After the Interview

You sent out dozens of resumes and finally landed that interview. You studied, prepared, tested your technical set-up and talked with a panel of interviewers. Now what?

What can you do, after the interview? The wait time can feel long and difficult. You can put it to good use though.

Learn from the experience

What went well? What story or answer that you told felt most authentic and appropriate? Don’t worry if it was the answer they wanted to hear. Was it true? Did it hit the high points? Was it concise? Write the story down. Document it.

What should be improved? Were you nervous? Did your tech fail you? When did you go off on tangents? What was missing? Write it down. Then write down what you will do next time to be even better. Throw away the first piece of paper. It’s history and you do not need to keep it.

Follow-up

Write a thank-you email or LinkedIn message to each of your interviewers. These are pretty standard notes. Reiterate your desire to join their organization, thank them for their consideration and mention what skills you have that are likely to help you be particularly successful in the role that you interviewed for.

Write a thank you note to your recruiter. Ensure that they have your proper contact information for follow up and ask about the timeline that you can expect.

Keep looking. Even if you get this offer, you may not choose to accept it, so keep looking, Keep interviewing. Even if you accept the offer, making more connections in your industry is important. Let new prospective employers know that you’ve interviewed already with someone else. That helps to elevate your brand, and they have a better understanding of your timeline.

Be patient

These things always take longer than anyone wants them to.

Don’t judge a company by its intake process.

Follow-up in accordance with the timeline that the recruiter provided. Remind them when you interviewed, the role that you interviewed for and what your timeline is (e.g., you are talking with XYZ Corp as well).

After the decision

If you don’t get the job, that’s okay. You only need one. Keep looking.

If you get an offer, take some time to consider it. Based on your research, you may or may not want to negotiate. Most times it doesn’t hurt to ask for a bit more. If possible, get the “more” in your base, as future raises will be a percentage of base, not sign-on bonus. 

What else?

What else do you do in that waiting period?