Human Resource Knowledge

A good interview at the very first instance

Everyone faces a time in their life when they miserably fail in a job interview. But rather than feeling sad about it and feeling like a looser, it’s important to know how to handle such situations. Read on to find out how to recover from a bad interview and get your job search right back on track:

Never let anxiety cloud your judgment. If you want to recover from a bad interview, you need to evaluate the situation objective. Write down everything that you think went wrong during the interview. This includes questions that were misunderstood important points you forgot to mention, etc. Once your list is complete, think of solutions for your mistakes. This way you will even get to know whether or not you’re responsible for your poor performance. If you have contacts within the company, ask them to take out details including the extent of the damage. You never know, they may even be in a position to put in a good word for you.

Depending on the urgency of the situation, you may want to call the interviewer to clarify some of your blunders. But we suggest you wait for at least two days before doing so to avoid coming off as a neurotic. When you call, casually discuss about the interview, follow up with interviewer. Find out if the interview was fine and if not, make sure you ask where did you go wrong? There are chances that the interviewer might say, “I am busy right now, if you are getting the job, we will contact you”. In this case wait for a day or two.

If nothing is working out in your case or you feel the situation demands drastic measures, your only chance to recover from a bad interview now is to call your employer and ask for a second chance. Try for second interview. But please avoid making this request via mail. Also, keep in mind that by asking for a second interview, you run the risk of flagging up problems the interviewer may not have even noticed. While some employers can be surprisingly accommodating about meeting you again, many view such requests as signs of weakness. So, be very careful and think twice before you ask for a second interview.

Sometimes the damage is just beyond repair. If the employer rejects all your attempts to recover from a bad interview, you have no option but to focus on your next job prospect. Do not dwell on this lost opportunity or let the negative experience shake your confidence. Remember that you already surpassed a number of candidates by actually making it to the interview room at least. Now you need to ensure that your interview with the next company is more successful, and the best way to do this is to learn from your mistakes.

In India it may not be usually possible to seek a second interview for any level position if one has done badly in the first interview. For senior positions the potential employers may seek clarifications themselves from the interviewees if they feel the need for it. Seeking another interview and getting it depends up on how good the interviewee’s professionalism in experience, qualification and present employer.

It is advisable for any potential job seeker to get prepared properly at the very first instance itself rather than go unprepared perform badly and creating the unfortunate necessity of seeking another interview. This it self is viewed by the potential employer as a negative factor.

Labels: Interview Guide

posted by Paresh @ 8:42 PM