What to Do When You Just Had a Bad Job Interview?

We are not Men of Steel or Wonder Women, we can’t always stay calm before any battle. Nerves do get the better of us no matter how ready we are for a job interview.

No, it’s not just you; everyone makes interview mistakes one way or another. Just remember, blowing an interview doesn’t make your whole career a disaster.

But regardless of the interview outcome, take it as a lesson to learn from in order to come back stronger.

Here’s what you should do to stay positive and keep pursuing that dream job:

Reflect on the interview from the employer’s perspective

Everybody tends to stress themselves out over the hypothetical facepalm moments that happened in the interview. While it’s natural to feel disappointed (that interview is a ticket to career success after all), don’t dwell on those mistakes because they are not necessarily bad in the eyes of the interviewer.

What you should focus on is how the employer ran the interview instead.

First, go through the job description again and recall the recruiter’s questions. Analyse the interview based on these points:

1.   Did the hiring manager mention all the responsibilities as stated on paper? –  Analyse: Have you highlighted the relevant experiences that make you qualified for the job?

2. Did the hiring manager assess your industry knowledge? – Analyse: Were you able to demonstrate your understanding of the company and what they do?

You can gauge your own performance by weighing how well you covered the above subjects. Don’t be concerned if your outfit was too casual, or about your phone ringing in the middle of the interview, or that you forgot to ask what you intended to, because the most important part of any job interview is your suitability for the position. As long as you maintained your professionalism throughout the meeting, you already gave yourself a chance to land the job!

If you failed to deliver the best answers to those questions, you can still save the day by sending a follow-up email mentioning the information that you missed out, ideally within the day of the interview.

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Related: The Ultimate Guide to Follow-up Email After an Interview

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Got a second chance? Make it a blast!

So you are called in for the next stage of the interview. Now you wonder how to “undo” the mistakes that you made previously (provided that you have already sent a follow-up email). Here are two things to keep in mind when tailoring the discussion based on your last interview:

1.   The points that you are going to bring up may no longer relevant as the interviewer is not necessary the same person.
2. You will only draw more attention to the problems that might not be there in the first place.

The first step to making the second interview blunder-free is to understand what other information that the recruiter is hoping to get from you.

Once again, refer back to the job description, learn more about the position and evaluate which areas that have yet to be covered in the first round.

Tip: Don’t ignore the people around the office as you come for the interview. Remember to smile and greet everyone to show a simple gesture of friendliness, which also reflects your likeability – one of the main qualities that all employers look for.

Embrace the failure with positivity and keep looking

Worse comes to worst, you were informed of the unsuccessful application. But let’s not assume that your career prospect is all gloomy. There is always another door open unless you refuse to look for one.

The lack of genuine interest when seeking employment could also affect your interview performance. So before hitting any “apply” button, make sure that you are 100% clear of the career path that you are bound for in that company.

Don’t just search the Internet for common interview mistakes. You should also look into your own experiences from past interviews. Did you make any of the said common mistakes? Did the recruiter ask any unfamiliar question that you never came across before? Based on that, you should be able to know which part to improve in order to land a job.

For instance, if you mentioned a bit too much about how bad your experience was in the previous company, cut that out; if you often forget to share with the recruiter about your achievements outside of work, include that information when you talk about yourself in the beginning. Prepare a dos-and-don’ts list of thing to mention during the interview so that you won’t miss out on anything this time.

Don’t feel disappointed if you don’t get the job on the first try. We all need experiences to become better and attending job interviews is not an exception.

Now it’s time to make a comeback, submit your latest resume to get the job that you deserve on Jobstore.com!