Waiting for your interview results
Arvind Sharma
Waiting after the
interview and wondering whether you will get a phone call or a
rejection letter can be one of the most difficult aspects of
searching for a job. What you will do after the interview should
actually start while you are still ‘working’ the interview.
Prior to leaving make
sure that you have noted the name of the person or persons who
interviewed you. This will come in handy later for a number of
purposes. Also, do make sure that you shake hands once again with
your interviewer and thank them for taking the time to meet you.
Also, it is not out of line to ask when they expect to be making a
decision. This gives you a timeline to go by.
Send thank-you note
Always be sure to send
a thank-you letter. This practice not only demonstrates good social
etiquette but it also helps to keep you and your skills fresh in the
mind of the interviewer. On most occasions an interviewer already
has an idea by the time the interviews are completed whom, they will
be calling to offer the job; however, on many more occasions they
still remain unsure who will be called.
Sometimes, they want a
little time to ‘sleep’ on the decision or they may need to
consult supervisors or others within their organisation regarding
the hiring decision. If a decision has not already been reached in
the mind of the employer when all of the interviews have been
completed, taking the time to send a thank-you letter can go a long
way toward making sure you do not get lost in the shuffle.
Don’t pester
While it is a good
idea to send a polite thank-you note to the person who interviewed
you it is not a good idea to pester that person to no end. The only
result you are likely to achieve through this strategy is alienating
yourself from them and assuring that you will not get the job.
Although ‘do not take no for an answer’ is a strategy that many
aggressive job coaches recommend; it is still always best to observe
polite social standards.
That is not to say
that you should sit by the phone and allow several weeks to elapse,
waiting, while you hear nothing and do nothing. Ideally, your
thank-you letter should have gone out the same day as the interview,
no later than the following day. This means that the interviewer
should receive it within one to two days after the initial
interview.
Call at convenient
time
Keep track of when the
employer indicated a decision would be made and if that time has
come and gone, it is perfectly permissible to go ahead and phone
them. However; when you do make the call, be polite. State your
name, the date you interviewed and the position for which you
interviewed. You may say that you are following up to enquire as to
whether a decision has been made.
At this point, the
conversation can go a number of ways. The employer may indicate that
a decision has been made and all candidates who were not selected
will be receiving a letter in the mail. If this is the response you
receive, it is your cue that you were not hired. Had you been, you
would have received a phone call from the employer by now.
Don’t burn bridges
Thank them for their
time, ask them to keep you in mind for any future vacancies and get
off the line. Don’t burn any bridges. It could be that there was
simply a better qualified candidate for that particular position,
but they might consider you for a different, future position.
On the other hand, the
employer may state that they are still reviewing resumes, conducting
interviews, etc. This type of response could mean a couple of
things. It could mean that they really have made a decision and the
person just does not feel comfortable telling you on the phone that
you were not selected or it could simply be taken at face value.
Perhaps, something
came up and their initial timeline has been forced to be extended
somewhat. In either case, always remain polite and thank them for
their time. After you end the call, make a note of the date on your
planner and set a tickler to remind yourself to call back in a week
if you still haven’t heard anything. Call back once a week, every
week until a decision is made. Once a week is persistent; a trait
which is to be admired. Once a day is pesky; a trait that should be
avoided at all costs.
Explore other
options
While it can be
difficult to wait around after the interview, the most important two
things that you should do is not blow the opportunity by annoying
the employer with numerous pesky phone calls and by all means do not
show up in announced at their office door asking if they have
arrived at a decision.
Finally, make sure
that you do not pin all your hopes on one job. Yes, it may have been
your first choice and your ideal dream job; however; this is
probably also true for someone else as well. Use the time while you
are waiting to hear back from the employer to line up your ‘B’
plan. Continue job searching, scheduling interviews and most
importantly, reminding yourself that you can do this.
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