But I thought the interview went so well…

How do you know when you’ve nailed an interview? You hit it off with the HR person, had good chemistry with the hiring manager, had a 95% match to the job qualifications and skills. But didn’t make it to the next round. Do you ever really know how well the interview went? Nope. Not until you’ve actually landed the job! Then, and only then, will you know the interview went well!

This has happened to me on a few occasions where I just knew the interview would get me to the next round. I left feeling proud of myself and confident that I would get the job. But didn’t. So what happened? I’ll probably never know why I didn’t get the job but I can assure you of one thing – I was prepared!

Be prepared

Research the company – review their website, their annual report/10K, review them on www.hoovers.com and/or Dun & Bradstreet www.dnb.com, read current news stories, talk to your connections that either work at the company or do business with the company
Research hiring manager – organizational affiliations, common interest
Be prepared to demonstrate successes you’ve had in the at past – Have 5 to 10 accomplishment stories that are relevant for the position (I’ll expand on this in more detail in a later posting)
Anticipate questions and prepare answers
Have your own list of questions about the company and position
Know the industry salary range for the position (www.salary.com)
After the interview, follow up with a hand-written thank you note to the hiring manager and HR person
Was I over prepared? Can you be over prepared? I don’t think you can ever be over prepared so I’ll call it fate. I do believe that everything happens for a reason and it just wasn’t my time to work for this company.