Five things to do when you fail an interview

You must pick yourself up from a failed interview with self-realization. Interviews are not always just a matter of knowledge and experience.

Various factors lend itself to the success of an interview. IBNLT the layout of your resume, your ‘fit’ in the team/job, your presentation or even the way you maintain eye contact.

A failed interview is always an opportunity to learn what not to do, this might help you crack your next interview.

Here’s a look at the top five things you can do after a failed interview:

Scrutinize your resume

Mismatched information and misspelt words can instantly grab the interviewer’s attention. Check your resume thoroughly for any mistakes.

Tweak your resume to match the position/company you are applying for. For example, if they are looking for a team player, then mention instances where you’ve successfully worked with other people.

Try to avoid overused buzzwords like ‘self-starter’, ‘passionate’ etc. Remember that recruiters generally see right through self-praise and exaggeration in resumes.

Also, avoid the use of funky formatting and fancy fonts in your desperate attempts to ‘stand-out’. Use conservative fonts like ‘Helvetica’ & ‘Roboto’.

Ruminate the interview session

Did you look the interviewer right in the eye, or if it was a panel, have you kept an open body stance so that you engage all of them? Irregular eye contact indicates dishonesty, lack of interest and distraction.

Slouching, weak handshakes and defensive body postures are signs that make you look less able and diffident.

You have to stand/sit tall and avoid any kind of fidgeting. Along with an open and firm body posture, you should maintain constant eye-contact with the interviewer(s).

Nerves can be dealt with easily if you think of the interview the way it is; a professional conversation, and not a personal interrogation.

Evaluate the questions and your answers

Retrospect the interview and try to find improvements in both your answers and its delivery for the next time.

An alarming number of IT candidates seem to stutter when asked non-technical questions that test basic communication skills. Remember that soft skills are as important as technical skills.

Even if you are a highly skilled technician, without good communication skills, you wouldn’t survive the highly interactive modern work culture.

Get in touch with the interviewer

The recruiter(s) that interviewed you can surely help pinpoint areas of improvement. Try to get in touch with them at least within 48 hours of the interview (while it’s still fresh in their minds).

Ask them for tips that you could use in your next interview. You are most likely to find out crucial details that can be used to update yourself.

Request them for a connection via Linkedin, for it could be beneficial in the future. This can be a potential long-term professional mentor-mentee relationship in the making.

Experienced recruiters, especially at LiteBreeze aim to mentor those candidates who are willing to improve themselves at any cost. You could also review the article on 10 questions to ask an interviewer.

Find your silver lining

No matter how bad the interview went, if you think about it, there could be some things that remained positive. Find out those things that went well in your interview and try to replicate them next time.

These silver linings are probably your strong points that you can bend according to your will to cover for your weaknesses.

Every failed interview is a tremendous learning experience if you are willing to put aside your frustration and think deeply. Take time to learn from them and always keep in mind that you are selling yourself from the moment you walk into the interview room.

As proposed by Jack Bergstrand, CEO of Brand Velocity, it is important to find your workplace strengths like knowledge-work productivity, envision strength, design strength, and operate characteristic which will improve your chances of finding the perfect position/company for you.