6 Things You Should Not Do AFTER an Interview

Leading up to the interview, you’ve probably prepared by researching tips and advice for how to ace the interview. Once the interview is over, you can take a deep sigh of relief, knowing that it’s over. However, be careful. There are a variety of ways that you can sabotage yourself after the interview.

These are things you should NOT to do after the interview:

1. Obsess over the Interview

We’ve all been there. You feel like it might be your fault that you aren’t contacted right away. You may be over-analyzing your interview and thinking about the things you should have or should not have done. Just remember, the interview is not all about you. Interviews are 50% about you and 50% about the company. The company not only has to evaluate you and your qualifications, but they have to evaluate their own company culture and whether or not they can accommodate your needs.

2. Follow Up Too Much

Imagine: if you have a hiring manager adding you on social media, calling you, or emailing you multiple times per day or week asking if you’d accept this position, wouldn’t it be annoying and make the job look unattractive after a while? This is the same feeling that hiring managers feel when they have a candidate that follows up too much. Also, adding a hiring manager on social media right after an interview is a big no-no. You should never be the one to try to connect with a hiring manager on LinkedIn, however if they try to connect with you, then you have the choice to connect or not. Personal social platforms, like Facebook or Instagram, should personal.

3. Act like You Got the Job

Just because you got an interview and it went well in your mind doesn’t mean you got the job. You never know how many other candidates have to be interviewed and what the hiring manager is evaluating each candidate on. Thinking you got the job before you even receive a job offer just leads to disappointment when you get a letter saying that they chose someone else.

4. Stop the Job Search

This goes along the lines of acting like you got the job. Don’t stop your job search after your interview and restart it when you receive notice that you didn’t get the job. That just wastes your time. Continue your search and keep attending interviews until you get the job offer that works best for you.

5. Forget to Follow-Up with Your References

The time to follow-up with your job references is before you give a list of references to your potential employer. When you ask your colleagues to be your reference, make sure you ask them to let you know when they were contacted. Once they are contacted, ask them how it went and if there were any questions that were difficult to answer. Be sure to also tell them how your interview went and what sent of things were discussed.

6. Burn Bridges

Never EVER burn your bridges at any job. It’s very important to keep those relationships positive because they can help you advance your career and burning bridges can have negative effects to your career. Also, until you receive a job offer that you want to accept, don’t inform your employer or co-workers that you are putting in your two weeks. This just puts you in an awkward situation when the hiring manager comes back with a rejection letter.

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