After the job interview

Vital Interview Feedback – Allows you to become Interview savvy

Job seekers often don’t even think about evaluating their job interview performance! And if you don’t do this crucial part of the process you will find yourself attending interviews and more interviews without capturing that job. Most importantly you will fail without ever knowing why.

For that reason, and for your own sanity, be kind to yourself and get the competitive edge by taking an honest look at your interview performance before the interview follow up takes place. Think about where you went wrong or on areas where you feel you could have been better prepared for answers and etc. This will help you to picture how really present yourself at interview and how you perform, enabling you to fine tune your interview skills and more helping you to become more confident and much more interview savvy.

How can you analyze your Interview Performance?

  • Were you mentally prepared for the interview?
  • Were you well presented for the interview?
  • Were you on time for the interview?
  • Did you prepare interview Q’s & A’s and do research on the Job as well as the Company?
  • Did you objectively analyze how the interview went from your perspective?
  • How did you cope with questions at the interview, did you answer questions honestly, confidently and fluidly?
  • Did you display positive body language;
  • Did you make eye contact with your interviewer;
  • There is always an opportunity to ask questions yourself during the interview, so did you show enthusiasm by asking a handful of relevant questions?
  • Did you obtain the business card of the interviewer?
  • Make sure you understand their selection process and time frames;
  • Honestly and objectively, after that performance would you employ you? If not you need to be positive and better prepare for next time. Nobody plans to fail, only those who fail to plan!

Scared to follow up? Or just scared of rejection?

  • It is good practice to send a courteous email by way of follow up and a thank you on the same day you were interviewed. You can reiterate your enthusiasm for the position interviewed for as well as briefly outline your USP’s. Obtaining the interviewer’s business card at the time of interview will ensure that you can follow up quickly and get their contact details correct. Don’t leave it longer than a day to do this as you will lose the impact;
  • Avoid the cardinal sin of spelling errors, you would be surprised how many jobseekers let themselves down with typos which look silly and unprofessional – remember check and double check!
  • You would be surprised how many people are scared to follow up because they simply scared of rejection. If you have clearly understood their recruitment process, feel confident about your interview performance and also understand the recruiters time frames then there is no problem with following up with them about progress;
  • Do bear in mind though that sometimes the process does not go as quickly as you might like it too and be careful not to badger your recruiter and bombard them with a barrage of mails and calls. Remember to be patient and professional;
  • Make sure that you use relevant referees at all times, and bear in mind that your interviewer could already be contacting them for references so remember to always update your referee that there is potential for them to be contacted. This allows for them to be prepared and to be able to respond favorably and quickly.

What you need to do when searching for a job?

  • Keep going;
  • Stay motivated;
  • Sell yourself well;
  • Be patient;
  • It doesn’t always happen first time;
  • Be prepared;
  • Do your homework;
  • Don’t put all your eggs in one basket – keep your options open!
  • Go for it.