An often forgotten part of closing the search is communicating with other organizations you’re in process with before you accept an offer. I think many of us get so excited about an offer that we focus on that one, and forget there may be other organizations we’ve interviewed with who remain interested.
Here’s what communicating with those organizations can do.
- Shows you’re a good communicator and value the interactions you’ve had with the organization.
- Demonstrates you are thoughtful of others’ time and closing the communication loop.
- Gives the organization an opportunity to make you an offer. If the organization really wants you to work with them, they may be able to move their timeline up and give you an answer sooner than expected.
- Sets you up to maintain communication with them for future opportunities.
- Increases the probability you know all possible options and when decisions have to be made. Some past students have accepted an internship offer to only find out a few days later that another company they were really interested in planned to make them an offer as well.
Here are a few email outreach samples you can customize for your own situation and needs.
Sample 1
[Insert your own greeting] Thank you again for the opportunity to interview with [name of organization]. The connection between [something about your background skill set, motivation and the organization/role/work] was [insert your thoughts about it]. I’m emailing today to let you know I received an offer from another organization. I’m still very interested in your organization and wanted to inquire about your timeline for hiring of the position. Thank you for your time!
Sample 2
[Insert your own greeting] I wanted to follow-up about the role we discussed [enter time frame]. I found it to be [insert something about the connection you had with the organization/role/work]. I continue to be very interested, but have also received an offer from another organization. Do I still qualify as a strong candidate at this point in time, and do you know when you may be able to make a decision on hiring for the role?
Sample 3
[If you’ve already accepted a role and need to turn down another internship offer, or offer to interview.]
Thank you for the [offer to interview, internship offer] with [name of organization]. I was thrilled to receive it and for the potential opportunity to [insert something about the organization/role/work that you connect with well]. I recently accepted an internship offer and with this email am removing myself from the candidates for this role. That said, I do want to keep in touch as I’d love to be considered for full-time offers as I get closer to my graduation in [insert graduation].
