Dear Ed,
Last month I had a great interview with a company I’d love to
work for. The interview went so well that I was called the next day about another position. Unfortunately, I was called back and that the company was now in a hiring freeze. I told the interviewer I would check with her in a few weeks to see if and when the freeze would be lifted. Should I get in touch, or wait until I see job postings? What should I say in my e-mail?
Thank you,
Janet
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Dear Janet,
Following up with an editor, especially one you seemed to have hit it off with, is never a bad idea, as long as you don’t reach the point of stalking her until you get a response.
When you write to her, give her a little refresher on who you are and what happened (I interviewed for tk position, you recommended me for tk position, but then the interview was called off because your company went into a hiring freeze).
Ask her how she is. Bring up a topic (unrelated to your job search) that you may have discussed.
Then tell her what you want: Find out if anything has opened up since you last spoke. You could ask her if she has any idea when the freeze will be lifted, but editors usually aren’t in the know about that, so it’d probably be a waste to check.
Say you hope it’s okay with her if you keep in touch. If you’d like to meet up for coffee or lunch, now would be a good time to ask her about that. Even if her company remains in a freeze for a while, she may have friends at other companies with job openings, and she’ll be more likely to share what she knows if you show an interest in her instead of just the jobs at her company.
If you don’t hear from her in a few weeks, you can try giving her a call, but don’t leave messages, and don’t call more than once a day.
Love,
Ed
