Unsuccessful Job Interviews: Lessons from Interviewee Mistakes

In today's tight job market, just getting an interview sometimes feels like a victory. But the interview itself does not pay the bills, landing the job is what counts. Unfortunately, most interviews do not end in a job offer. Rather than wallow in disappointment, prospective applicants can and should learn from their interviewing mistakes to have a more successful job search.

Adjust Opening Approach

While every job is unique, it is still important to have an idea how to present yourself. Beyond just positional skills, interviewers want to know how candidates fit into the organization. Areas to communicate about yourself and not just what is on paper include:

- Elevator speech
- Skills set
- Why you want that particular job, and are right for it

As an interview progresses you'll likely have a feeling about how it is going. Use this instinct to make adjustments to how you present yourself in an interview or to a potential employer. You can set the tone in your cover letter, use more current key words in your resume and during the interview, or more immediately address your core strengths to steer the interview away from areas about which you are less confident.

Anticipate Difficult Questions

Everyone has a few areas they are less confident about discussing, and odds are great that interviewers will probe with questions. Practicing answers to any of these areas will help interviewees provide better answers about their capabilities for the position. Typical weaknesses are:

- Resume gaps
- Short employment times
- Career changes
- Under- or over-qualified for the prospective position
- Geography

In particular, remain attuned to the interviewer's response and follow up questions. If the interview continues to cycle back to this area either address it outright or provide anecdotal evidence about why these difficult areas do not define you as a candidate. In other words, stress the positive.

Follow Up

The face-to-face time is not the end of the interview, how you follow up can be an important and valuable aspect of the process. While you cannot directly ask an interviewer why they did not hire you, you can and should ask for feedback. Follow up includes:

- Thank you letter
- Supplemental information such as writing sample or transcript
- Post-interview phone call or email

The post-interview follow-up is a frequently forgotten job search tool. Asking the question, "Am I one of the candidates being considered?" is another method to distinguish your candidacy and potentially learn why you were not offered a position. Similarly, ask to be considered or referred for future positions.

A successful interview means that you marketed yourself well and had rapport with the prospective employer. As your job search process goes forward, you can learn from mistakes, better present yourself, and shake off the interviewing rust.