I’ve personally had two job offers AFTER an interview resulted in a N.O. I also know others who’ve experienced the same thing. Receiving a preliminary no, doesn’t always disqualify you from getting the job as final candidates fall through all the time. Even if a NO turns out to be just that, you can still leverage the experience to move forward in your career. Here are 6 things to do after you didn’t get the job.
After you DIDN’T get the interview be sure to…
- Acknowledge your feelings: Anxiously waiting on an answer just to get a NO can be a mental and emotional blow. Take a moment to admit you may feel inadequate, frustrated, disappointed or hopeless. Positive self-talk, constructive questions and re-framing are great ways to move forward
- Positive Self–Talk: There’s a better opportunity on the way. This is making me stronger. I’ve made it through harder times then this.
- Constructive Questions: What’s good about this? What will I do differently next time? Do I need help with this?
- Re-framing: NO just means Next Opportunity. That job probably wasn’t a good fit anyway. That was great practice for the job I really want!
- Cover your ass with the Nay Sayers: Send a quick thank you email to the interviewer(s). Add something personal about the interviewer to make it more authentic. Remember, the candidate they chose may fall through and you want them to have a reason to call you if that happens.
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- Ask for feedback on your interview: Reach out to the people who managed your interview and ask for feedback. What area(s) can you improve to make yourself more competitive?Although, I’ve never heard of anybody actually getting feedback this way it still sets you up for a call back if the initial hire doesn’t work out.
- Replay your own interview: What could you have done better? Were you confident without being arrogant? Did you have samples of your work? Ask questions about the role, responsibilities, team and company culture?Answer questions concisely and from a value-driven perspective? Compile everything into a ‘what I’ll do differently in my next interview sheet,’ and keep improving.
- Widen your interview titles: Are you only interviewing for one job title? Consider identifying and applying for 1-3 interrelated career titles. Namely, my corporate clients hire me as a Technical Writer, Content Strategist/Writer or Instructional Designer/Trainer.The skill sets for all three roles are extremely similar but the client probably doesn’t know that so I just change my career title when it’s professional advantageous.
- Get more interviews: To go on more interviews out my articles on optimizing your Resume, optimizing your Linkedin profile and uploading your Resume to job boards.
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