Despite a careful preparation and boundless motivation, you feel like your job interview is a failure. Don’t worry, even the best of us fail an interview sometimes... It happens!
How to get back on your feet? Is it possible to change course? The great news is that: you can fix this! Do you want to know how? You will find the answers and several tips on this article 👇
When the interview starts badly…
There are days like this… It all goes wrong! You missed the train, you woke up late, there was slow-moving traffic on the road, and you struggled to find the meeting place… In a word, you're LATE! 😱
As you can imagine, being late – event just a little – will not help you making good impression. No matter what happens, you should try to warn and apologize to the recruiter by phone, for instance.
But warning the recruiter will not be enough. You will probably need to provide more evidence of your different skills and knowledge during your interview – your strong skills, soft skills, professional experience, and so on. We recommend you apologize once more – without going into detail – because the recruiter needs to understand that this delay doesn’t define you as a future employee.
When the recruiter pulls a face…
First question: your answer seemed to please the recruiter. You're confident! Then, a second question. You answer and… Ouch! The person in front of you frowns. Stay calm!
Remember, you can fix any "mistake" during an interview. It happens to everyone to give a wrong answer or an enormity due to stress. In this case, you can use several tips to fix it: ask the recruiter why he/she doesn’t seem to agree with you, rephrase your idea or even admit that you didn’t understand the question very well.
These techniques will help you to start a new discussion that will give you the opportunity to justify your point or your idea. The recruiter will always be glad if you are open-minded or able to question yourself.
When the recruiter isn’t listening…
You prepared for this interview, you got information about the company, you’re determined and… You feel like the recruiter is more interested in his/her cellphone than what you’re saying? There’s no chemistry during the interview? 🙄
We have a special piece of advice for you – it’s kind of the effort of last resort – try to catch the recruiter’s attention during your interview. Call him/her by his/her name while answering or ask him/her directly a question regarding his/her career, the position, the company, etc.
Through this direct approach, you will “force” the recruiter to pay (more) attention and be focused on what you’re saying. Add a little touch of humor during the conversation – humor is the mankind’s greatest blessing, as they say.
When you’re disappointed during the interview...
If you feel like you’re missing this opportunity, or if there’s any other topic you want to talk about, the end of the interview is the perfect moment to change this situation!
You’ve had many other interviews before and you know – deep down – that this one isn’t going very well. You know you’ve so much more to give and you don’t want to leave things on a bad note… You still have time!
Ask the recruiter if there’s any other question he/she wants to ask, if he/she is interested in your application or if he/she can give you more details about the offered position, for instance. We recommend you send an email after the interview, call or contact the recruiter on the social media to show your motivation – if you’re really interested in the job.
If – despite all these tips – the recruiter doesn’t give you any positive response about your application, you can ask him/her a feedback to improve and use his/her pieces of advice for your upcoming interviews.
Remember to remain courteous and polite with the recruiter and to keep in mind the positive aspects of each interview: it will only help you to develop your professional network and to improve your communication skills.
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