer related questions around following up on a job offer.
Let’s get started.
Is It Ok To Ask When a Hiring Decision Will Be Made?
Yes, it is ok to ask the company that you’re interviewing with when a hiring decision will be made.
Typically, I find the best way to do that is to email your HR and/or recruiting contact at the company after your final interview to check in on the timeline.
I like that approach because the HR contact typically is incentivized to communicate with you and keep you engaged in the process. If they’re a recruiter, they’re often measured on how quickly they are filling roles, so the more quickly they’re moving you along, the better.
Here is what I’ve found to be a good template to check in on when a hiring decision will be made:
Hi {HR Contact First Name},
I just completed my interview with {first name}.
We had a productive conversation and I enjoyed my time with {him or her}.
As a follow up to that conversation, I wanted to reach and check in on the next steps in the process and when you were expecting to make a hiring decision?
Any update that you could provide would be appreciated.
Thanks!
{First Name}
How Long Is Too Long to Wait for a Job Offer?
The short answer is, it depends on your personal circumstances.
If you have have another job offer in place that you need to respond to, then you’ll need to communicate that to the company that you’re interviewing with. Additionally, you’ll want to try and move the process along so you can know where they stand on a potential offer for you before deciding on your other offer.
If you’re interviewing with another company while you’re in a job that you like, then you can afford to be a little bit more patient on an offer.
As a general rule of thumb, you should expect it to take at least a week or two after your last interview to get a job offer.
In general, I wouldn’t recommend waiting much more than four weeks after your last interview to move onto other opportunities.
Should I Follow Up While Waiting on a Job Offer?
In general, it’s fine to follow up while waiting on a job offer as long as you do it professionally and after a reasonable amount of time.
My general recommendation here would be that you’re safe to follow up about one week after your final interview if you haven’t heard anything back from the hiring company by that point.
How to Follow Up On a Pending Job Offer?
My recommendation for how to follow up on a pending job offer would be to start with an email to your HR/recruiting contact at the hiring company.
I would wait at least one week after your final interview or one week after when they told you a hiring decision would be made if you haven’t heard back by that point.
If they don’t respond to that email, you can then send a follow up email a few days later to check in.
Follow Up Email Waiting For Job Offer
Here is an email template that I’ve found helpful for reaching out to check in about a pending job offer:
Hi {HR Contact First Name},
I hope that you’re having a great day!
Just reaching out to check in on the status of a hiring decision for the {job title} role at {company name}.
I’m excited about the opportunity and the potential of joining the team so any update that you can share would be most appreciated.
Warm regards,
{First Name}
Conclusion
Hopefully, this article has been helpful in showing you how to follow up on a pending job offer.
If you’ve made it that far, it’s exciting and you should be proud.
If the job offer comes your way, here are some related resources that may be helpful as you’re figuring out whether or not to accept the offer:
