Interview Tips: Five Steps to Solidify Your Call Back

I recently wrote about what to do before your interview and I had previously written about mistakes to avoid during the interview; why not complete the trilogy and share some interview tips for following up and landing a call back?

Obviously, only you can guarantee you make it to the next steps, but if you’ve already done a great job in the interview there are a few extra steps you should take to make sure you get the call back.

Leave on a good note

Make sure you leave your interviewers with a positive thought of you. Say something like, “Thank you for taking the time to meet with me today. After speaking with you further about the position and the company I believe that my previous experience building product management teams will be an asset to your company.”

Keep your game face on

Don’t immediately check your phone or change into flip flops the second you walk out the door. Especially in an office building where you still may run into people in the elevator or lobby. Maintain your professional demeanor until you are out of the building and in your car.

Send a thank you note

I can’t stress this enough! If you need tips on writing one, I wrote a blog on Thank You Note Writing 101 that you can reference. There is no reason not to send a follow up thank you — it’s very quick and easy and makes a world of a difference. It will keep you from slipping the interviewer’s mind, and it allows you to accentuate your value that you plan on bringing to the team while addressing any shortcomings. I have worked with hiring managers who will not consider candidates further if they don’t send a follow up.

Have references ready

If you are searching for a position you should have already identified two or three references and contacted them all to 1) Ensure they will give you a reference and 2) Warn them that you are looking for positions and that they may be getting a few calls. This will speed up the process greatly; if you are asked for your references and can’t deliver them for a week it will reflect poorly on your organizational skills.

Follow up, but don’t stalk:

If you interviewed last week and are wondering what your status is, send ONE (I repeat ONE) follow up to the hiring manager, recruiter, or HR manager (whoever is most relevant). They will most likely respond with an update, possibly not right away though. Just be sure not to stalk them, it will only make things worse. Once is enough and if you don’t get a response then cut your losses and move on. You never know, though – you may hear good news weeks later! So there you have it — the final installment of my interview tips trilogy. With so many elements of an interview process out of your control, make sure you take care of the elements that you can control. You don’t want to regret not doing everything in your power to improve your candidacy.