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I am a tentative college grad (BA) for this December (yay!). I have worked on-campus in the networking department, and have had 2 summer internships, and the most recent one has led to continued employment during this fall.

I was recommended to an out-of-state company by a co-worker this summer. I sent over my cover letter, resume, ect. to the HR manager as directed. We sent a few emails back in July and last I had heard, she told me that my resume and application was sent to the hiring manager but would be pending til graduation.

Should I reach out to her and let her know I am still very interested in the position and that my skillset has continued to grow?

e.g. I am working on a publication for my college about a project I did with a raspberry pi, and I continue to learn more from my internship (about SQL and Linux... technology relevant to the position being applied to).

Or should I wait until graduation is closer before contacting her again?

I don't want to pester anyone... but at the same time I want them to know I am excited about the position and that I am actively working to improve my skill set.

So is there a way for me to maintain contact that could be advantageous in the future? If so how? When is the right time to contact them to get my resume into active consideration for open positions?

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    Remember not to accept an answer too quickly! You might want to wait 24 to 48 hours before accepting to give other people a chance to give you a better answer. A question with an accepted answer isn't as likely to receive further attention as one without an accepted answer. – Lilienthal♦ Sep 21 '15 at 14:58
  • @Lilienthal Sorry, a little new here. I have retracted my acceptance, and hope others will contribute to perhaps a common dilemma among those entering the workplace from college this winter. – Christopher Sep 21 '15 at 15:00
  • Don't worry about it Christopher, welcome to the site! – Lilienthal♦ Sep 21 '15 at 15:08
  • Your question is on topic but fell short of the best it could be. I added to it to help explain how to properly followup and why. This will provide you and future users higher quality, and more useful answers. Hope this helps – IDrinkandIKnowThings Sep 21 '15 at 15:12
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If you had had a direct and reasonably close relationship with the hiring manager and you had done the internship with that hiring manager, I would say that giving some a status update / thank you note about how you are building on what you learned from the previous internship would be appropriate.

However, this is not the case. Given that you only have contact with the HR manager, I would recommend waiting until you have more certainty about your graduation date to reach out to them again. At that time, I would suggest something like:

Dear HR Manager,

I'm writing to you as a follow up to our previous conversation (attached) about a potential position with your company. At the time of our last exchange, you said my application would be on hold until graduation. I'm writing to let you know that I will be gradauating in December, and I would like to know when and what the next step in the process should be.

Regards, Christopher

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  • Thank you. I chose this as an acceptable answer not only because you answered the question, but also gave an explanation of when it would be appropriate to send a check-up email. – Christopher Sep 21 '15 at 14:58
  • @Christopher Hello, Im pretty new here as well, but what I do know is that you should check off this answer if you have accepted it. The "checkmark" is right beside the answer on the left hand side. :) – LOSTinNEWYORK Sep 21 '15 at 18:18
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Should I reach out to her and let her know I am still very interested in the position and that my skillset has continued to grow?

Or should I wait until graduation is closer before contacting her again?

It's too soon.

Wait until late November, then connect with the HR manager. At that time, let her know of your continued interested, that you are still excited about the possibility of joining them, your anticipated date of graduation, and the enhancements to your skills that have occurred since you last spoke.

And remember to ask them what will be the next step in the process, so you'll know when to contact them yet again.

Meanwhile, continue to seek out other jobs. This one isn't guaranteed.

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It is assumed your skill-set will continue to grow. They really don't care about what you did when, only the final result.

Update them when you're close enough to graduation that you will be available soon and they can see an almost-finished product. Anything before then is likely to be circular-filed.

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  • "Circular file" -- office trash can. – keshlam Sep 21 '15 at 15:02
  • Good to know, I've clarified your answer with a link. Remember that this site has an international audience so be careful with idioms and euphemisms that non-native speakers might not be familiar with. – Lilienthal♦ Sep 21 '15 at 15:07

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