Congratulations on surviving through your interview. Now begins the waiting (nail-biting) phase.
However, as you are traveling home while taking in some fresh air, because the interview was a little tense or uneasy, you might say to yourself “I think my interview went well, but what if it didn’t.”
After you dwell on your interview performance, try not to be too hard on yourself if you feel you did not do as well as you would have like to. I inform my Missouri and Illinois friends and employment-seeking clients that each employment interview is a rehearsal and preparation for the next interview and it is truly important to understand how to improve and educate yourself for the upcoming interview.
It can be difficult to remember every answer you provided during your interview or how well you responded to those tough questions. As you begin to wonder about your performance, you might ask yourself
Was I relaxed?
Did I speak too much?
What was the position of my hands?
How was my tone, did I sound nervous?
Did I display enthusiasm about the position?
Was there a real connection with the interviewer?
Retracing your interviewing steps can be a nuisance, especially if you are in doubt of your performance. Try to remember that the hiring decision is out of your control, no matter how you presented yourself. Many organizations already know what type of person they want to hire and although you have the skills and experiences the company is looking for, their new employee expectations could be for someone who is culturally different from you.
Sadly, many applicants who conclude an interview will return home, sit impatiently by the phone, and eagerly wait for the employer to call and say “Congratulations on your successful interview, you’re hired.” Regrettably, this is not how the post interview usually turns out. As a hiring manager who performed hundreds of employment interviews, I never approached an applicant in that manner. There are several factors to becoming a hired employee such as, an exceptional resume, excellent qualifications, ideal skillset, acceptable background, and a successful interview. The typical hiring practice commonly begins with the resume and concludes with the interview, as both of these factors must be effective, attention grabbing, and distinguishable above the other applicants who are contending for the same employment position.
If the hiring decision of the employer ends with a rejection letter or an employment denial response to you, know that this does not generally reflect on you as a person or the outcome of your interview. My post interview advice I provide to my friends and clients is that after the interview, breath a deep sigh of relief, applaud yourself on performing the best that you could, send a “Thank You” letter to the interviewer, and prepare for the next interview.
Odie Smith is author of Mr. and Mrs. Smith's Employment Survival Guide.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith’s books are available at:
Amazon, AuthorHouse Publishing, and Barnes and Noble
www.mynubeginnings.com odie@mynubeginnings.com
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