You Should be Debriefing With an Interview Coach

Unlike my other blogs, which detail specific scenarios, this one focuses on a rather nebulous arena: what we as candidates should do after a job interview. Other than sending a polite follow-up email in the hours after an interview ends, this period is somewhat open to interpretation. Most people will use this time unwisely. They will draw imprecise conclusions about their interview abilities and mostly forget the experience. 

What a waste of a great opportunity! Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Extrapolate that: the unexamined interview is not worth attending. The period just after an interview, when the experience is fresh in our minds, is a vital time for reflection. It’s imperative we think critically about our answers, our presentation, and anything that may have made you stand out positively or negatively. By doing this after every interview, we ensure that we’re always learning from, analyzing, and perfecting our interview abilities.

Except it’s difficult, if not impossible, to accurately gauge one’s own experiences. An interview happens quickly. Your answers might have been perfectly prepared, but much of your interview success comes down to delivery, confidence, poise, word choice, etc. And without outside guidance, we can only gauge our success on our interviewer’s reaction. How did they say “We’ll be in touch,” for instance. We can’t trust this. I’ve had countless clients feel intensely positive about their interview performance and receive either a rejection or no response at all. 

This problem isn’t exclusive to the entry-level either. I have seen highly-experienced, executive-level candidates make it through multiple interview rounds, perform admirably (or so they thought), and receive complete radio silence thereafter.

If it’s near-impossible to do alone, and if we’re unlikely to receive any help from our interviewers, then how do we reflect properly on every interview, learn from it, wring it of valuable skills and experiences, and learn to exploit those skills and experiences for the future?

Hire an interview coach. 

In other aspects of the job search, a coach might seem a luxury, but when it comes to debriefing after an interview, we are a necessity. A coach will meet with you after your interview(s), and hone in on the verbal and non-verbal cues you might have unwittingly communicated. Did your language match that of the company’s culture, for instance? Were you too formal or informal? Did you stumble in some small, but key, areas? Were you preternaturally comfortable with some question types but put-off by others? A coach will walk you through these questions and, regardless of your ultimate success or failure, find you places to improve. 

In the case of rejected applications, there’s no way to fully avoid feelings of self-doubt or inadequacy. But if your experienced Coach assures you that your answers were well-thought-out, well-researched, and well-communicated, and that your poise and personality shone through, you’ll be much more likely to contextualize the experience as opposed to falling prey to it.  After all, a startling amount of hiring decisions come down to the disposition of the interviewer you’ve spoken with. Were they simply having a bad day? Were they terse, glum, or distracted? A coach can help you identify and navigate these situations.

An Interview Coach’s expertise is equally crucial for those undergoing round-after-round of intensive interviews. While once exclusive to executive-level positions, employees all over the job market are now expected to undergo these multi-round interview processes. Specifying what worked in your last interview, and sharpening those points to perfection, that’s what wins applicants these coveted jobs. A Coach sits down with you after each interview in the process and discerns your successes and failures, provides you criticism, and helps correct your missteps.

While this blog is not meant as a scare tactic, the reality is that without an interview coach, you’re navigating the market alone. Do you have the objective self-reflection necessary to accurately assess your answers and experiences? I certainly don’t! We all need informed feedback. We all need an objective eye telling us what’s what.

Hire an interview coach. It’s the best advice I can give you. That position you desperately desire? You can get it. But you need to put yourself in the absolute best position to succeed. An athlete rehabs in a certain way, seeing certain doctors and eating certain foods, because it helps them gain every edge over their competition. The job market is no different, and interviewers are everyday being wowed by those who have gone the extra mile.

Be someone who wows. Reach out to me, Nancy, at www.idealinterviewco.com/contact or on LinkedIn, when you’re ready to begin learning, reflecting, and improving. Success tends to stem from that decision.