After The Interview Employment

Congratulations. The interview is over. Now you can relax, right? 

You can, but to really impress your potential employer, there are a few extra steps you should take. These steps will help you to stand out from the other applicants. 

They probably won’t save a disastrous interview, but in a neck and neck race, they can put you in the lead.

Enquire About the Next Step

The first step is one which you should take during the interview itself. 

At the end, when they ask you if you have any questions, one of the last you should ask is this:

What’s the next stage of the interview process? 

Asking this question tells your hiring manager that you are engaged with the process. More importantly it gives you an indication of where things are going. 

You might find out that there are other candidates they’re talking to, or you might discover that there is a second round of interviews. If there’s an academic side of the application process, you may even learn something about the next stage’s testing criteria — allowing you to revise ahead of time. 

Contemplate your interview performance

After you’ve finished your interview, as you’re walking to your car or to the train station, think about your performance — about how you responded to their questions and the questions you asked them in turn. Don’t feel bad, just acknowledge your performance. 

You may feel you answered a question particularly well, or you may feel that a story that you told didn’t land properly. It happens — don’t worry. It’s important to have this information on hand for the next step…

Write Down Anything You Want to Remember

With your interview performance fresh in your mind, make notes on your performance. Do it in your car before you leave, or on the train before you get home. It’s best to do this as soon as possible in order to remember everything.

Not only will these notes be useful later on during this process, but you can use them for future job interviews to improve your performance. 

Send a Thank You Email To The Hiring Manager

Once you’re home, write an email to your hiring manager and thank them for their time and consideration. Not only will your hiring manager appreciate the humility, but it will also give you an opportunity to smooth over rough responses which you gave during the interview. 

For example, you may thank them for their time and consideration, and then apologize for not remembering a better response to a question which they asked, even though you had prepared a good response previously. Then share it in a quick way — no longer than one or two sentences. Finally, sign the email with ‘Yours Faithfully’ and send it. 

Connect on Social Media 

Next, you should connect with your potential employers on social media. This should only be done at the company level at this stage — saving interpersonal connections until after you’ve been offered a position. Many organizations have a web presence, whether it be on Facebook, Linkedin or Twitter. 

While it’s unlikely that your potential hiring manager will be able to tell if you’ve followed them on social media, doing so will help you to keep informed about company developments, which will prove very useful if you’re asked to attend a second interview or even offered the position. 

Prepare Your Referees 

Finally, you should speak to your referees and share your notes with them. This will give them the opportunity to customise their references and smooth over any awkward responses which you gave during the interview process. 

Remember: you should always ask your referees before the interview. There’s nothing worse than your hiring manager calling someone for a reference, only for that person to have no idea what they’re talking about. If you don’t manage to get your referees permission before the interview, it’s important that you speak to them as soon as possible to smooth over any issues. 

Wait

Now that you’ve taken all the necessary steps, the only thing for you to do is to wait. If you’ve followed all these steps correctly, you should be well informed on the next stages of the process and be able to keep track of company news as it comes in. 

Congratulations, you worked hard, and you deserve some rest. 

Contact Us Today

Building Better Opportunities is an organisation based in Stafford and South Staffordshire. If you live in the Greater Staffordshire area and would like some help getting into work, contact us today. Our team will be able to answer any questions you may have.