There is two scenario after an interview. You are happy because you aced it or you are frustrated about your failure. In the end, you can be hired or not and that does not depend on your after interview feelings. Your expectations, the interviewer, your hunger, stress level and a bunch of other things influence your mood. Either you aced or feel like a failure try to think through your impressions so next time you can learn from them. And how to do it? I show you my way.

The most important thing to know that an interview is a PR event. Their goal is to make you want to work for them, if not now then in the future when you achieve the skill level that needed. The second goal is to make you recommend the company to your friends. So it means that the ultimate goal is to make you feel confident. Naturally, that’s not always true.

I had an interview once in an SSC for some telephone operator position. There was the HR, the soon to be little boss, and soon to be big boss. They checked my English skills but they searched basically a bilingual person, who I wasn’t, as the telephone interview and the video interview showed. I think there were chemistry problems too. The little boss guy, after the language check in the first half an hour, literally rested his head on a folder and sighed through the second part. I was so angry that I asked different unimportant questions until we ended 1 hour later. So I made the comfortable half an hour interview to a 1,5 hours hell for him and for me too.

What did I learn?

  • Maybe next time I end it sooner – but I don’t feel any regret.
  • In an interview, you speak out of EGO. It’s normal, you have to speak about your achievements. When somebody runs over your EGO you’ll remember for life. I can make excuses for him, but deep down I never want to work there and I’ll never recommend it to my friends. 
  • Humans are fragile so give them respect even if they are rude. I had a 1,5-hour time waste because of my EGO. Next time half an hour is enough.
  • If the boss or the HR manager or both of them are rude, then unmistakably, I’m at the wrong place.

When after the interview you feel that you rather die than breath the same air as them, then the selection process has some flaws. Of course, you can be extremely lame somehow but if they are prepared and experienced then you’ll feel that it just wasn’t your best shot. 

Unmistakably, nobody likes bad news. Everybody wants to win but getting hired and win are not the same. The first step to get the ideal offer is to know what does it mean. So, take your time and answer these questions before you hunting for the ideal job offer. 

  • What are the goals of the company?
  • How does the corporate structure look like?
  • What are the goals of my future department?
  • What are my position’s goals?
  • What kind of human is my ideal boss?
  • How many and what kind of people are my team?
  • What will be my tasks?
  • What kind of numbers will be on my paycheck?

How many did you check? Most of the time I hardly can answer for half of them. 4-5 interviews to go until I get the correct answers in a best-case scenario. In the worst-case, I work there for some time.

After the happening let the stress out. Sit somewhere and let the sun shine on you or drop by a cafe shop with a nice interior.  Give yourself some treat, take a deep breath and answer some questions about the interview. Try to write it down so when you have 4-5 interviews you can compare them. First, go through the previous list and check the answers if they can match your expectations. You can make a table of that, like this:

Criterium

My favs

First company

Goals of the company

Make the world a better place

Earn more money

Corporate structure

Flat

Hierarchical

Animal policy

Bring furry friends

No animal policy

If you didn’t find any veto, then comes the next round.

  • Think through the given information. How was the atmosphere, the people in the room, the room, the tasks?
  • Did you like the boss, the future plans, the building or maybe the team, if you met them?
  • Think through your answers. Were those true? Do you really have that opinion or you just wanted to fit.
  • Every interview gives new perspectives about what you really want, so make your extended wishlist with the new knowledge.

An interview is a business talk where all of the participants are salesmen. The end of this process is finding the common ground so never lie and don’t try to fit if it’s obviously not for you. Try to find the joy of it. Meeting new people, knowing new perspectives, maybe find some nice place or your place in the world.

Winning is good, but getting hired is not always mean that you won.