How to answer are you still interested in this position

Communicating with potential employers can be nerve-wracking. Every word can help persuade or discourage a potential future employer regarding your desirability as an employee. When a potential employer reaches out for any reason, seize the opportunity as a chance to affirm your interest in the job. When replying, whether through email or traditional mail, show you are interested in the job through both explicit and implicit statements.

Every Email Counts

Prospective employers begin evaluating you from the first time they receive an email from you. You can’t afford to send a lackluster email or an email that doesn’t sparkle with interest in working for a particular company. Don’t allow your on-point, “I’m interested,” message to become convoluted or misinterpreted through long sentences or complicated syntax. If you're wondering how to reply to show you are interested in the job, keep things short and simple. Every statement should either confirm your interest in working for the company or express gratitude for being considered for the position. Poor grammar, typos and misspellings indicate a lack of interest, since you didn’t bother to proofread.

Be Specific

In the online era of copy-and-paste replies, it’s especially important to mention a company, position and person by name. If your reply contains generic statements such as, “I’m interested in this position,” employers might assume you send the same template reply to everyone. Opt for a punchier statement when deciding how to respond to a job opportunity email.

Example:

“Working as a product developer for Amazing Inventions has been my dream job since high school.”

Really, Really Interested

In a tight job market, it’s not enough to demonstrate basic professional interest in an open position. Numerous candidates with equivalent qualifications and experiences might be tapped for the first round of interviews, so you’ll need to show your interest outstrips the interest of other candidates. In your reply, draw direct connections between your professional or academic passions and the available position, stating why these connections are important to you.

Example:

"As you'll see from my undergraduate degree in english and my master's degree in journalism, I am more than qualified for the role of managing editor of the literary journal."

Keep It Relevant

Although your reply should reiterate passion for working with the company, make sure your rationale is professional and relevant. For example, in your reply, don’t joke that you want to accept a job in San Diego, Calif., because you love sunshine and fish tacos. Your stated interest in the job should be strictly professional, even if you also have personal reasons for interest in the position.

Example:

"I've volunteered and worked with animals since high school. It's something I'm very passionate about, and this job is exactly what I'm looking for to continue that work."

Key Words, Bullets

When determining how to reply to show you are interested in the job, don’t be afraid to reiterate key traits detailed in the job description. Hammering home your eligibility indicates interest because it shows you have fully researched and understand their needs as an employer. Use bullet points with succinct examples of your accomplishments and achievements to personalize the key traits. This is particularly true when replying to online postings, since millions of applicants might have reviewed and responded.

Example:

"I have years of experience in many of the areas listed in the job posting, including:

• Five years managing a sales team
• A strong working knowledge of consumer management systems
• Online marketing and search engine optimization training"
  

Text Messages

In general, how to respond to a recruiter email if interested should not include using text messages for important communication, such as arranging a future job interview with a prospective employer. Replying via text message might be interpreted as too casual, even if it’s professionally worded. If you receive an invitation to set up an interview via voicemail, picking up the phone and arranging the details in a positive, professional conversation can show interest.

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. Employer asked if I’m still interested before making a hiring decision

I’m in the running for a gig for which three people interviewed. Because a friend of mine works at the organization, I was able to find out that they already offered the gig to someone else, who turned it down. I received an email from the hiring manager tonight that basically said, “We’re down to two candidates, are you still interested in the position?” I find it hard to respond to a question like that — I feel like the hiring manager should decide if they want me, and if so they should offer me the position, and at that point they should give me the chance to accept it or turn it down (once I have all the info, like the salary!). I understand that they’re probably just trying to save themselves time — they don’t want to go through the process of deliberating between the two candidates if it turns out that one of them is no longer available. But I don’t like being put in this position — because I feel like they’re asking me to commit to accepting the position if it’s offered to me, which makes it harder later on to negotiate, or to ask for more information, or for time to think.

I feel like what’s in my best interest is to write them back and simply say “I’m still interested,” and then see if they offer me the position, and then at that point I can bring up my doubts and questions. However, I’m a little afraid that if I do that, and then end up turning down the position, they’ll feel like “Well, why didn’t you bring all of this up when we asked you if you were still interested?” But if I bring up my doubts now, I’m afraid they’ll take that as “OK, I guess you’re not still interested,” and drop me as a candidate, instead of deciding whether they really think I’m the best fit for the position. What do you think — is this a common dynamic? How would you recommend handling it?

You’re over-thinking it. They’re not asking, “Would you accept the job if offered?” They’re asking if you’re still interested, because for all they know, you’ve accepted another job or stopped looking or decided it’s not for you. Saying “I’m still interested in the role” doesn’t mean “I have no questions or concerns” or “I’d accept on the spot” or “Offer me anything and I’ll take it.” It just means that you’re still interested in talking.

2. My assistant asked for her job description — should I be worried?

My assistant emailed HR asking for a copy of her job description. She has been with our organization almost two years. She is not the most communicative person, and now I am stressing out about what this means.

I don’t want to attack her with “I heard from HR that you wanted your job description” because of course she has every right to have a copy of the job description and I wouldn’t want to make her feel bad for asking. Normally HR wouldn’t share this request with me but our HR staffer is brand new and wanted me to confirm they were sending the correct job description (title was slightly different).

“Jane checked with me to make sure she was sending you the right job description when you asked for it the other day. Anything I can help with?”

But that’s really about all you should say. There are all kinds of reasons she could want her job description — a random realization she didn’t have it and should, updating her resume (which could mean she’s looking, but could also mean she’s someone who likes to keep her resume updated even when she’s not looking), some question about how her role is framed, who knows.

3. Reaching out to former internship manager when I feel guilty about not meeting all her goals

Over the past year, I’ve interned with three departments at X organization. I routinely took work home because I wanted to produce quality work and make a good impression on everyone, especially “Mary,” who has supervised and mentored me. I split my time between Mary’s department and one other both semesters. “Toni,” who’s in a third department, supervised me during the second semester when Mary took a leave of absence. Mary’s work was redistributed and since I was the only person working under her, I performed a large part of her role for a major project. Before going on leave, she had told me that hiring me temporarily after the semester was a possibility.

In late March/early April, more than halfway through the semester, Mary (while still on leave) got in touch with Toni and me to lay out concrete goals and deliverables. Because I love X, my coworkers, and the work itself, it was easy to devote lots of time and effort there. Although not the only reason, this caused me to fall behind with my graduate coursework and now I am taking an additional semester. It then hit me that my internship with X would end with the semester in mid-May. I expressed my concerns to Mary and Toni regarding the magnitude of the project for this part-time internship split over departments, especially now with a foreseeable end-date. While I accomplished a lot, I did not reach several of Mary’s goals and for that I feel worried. On my last day, Toni said that she appreciated my work and recognized the limitations of the internship, and that Mary would figure things out.

Mary just returned and the deadlines for the major project are quickly approaching. I haven’t spoken with her recently and feel a mixture of guilt, sadness, and relief. I want to check in not only because I want to get her feedback and assurance for my current job hunt, but also because I really value our relationship. I would greatly appreciate your advice on how to structure such a conversation.

Well, first, no one expects an intern to fully cover for a regular employee who’s out on leave or to meet all of the goals that person normally would have had. That’s why it’s an internship and not a full-time staff position. I’m sure they were absolutely prepared for things not to be fully covered while Mary was gone, and if they weren’t, there’s some delusional and dysfunctional thinking going on there. I suspect you’ve put way more pressure on yourself than what the organization actually expected of you (to the point that you ended up needing to do an additional semester of school — that’s not good!).

You can of course reach out to Mary now in order to maintain the relationship like you would with any other former manager or coworker — but it should not be about apologizing for not meeting all her goals while she was out and you were an intern. It should be about telling her how much you appreciated the opportunity, that you hope her leave went well, how’s the baby, would love to stay in touch and have coffee sometime, etc.

(Also, before anyone screams about intern abuse: This could be a paid internship, and the organization’s expectations could be totally reasonable. My sense is that the letter-writer has put a lot of pressure on herself internally, but that it wasn’t necessarily in response to pressure from the organization itself, especially in light of some of the details in the second paragraph.)

4. Employer I’m interviewing with has an indiscreet admin

My former boss, with whom I had a great working relationship, recently left our organization to work for another company in a related, but non-competitive field. He had asked me when he left to keep my eyes open for a position they would be creating to support him and his new boss. I was recently contacted by one of their recruiters alerting me to the position and asking me to submit my application. Today I was contacted by another recruiter to set up a phone interview. (YAY!)

At work today, my colleague (Colleague A) and I were discussing her current state of job dissatisfaction and she mentioned that another colleague of ours (Colleague B) told her that she applied and was scheduled for an interview for the same position to which I applied. I did not disclose to A that I am also in the process of interviewing for this position, as I do not want to compromise my current employment. During our conversation, A also mentioned that B has been getting information from her friend, who is an admin with the other organization and is currently supporting these executives. My dilemma is that all three of these individuals have now shown a lack of discretion and I really do not want my current colleagues (A & B) to know that I am interviewing for this position. My fear is that the admin will see my name on the calendar and tell B that I am interviewing, and that she will in-turn tell A and (who knows who else?). Is there a way to discuss this situation and my desire to keep my involvement confidential with the recruiter that does not sound paranoid or tattle-y?

Why not reach out to your former boss, who’s now working there and who encouraged you to apply? He knows you and so it’ll be easier to say something about this to him without having to get precisely perfect framing. You can just say, “Hey, I don’t know if there’s anything to this, but I wanted to pass it along to you in case it’s something you’d want to know about, and also because I want to make sure that the fact that I’m interviewing doesn’t end up leaking to anyone here.”

5. Company requires us to take vacation in one-week increments

Are companies allowed to force you to take your vacation days in weekly increments instead of taking a day here and a day there? If so, is there any way around it instead of looking for a new job?

Yes, companies can indeed require it. You and other employees could certainly try pushing back, by pointing out that this makes it impossible to take off a day for a local family event, or a long weekend at the beach, or so forth. Generally presenting a reasoned case against something like this is the best first step before deciding to find a new job.

(That said, in some jobs it’s wise to require people to take at least one solid week off a year — it’s a best practice in fields that deal with money, because it’s a way to spot fraudulent activity by whoever does their work in their absence, because many fraud schemes require the person to be constantly present to keep it going or they rely on no one else looking at their records).

How do you respond that you are still interested in this position?

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