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This happened with several companies:

  • I had applied for a position
  • interviews went well
  • Feedback was positive
  • Didn't get job

After reaching out once to the manager for feedback, he asked me to keep in touch as I improve myself.

I want to reach out again, but need some help with formatting/content to avoid sounding awkward. Are there any good examples of emails for keeping in touch and moving ahead?

Tom A
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    Does this answer your question? How do I properly follow-up with a hiring manager, to check on the status of a position? – gnat Feb 05 '21 at 20:21
  • What is your goal? Are you trying to get hired for the exact same position that you were just denied? – sf02 Feb 05 '21 at 20:40
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    Hi Tom - I appreciated that you went to [meta] to ask for some advice before asking your question, but you probably should have waited for a few more people to weigh in on whether it would be well-received or not. I thought your description in your meta post was a bit better than the suggested rewrite. – ColleenV Feb 05 '21 at 21:30
  • The purpose of this is to keep in touch, not necessarily to re-apply for the same job. If the manager still has the position open, or has another position open and wants to reconsider me, great, If the manager knows of any other positions that are open, I'd love to hear about them. – Tom A Feb 06 '21 at 00:39
  • The sad reality is that when you give more honest feedback to failed candidates you wind up getting grief 8/9 times out of 10. So instead you smile, say that they were super close to getting the job and urge them to stay in touch but you never ever mean it. – Aida Paul Feb 06 '21 at 07:27
  • How much time has passed between the rejection and now? Most of the time, the "keep in touch" is there as a "apply again once you worked on the things we talked about on the feedback" and not really as a "keep in touch". – espindolaa Feb 09 '21 at 18:30
  • Interview, rejection at the beginning of December. follow up at the beginning of January (with response to keep in contact), now ready to re-contact again a month later. – Tom A Feb 10 '21 at 19:05

2 Answers2

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This is just a polite platitude because it's vague and open ended.

If they really wanted you to keep in contact they would have been more specific.

Kilisi
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If the vibe was positive and you really liked the company or the people you met, then you could just send a short email saying thank you for the time and the opportunity, and maybe hoping for a future collaboration together. Then leave it at that.

As Kilisi mentioned in his answer this might be just a polite platitude. People sometimes don't like being rejected for a job, so companies give the bad news with a smile and ending on a positive note.

Some HR departments hold a database of candidates they interviewed, with detailed evaluations, and might follow up after some time if they think you are worth it. For example, if you apply for a job and you are a smart junior, then maybe in 3 years when they have another job, they might call you up for another interview and see how you progressed since they last interviewed you. That gives them a good indication of how you might evolve in the next 3 years. If they really liked you and they have other positions opened, or others will open up in the future and they think you might be a match for that, they will contact you. If this was not the case, then they won't.

But not all companies bother though with keeping such details about previous candidates.

Either way, in this sort of situations, the Hollywood principle usually applies: don't call us, we'll call you.

Bogdan
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