What to Do After a Job Interview

You made it through the interview, asked all the right questions and you’re feeling confident you could be selected for the position. Now that it’s over, the decision is theirs, to make the next move, right? Not really! Having a thoughtful and proactive post-interview follow up plan is just as important as your approach to the job search.

Should you follow up? How often? How do you show continued interest after an interview and remain updated of where you are in the process while still being respectful of the hiring manager’s schedule?

Follow these tips for a post-interview strategy that will help you at the stay top of the game of your recruitment voyage!

Set expectations early
Start the process of following up even before you end your interview. As your time with the interviewer wraps up, ask what next steps and timing are for the decision to be made. Your goal should be to understand what the interview process looks like for this role if you were to move forward in the process, and when they hope to make a final decision. Some companies may require multiple rounds of in-person interviews, presentations, testing, or other evaluations that take weeks or even months.
Once you have your last question answered, take a moment to thank the interviewer for their time. If you are interviewing with a Manager, share how wonderful of an experience you’ve had with their staff. And use that last moment to reiterate your excitement for the opportunity and interest in working with them. Before you leave the interview, express to the interviewer that you’ll be in contact and will follow up. You can also ask what their preferred method of contact is for hearing from you.

Express your gratitude for their time
Even in today’s digital age, a thank you note is always appreciated. Try to send an email thank you note within 1-2 days. If you do not have the full names, titles, and email addresses of the interviewers, reach out to the HR recruiter or check LinkedIn to obtain them. Use a thank you message to thank the interviewer for their time, reiterate your interest, and express anything you wanted to add or follow-up on from the interview. You can also summarize your skills and experiences to further impress upon the interviewer why you’re uniquely qualified for the role. End the message by expressing your interest in exploring next steps. It is important to drop a personalized thank you text for each person you spoke with. Don’t write the same exact thing to each interviewer – make each one unique! You should say thank you even if you don’t think the interview went well or the job isn’t a good fit for you.

Continue Follow Ups
When it comes to timing your follow-up – the key is to use your best judgment based on what has been communicated upfront about the process. If it’s not shared, ask. Then follow up accordingly. If you’re still unsure of the timeline, you’ve sent a thank you note, and have not received a response 5-10 business days later, it is appropriate to reach out to gently remind the hiring manager of your interest and qualifications while they’re still deciding on an offer. You can also ask if the process has been modified and if there is any updated timing they would be able to communicate. Often the process takes longer than the hiring manager would expect. Keep your follow up brief, positive and polite. If this follow-up goes un-answered, it is appropriate to reach out one last time additional 5-10 business days later, following the same guidelines for the second follow up.

Don’t Ignore other Opportunities
Understand when it’s best to move on and focus on other opportunities. A good rule is to not follow up more than twice after you’ve sent an initial thank you text or email. With your job search, it’s best to try to cultivate multiple opportunities at one time so you don’t become too dependent on one role. This plan will help ease your mind when waiting to hear about next steps from a hiring manager post-interview.

From then, try to focus on what you learned. Not only did you obtain information you can use to your benefit in the future, but you practiced interviewing skills and follow-up strategies that will help you be even better prepared for the next opportunity.

Related Topics : Free Job Posting Sites

Article Source : HR Community Forum

Tips to Evaluate or Negotiate a Job Offer

You got the job. Now for the hard part: deciding whether to accept it or not. How should you assess the salary as well as the other benefits? Which publicly available information should you rely on? How should you try to get a better deal? And what’s the best way to decline an offer if it’s not the right job for you?

Shift your mind-set
First, you must recognize that receiving an offer represents a new and different phase of the job search process. The purpose of the interview is to get the offer. The next stage is about weighing that offer and then negotiating it with your new employer. Keep in mind that even though the job is yours if you want it, you must continue to be enthusiastic in your dealings with your manager. By sounding suspicious or by questioning something about the offer, you are sending a negative signal. It sounds as if you’re uncertain that you want job. Employers need to feel that you are committed.
Be Methodical
Next, you need to think about what matters to you in both your professional and private life and then assess the offer After all, money is only one component of career satisfaction. Very often it comes down to, ‘I would rather make X amount of money and be excited to go to work in the morning, than make X plus 10% and hate my job; Below are the most important components to take into account as you assess the offer.Salary. Even when the money on offer is enough to live on, you need to figure out if it’s an amount worthy of your knowledge and skills and whether it’s in line with the local market.

• Job content. It’s also important to think about whether you will receive job satisfaction, from the offer that’s currently presented. You need to know the kinds of tasks you want to be involved in and the skills you want to use as a professional. Ask yourself questions like “Do I want to lead a big team, supervise only a few others, or have zero management duties? Do I want to be in front of clients? What kinds of projects do I want to be engaged in? And what kinds of professional tasks do I want no part of.
• Flexibility, vacation, and other benefits. For many employees, vacation time and the ability to work flexible hours is an increasingly valuable benefit. While health benefits are typically standard issue, additional paid time off may be negotiable.
• Other options. Even if you don’t necessarily have other job offers in hand, you need to consider other possibilities. Think about the offer in terms of the cost and benefit of starting the job search process all over again, of staying in your current job, or of waiting to see what other offers you obtain later on.

Be tough but cheerful
Go into the deal-making with your eyes open, You can’t negotiate everything, and once you’ve agreed on something you can’t go back on it. Be well-prepared, respectful, and constructive. You want to be seen as someone they want to work with.

Say no politely if it’s not right
Essentially, there will be some give and take in these negotiations; there is no shame in declining a job offer if it’s not the right fit, as long as you turn it down politely with one or two good reasons — it will not help you enough or you want to work in a different sector — you shouldn’t feel bad about it the people you are dealing with are your potential customers, potential advisers, and perhaps even your future employers. Be respectful.

Principles to Remember

Do's

• Think about what you want out of your job and use that as a framework to determine the elements of the offer you would like to alter
• Be selective about what you push back on
• Employ classic negotiation techniques by maximizing the cost of the things you are prepared to accept and minimizing the things you seek.

Don’t's

• Be critical or suspicious when questioning something about the offer.
• Neglect to consider your walkaway alternatives.
• Ignore red flags. If your instincts tell you that you should not take the job, listen.

Related Topics : Free Job Posting Sites

Trick to Turn Employment Rejection into a Golden Second Chance

There is even the best way to lose! Yeah! Definitely you can utilize your rejection as a golden opportunity for you to enter into the corporate sector. Most of you might feel annoying after reading these words but analysis reflects that as a truth. There are always some methods to turn negatives into positives but you need to use them in right way.

When we receive a rejection mail from a company that we visited recently for a job interview then most of the time we read the response with an annoyed face and then move ahead. Searching for a new job! But did you ever thought of dropping a reply message to that mail? It is good to stay focused towards your goals, stay confident and keep heads high even after rejection but you should at least know the tricks to grab golden opportunities on the way.

You know hundreds of graduates apply for jobs every day, many of them receive the interview call and of course many get rejected. This is a cold reality that only a few are able to get job. Finally when you get a rejection mail then you break all the connections with that company and move ahead. But the trick is to type back your response to that rejection. A professional, clean and simple response! Remember, you need not get dirty this time, it is not the right place to show your frustration rather you are making effort to get a second chance.

So, below are few impressive words that you can type in your response mail, let them realize that they missed a good candidate but in a very polite and soft way.

• Let your hiring manager or the person who conducted the interview know that you are happy to receive attention from their side and you truly appreciate the valuable time that they spared for you during an interview. Say thanks for this effort.
• Tell them that you are a person worth remembering for the upcoming job openings. The type that you are interested in their company and will be glad to know if any other vacancy is available in future.
• Wish them and their company best of luck for coming future and also prefer to mansion something new that just happened. Send best wishes regarding growth and the positive things that happened recently in company. It demands some research work from your side.

This well-crafted post rejection letter will help them to remember your name once again. Believe me; they will definitely consider your name for next job vacancy. The golden opportunity gets automatically framed as:

Sometimes selected candidates do not come for joining and the panel decides to choose someone else from the list.

It may happen then the hired person works in a company for a small duration and then switch to another job in any other company. Sometimes the hiring manager feels like the hired candidate is not suitable for the post. In such situations, they often decide to call another person and it may be you.

Related Topics : Free Job Posting Sites

Smart Habits of Successful Job seekers

Thousands of workers enter into the job market every day; hundreds of them apply for same job profile but still, only less than 10% of them are able to get their dream job, rest are either compromising at low salaries or many of these are still struggling with interviews. Do you think that your education and experience is enough to bring right job for you? Actually, there are few smart habits that most of the successful job seekers opt to serve in a corporate world and that is the major reason behind their success. Below are few details about smart habits of happily employed workers as compared to the stragglers

​1. Flexibility:

These people are not afraid of the highly professional corporate world and they stay updated about unfamiliar corners of their field. They stay open-minded as well as curious about a will to learn all new things in order to upgrade their skills all the time so that they can fit in the market. If someone is working in marketing for a long time that doesn’t mean that next job will offer them the same profile, they must be ready to accept sales or development too.

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​2. Confidence:

It is a challenging game where you have to struggle hard to build your career. When you step out into market then you must be able to face everything that comes ahead with high confidence. Never try to be too much defensive during interviews and it is not even good to be highly apologetic; you must feel proud about what you have already accomplished and what you have here to offer at your best.

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​3. It is even good to take a break:

Mind it that job search is also like a full-time job where you need to spend lots of quality time of your life. The smart job seekers always follow productive and healthy limits for their job search routines and they never even miss a day out with friends to get refreshed again. These people always remember that there is a world outside corporate sector that leads to freshness so they go and charge themselves to new potential with short breaks.

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4. Set their Terms:

The effective job searchers always fix limits to their work profile; they never go for interviews when jobs are not suitable for their profile. With experience, they prefer to go for proper salary ranges and search for reasonable offers. It is good to wait for the right offer instead of forcing yourself to get engaged in something that you don’t even like.

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5. Initiate communication:

In order to be a successful employer, it is important to take some serious decisions in life and you must remember that such decisions are not taken in air. These people always love to stay open and connected to outside world; they prefer to keep all friends and family members in the communication loop.

If you want to get high paying jobs then it becomes more important to stay positive while doing a job search and utilize all your efforts in right direction. Never go for wrong career options that do not match your skills and qualifications rather search for a job that leads your interest.

Related Topics : Free Job Posting Sites

Article Source : HR Community Forum