You’re on the way home from a job interview. It went well. You’re encouraged.
➔ So during your ride home, what are you thinking about? Where to celebrate when you get the offer? How you’re going to spend that first paycheck? Do you wipe your mind clean and crank up your favorite tunes? It’s good to be confident but let’s stop; take a deep breath; and let’s not get ahead of ourselves. You don’t have the job yet. You haven’t even been offered the job yet.
No matter how encouraging the interview seemed to have gone, let’s keep it real. You still don’t have a job. You’re still in the market. There are any number of things that could go wrong to prevent you from landing that spot – none of which may be your fault; none of which may be avoidable.
What’s your next step?
Before you get too depressed, this is a good time to perform some self-evaluation. Everything about the interview is still fresh in your mind. This may be the best time for an audit.
If you think you did well in the interview, why? Were you adequately prepared? Did the interviewer ask something that you should prepare for your future interviews? Did you field all the important questions? Did you ask good questions? Did you make a point of getting across your major attributes? Were you on time? Were you polite? Did you dress appropriately for the company?
What didn’t you say that you wanted to say? Was there something you said that maybe you shouldn’t have?
Did you learn anything about the company that you could have/should have found out during your interview prep? If so, where could you find that information next time? Is that information something that you could realistically have known, or is it something sufficiently obscure that only an insider would know?
Did you learn something new about this position that may help you down the road? Did you learn something about this position that may be a clarion call for you to get some extra training or certification?
How do you plan to follow up with the interviewer? Did you set a date to follow up, or establish a timeline? Will you be phoning? Emailing? Are they expecting to hear from you? If so, what’s the timeframe?
So much to think about. So little time.