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You prepped for the interview. You researched the company for hour upon hour, even picturing yourself already sitting at your desk. You got to the interview in good time, you didn’t stumble on any questions, and at the end you were sure you nailed it. Then you get the call or email telling you that you were unsuccessful. The devastation that can result from this can completely knock you off your job-seeking path. It can be all too easy to withdraw, become depressed and believe you’re unemployable. When this happens, there is a range of things you can do to stay motivated, but one thing that many overlook is that of getting proper feedback. Now, we’re not talking about “another candidate was more suitable for the role” type feedback. We’re talking about a critique of yourself. It can be hard to hear but it’s worth it. It can also be hard to get if your job search is not through a recruitment agency. However, it is really worth making the effort to get this feedback on how you did and what you can improve so that 1) you know where to improve and 2) you have something to immediately focus on and work on that will keep you motivated. Here’s our 2c on the importance of getting feedback.
It’s unlikely you’ll have remembered everything
When you think you did every single thing perfectly during an interview and then you still don’t get the job, it can be incredibly frustrating. However, when you’re so ‘in the zone’ as most of us get when being interviewed, you can miss things. Perhaps you gave fantastic answers but you fidgeted the whole time, making yourself look nervous or as if you weren’t telling the truth. Perhaps you gave fantastic answers but didn’t actually answer what the question was asking of you. These are the kinds of things you need to find out and work on.
Don’t get defensive
In asking for feedback, whether it’s from the interviewing company or your recruitment consultant, be sure to have an open mind and not get your back up about it all. It’s not going to help you in any way to be defensive or argue on any points of feedback. If that’s how they say they perceived you, then that’s how you came across. There’s no explaining yourself after the interview. The information is purely for working on the future you.
They have the experience
So take advantage. They will have interviewed candidate upon candidate and will have seen what makes one successful and another not. Use this knowledge to improve yourself for your next interview. You never know, you may even get the chance to interview again for the same company and to have shown that you cared enough about that job to take the time to find out what went wrong last time will not have gone unnoticed.
Being rejected for a job hurts. There’s no two ways about it. The important thing after a rejection is to handle it the right way so it doesn’t knock you off your path. Everyone gets rejected at some point – you are not alone in that, but there’s absolutely nothing to be gained by giving up. Get that feedback, work on it and make your next interview even better.