3 Important steps after your Job interview

So your job interview is over. All the prep work and research you’ve done has played its part and you’re finished with the tough part.

But what can you do from this point onward to increases the chances of a successful job search, all the way to accepting a job offer? Here are 3 important tasks that everyone should consider after a job interview:

1. Understand the next steps in the process.

Thank the interviewer for their time, and ask them how they expect the process to go from here. Maybe you’re the last person to interview and they expect to have feedback by tomorrow. Maybe they’re interviewing a second candidate in a week, so the soonest you’d hear feedback is 6+ business days. Wouldn’t you want to know? Employers won’t always give you these specifics, but simply asking how the process will look from this point onward often provides you with a lot of insight in terms of what to expect.

It also shows interest on your end! It’s always better to seem interested after a job interview even if you’re not sure it’s the right fit. If they make an offer and you don’t want the job, you can respectfully decline and say that you didn’t feel it was the best fit. However, if you don’t seem excited after an interview, it’s hard to recover if you do decide that the job is attractive after you digest all of the information gained during the interview.

Asking about future steps is just one way of seeming engaged and interested after your interview, which can only benefit you.

2. Send a ‘thank you’ email

This is another way of expressing interest after an interview, but it is also simply considered polite and professional to thank the interviewers for their time spent with you. Skipping this step can cost you the job offer.

If you spoke with multiple people, send a slightly customized email to each. It’s not very time consuming, but it’s nice to have slight differences in the messages in case they compare the emails. Here are two examples of notes you could send. Notice the slight customization:

Email 1:

Dear Mary,
Thank you for spending time interviewing me on Monday. I really enjoyed learning about the Scientist position and how it would fit into the larger organization. The information you shared about the career progression is very exciting. It seems like the company really encourages career growth and long term advancement. I’d be excited to learn more.

Email 2:

Dear Ross,
Thanks for taking the time to meet with me for my interview on Monday. The information you shared about the responsibilities and expectations in the Scientist role sound very much in line with my recent work and I’d be excited for a chance to contribute to the work your team is doing. Looking forward to feedback!

3. Apply for more jobs

One of the biggest mistakes job seekers make is relaxing and reducing their effort once they’ve secured one or two job interviews. If you just completed a job interview, resist the urge to stop all other efforts, no matter how much you want that particular job offer. Going on more interviews will only improve your perspective and decision-making ability when it comes time to evaluate job offers. Having multiple offers also provides you with leverage to negotiate with.

And most importantly, if you stop all other efforts and they are not offered the job you were waiting for, you’re back to square one. This is a huge mistake that job seekers make quite often. Until you’ve accepted an offer, continue your job search with full effort. You never know what could happen.