Anything For You All: INSTANT MBA: A recruiter who's held 5,000 job interviews explains the strategy that always catches his eye

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January 05, 2018

PwC US talent acquisition lead Rod Adams has interviewed a lot of people.

Over the course of his career with the "Big Four" accounting firm, Adams has interviewed about 5,000 candidates.

He says that most interviewees follow up after the interview. They call, mail handwritten notes, and send emails.

But Adams doesn't care about the medium of the note.

He's looking for one thing — listening skills.

"When the follow-up is personal, that's when it stands out," Adams tells Business Insider. "They picked up on something in the conversation that they referred back to in the follow-up."

So, how can you personalize your post-interview follow-up? It's as simple as sending a book recommendation or an article related to a topic that you discussed with the interviewer. You should be following up the day of the interview anyway, so the conversation should still be fresh in your mind.

In addition to a personalized follow-up being more thoughtful then a standard "thank you," it demonstrates that you can listen and that you were engaged throughout the interview.

"That personal touch to the follow-up is something I see multiple candidates do that has been impactful," Adams says.