Say thank you and confirm next steps
Before you’ve even left the room, make sure you leave a positive impression by thanking the interviewer for their time. You should also take this opportunity to confirm the next steps in the process – who will contact who, and when?
Boost your social media
If you haven’t already, as soon as you get home go through all your social media accounts to ensure they look professional. Delete any derogatory comments about previous employers and histories that show you spend most of your life posting updates when you should be working, as well as anything else which shows you in a less-than-positive light.
Once you’re happy there’s nothing online which could raise a red flag to an employer, feel free to connect with your interviewer on LinkedIn. As well as showing you to be genuinely interested in the role, doing this will also enable the recruiter to access your online CV. This will not only provide them with the opportunity to find out more about you, it will also mean you’re already in their contact list if other opportunities arise in the future.
Follow up with an email
Feel free to send a short, professionally-worded email reiterating your interest in the position and possibly even picking up a point from the interview to develop further. You could also use this opportunity to ask for feedback on your performance, so that if you don’t get the job you have some constructive ideas to improve your chances next time. Not every candidate will send this email. So if the interviewer is deciding between two applicants, this could just swing it for you.
Analyse your performance
Even if you choose not to ask the interviewer for feedback, it may help your preparations for future interviews if you take a few moments to make your own notes on how it went. Think about questions you found difficult to answer, so you can think of an appropriate response for next time, and remember where you came across well so you can replicate it. Also jot down the key topics that you spoke about and identify the strongest examples you can to prove your skill and experience in each area.
Prepare for a second interview
If you think your performance was strong enough to deserve a second interview, you might want to spend some time carrying out more in-depth research into the company. Also think about examples to prove your additional competencies and skills, and what other topics may crop up.
Keep on pursuing other opportunities
Even though you may think you smashed the interview, don’t rest on your laurels. Until you have a firm job offer in your hands, carry on the job search.
It can take days, or even weeks, for a company to make a recruitment decision, so rather than wasting valuable time waiting to hear whether you were successful or not, continue as if nothing had happened.
If they do choose you for the role, you may even find yourself in the enviable position of having more than one offer on the table!
Speak to referees
If you think a job offer is in the pipeline, do your referees the courtesy of telling them that they may be contacted in the near future to provide a reference. If you provide them with the details of the job, or at least the type of job, that you have applied for, they will be able to tailor their response accordingly to prove once and for all to the recruiter that you really are the best fit.
Prepare to negotiate
Congratulations! You got the job! Make sure you’re in a good position to negotiate the offer by deciding in advance what you would consider acceptable. Remember to think about the whole package – the salary is obviously an important concern, but pay attention to the other benefits that you may gain or lose by taking up a new job. Pension, company car, gym membership and leave entitlement are just some of the things you need to weigh up before you accept or decline.
So that’s it! Now you’ve truly completed the interview process and you can treat yourself to that nice cold glass of wine – you deserve it!
About the author: Jen David has been a CV Consultant since 2010 and currently works for CV Knowhow, the UK’s leading career and CV writing consultancy.
She has written CVs for thousands of job seekers from all industries and at all stages in their career, from students to senior executives. Jen aims to add value to CVs, enabling her customers to increase their chances of securing an interview and progress in their chosen career.
