Follow-up email
Discussion
Hi all, the situation is this:
A couple of years ago, I'd been invited to interview for a job, and was informed I'd need to carry out a presentation. All went very well, but the post was given to a better qualified/skilled candidate on the day.
Fast forward to today: I attended an interview for a very similar post at the same place, and it was sprung on me that they were expecting a presentation (which I hadn't been notified of). To which I told them that I wasn't informed of this and hadn't prepared any material. But was willing to do a presentation "on-the-fly" on a similarly related topic to my previous presentation.
I think I did quite well (all things considered) and have since double checked to make sure that this wasn't an oversight on my part (it wasn't - so must've have been an HR error).
Here is my question... Do you think I should write a follow-up email, thanking them etc. attaching a copy of the email from HR which doesn't mention the presentation requirement? (I still have my invitation email from two years ago, which DOES include the requirement for a presentation).
Would really appreciate your thoughts on the matter, as I am really keen to land the role, but follow-ups seem to be frowned upon (in the UK) and I don't want to seem to be critical of their process. But more importantly, I don't want them to think I was disorganised/ill-prepared.
A couple of years ago, I'd been invited to interview for a job, and was informed I'd need to carry out a presentation. All went very well, but the post was given to a better qualified/skilled candidate on the day.
Fast forward to today: I attended an interview for a very similar post at the same place, and it was sprung on me that they were expecting a presentation (which I hadn't been notified of). To which I told them that I wasn't informed of this and hadn't prepared any material. But was willing to do a presentation "on-the-fly" on a similarly related topic to my previous presentation.
I think I did quite well (all things considered) and have since double checked to make sure that this wasn't an oversight on my part (it wasn't - so must've have been an HR error).
Here is my question... Do you think I should write a follow-up email, thanking them etc. attaching a copy of the email from HR which doesn't mention the presentation requirement? (I still have my invitation email from two years ago, which DOES include the requirement for a presentation).
Would really appreciate your thoughts on the matter, as I am really keen to land the role, but follow-ups seem to be frowned upon (in the UK) and I don't want to seem to be critical of their process. But more importantly, I don't want them to think I was disorganised/ill-prepared.
I think follow ups are always a good thing in business, I get them a lot and I try to send them where appropriate..
Having read your post a couple times, I'd say that it's probably best to ignore what happened 2 years ago and not let on you knew about a presentation at all if you do decide to mail them. I doubt that a follow up in your current situation would make any difference to the outcome, if anything assigning the blame to someone who's already within the company could give off the impression that you're not one to shoulder responsibility and what comes with that.
You never know, they might have been testing your ability to give an on the fly presentation. Probably best to say thanks for the opportunity, you hope the presentation mistake doesn't hurt your chances and if they'd like to see you again once you've had time to prepare you'd welcome the opportunity.
All the best.
Having read your post a couple times, I'd say that it's probably best to ignore what happened 2 years ago and not let on you knew about a presentation at all if you do decide to mail them. I doubt that a follow up in your current situation would make any difference to the outcome, if anything assigning the blame to someone who's already within the company could give off the impression that you're not one to shoulder responsibility and what comes with that.
You never know, they might have been testing your ability to give an on the fly presentation. Probably best to say thanks for the opportunity, you hope the presentation mistake doesn't hurt your chances and if they'd like to see you again once you've had time to prepare you'd welcome the opportunity.
All the best.
I think it's just one of those things. One could say that being able to present at short notice is no big deal and one should be able to cope. I'd let sleeping dogs lie and move on and learn from the experience. Reading and re-reading the interview spec and then following that up with a confirmatory call to double-check may be a way forward to prevent a reoccurrence. Good luck!
80% of take-on after an interview is cultural fit. 20% os skills/experience in the hiring decision (as in, they'd weed out the ones who werent even close way before interview)
So, go with your gut and dont be too professional, you might actually have to work with these people.
I'd be tempted to drop in a smart-casual email worded roughly how I'd speak rather than in Queens English. Say you enjoyed it if you actually enjoyed it, and what you enjoyed about it. You thought it was a good challenge to drop you in the shallow end and look forward to deeper waters if that's where you're headed
always get an action point, like 'Following up after our meeting yesterday to say how enjoyable it was, although a little surprising with the presentation I liked that you had the confidence in me to just let me go with it. I'm looking forward to our next meeting, and have good availability for Tuesday or Wednesday next week'
Or something like that. There's really no need to tie yourself up in how prepared or unprepared you were, it happened, it was dealt with, enjoy the humour of it and still show professionalism
So, go with your gut and dont be too professional, you might actually have to work with these people.
I'd be tempted to drop in a smart-casual email worded roughly how I'd speak rather than in Queens English. Say you enjoyed it if you actually enjoyed it, and what you enjoyed about it. You thought it was a good challenge to drop you in the shallow end and look forward to deeper waters if that's where you're headed
always get an action point, like 'Following up after our meeting yesterday to say how enjoyable it was, although a little surprising with the presentation I liked that you had the confidence in me to just let me go with it. I'm looking forward to our next meeting, and have good availability for Tuesday or Wednesday next week'
Or something like that. There's really no need to tie yourself up in how prepared or unprepared you were, it happened, it was dealt with, enjoy the humour of it and still show professionalism
Thanks for the feedback guys, I decided to just ride it out. I came to the conclusion that I had performed well and by drawing attention back to this issue, I was risking them focusing on the negative aspect.
As for Andy's swimming pool analogy, I'm more of a shallow end with arm bands kinda guy!
As for Andy's swimming pool analogy, I'm more of a shallow end with arm bands kinda guy!
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