Alright y’all, it’s party time because you’ve done it! You’ve prepped your butt off to ace your interview, you’ve packed appropriately, and you’ve blown your interviewer out of the water. You’ve passed with flying colors and now it’s time to complete that first place finish strong. It’s time for the final step: your post-interview tips for success.
Out of all of the stages in an interview, this is where most people tend to fall short. Sure, everyone knows that you need to send an email to your interviewer to thank them, but are you really doing all you can to maximize your chances of getting to those “next steps” you asked your interviewer about? Are you setting yourself up for success in the long term when it comes to decision making?
But don’t fret! I’ve laid out all of the post-interview tips that you need to know and follow to ensure you’re maximizing your productivity without sacrificing your personal time. And guess what? This includes a totally free Post-Interview Thank You Email Template so that you don’t have to waste hours staring at your computer and wondering if you should even press send. Make sure to grab yours!
6 Post-Interview Tips to Maximize Your “Next Steps” Success
1. Write down as much as you can remember.
Get to a quiet spot (whether that be your car, a coffee shop, the subway, the bus, etc.) and immediately write down as much as you can remember from your interview. Of all of your post-interview tips, this one is the most immediate and also the most important. It’s the basis for almost all of the post-interview tips that follow. So whatever you do? Don’t put this off. You want to make sure that you have the interview fresh in your mind so that there is as little chance as possible of you mixing up information.
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You can do this a couple of ways, whether that’s brain dumping as much as you can as quickly as you can (my personal method of choice), or prioritizing the information based on info about the company or about your interviewer.
This brain dumping does two things: it makes sure that you have as much new information that you learned about the company written down as possible so that it’s easy to come back to later, and it also helps you remember important information about your interviewer that you’re going to need later on when you email them!
Brain dumping right after an #interview is an effective way to record information quickly while it's still fresh in your mind so you can organize it later! #careeradvice Click To Tweet2. Within two days of the interview, thank your interviewer through email.
This step is the next one of the most important post-interview tips out of all of them. When you email your interviewer and thank them for taking the time to consider you for the position, you’re putting yourself at the forefront of their mind at that given moment as well as reaffirming your interest in working for their company. You’re also reminding them of who you are and why you’d be a great choice for the position they’re looking to fill!
This is also where you’ll include a comment on any personal conversation that you may have had with your interviewer, such as “I hope you do well at that surfing competition this weekend!” or “Enjoy your vacation to Italy that’s coming up!” This adds a personal touch to your email that will remind them of who you are and what you talked about if they don’t remember already.
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Many interviewers also love to receive handwritten thank you notes from their interviewees, and this can be a good way to really show how you interested you are in the position, or to more personally thank an interviewer who you felt you really meshed well with. It’s by no means required, but if you feel like this is more your style, go for it! The same rules apply to this as to the thank you email, but my one suggestion would be to still email a quick thank you to your interviewer and let them know to look out for a note in the mail from you. This way they know to check the front desk of their office and also so you don’t miss that two day window!
3. Record any important dates in your calendar and set reminders.
Were you given homework by your recruiter for next steps? Did your interviewer give you a date you would hear back from them by? Do you have to fill out an online form by a certain date before you can move on in the process? These are all things you should have included in your brain dump, but one of our next post-interview tips is to actually put them somewhere you’ll remember them.
Add them to your planner or calendar or phone reminders as soon as you possibly can. Then go a step further: schedule out when you’ll work on them, or if they’re not super involved, get them done now. The last thing you want to do is procrastinate a simple task that could make or break you during the interview process!
The post-interview process is not the time to procrastinate or forget to do things. Set reminders and schedule out required tasks so that you're not disqualified on a technicality! #career advice Click To Tweet4. Compile your brain dump into a master spreadsheet.
All of that information that you dumped into your padfolio isn’t going to do you any good if all it does is stay there. Once you’ve gotten your first few post-interview tips out of the way, it’s time to take the next steps to ensure you can make as informed of a decision as possible down the line!
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Look back at your brain dump and begin organizing the information into relevant categories that can be easily compared across companies. Did you learn anything about benefits at this stage? What about vacation or time off? What are the possibilities for your upward mobility? Expected travel time? Is there a relocation package included? These are all categories you should be including in your spreadsheet, even if you can’t fill them in at this stage.
Down the line, you’ll be grateful that you took the time to organize your information after each interview. This way, when you begin receiving offers, you can make an informed decision based on the position as a whole instead of just your offer letter!
5. Brainstorm the information you want to leave your next interview with.
Were there questions that you didn’t get answered during this interview? Is there more information that you would need to make a final decision down the line? Are you missing a key comparison point between this employers and others whom you’ve interviewed with? Now’s the time to make note of all of that.
This list can grow and evolve as you complete more interviews or speak more with your recruiter, so this by no means needs to be a final product! But the sooner you start brainstorming, the less you’ll have to do when your next interview comes around. After all, you’ve already completed most of the pre-interview prep research for this company, so one of my best post-interview tips for you is to build off of that.
Make your next round of pre-interview prep easier by brainstorming the questions you want answered now while they're still fresh in your mind! Click To Tweet6. Your final post-interview tip? Take some time to un-win(e)d!
Cheesy? Duh, but you all know that I’m a wine gal through and through. Once you’ve finished all of your post-interview tips, compiled all of your information, scheduled out your tasks, etc., give yourself some down time to relax!
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In this day and age we always feel like we have to go, go, go. If you’re not being productive then you’re wasting your time. Sound familiar? But this is how we burn out and how we get diminishing returns on our hard work. So while you schedule out your tasks and deadlines, make sure to schedule out some “me” time in there too!
I always made it a point to wind down with a choice beverage (most often Pinot Grigio, I’m a white wine type of gal) with some friends once we accomplished our main goals for the week. It was a great way to reset, recharge, and catch up after being so involved in our own lives! It became an almost monthly ritual to give ourselves this reality check and remind us to create balance in our day-to-day. The result? By the time the next round of interviews rolled around, we were ready to hop back on the productivity train!
What’s one of your favorite post-interview tips to wind down after an interview? Let me know in the comments below, and make sure to share this with a friend who is on the job hunt!
