4 Things You Should NEVER Do After a Job Interview

Done and dusted – congratulations on getting through that job interview! Now is when the waiting game begins and you probably think there must be something else you can do to convince your interviewer you’re the person for the job. In all honesty, the best thing you can do right now is send a thank-you note (if you haven’t) and wait for the good (or bad) news. Believe it or not, you can still sabotage your chances of being hired or getting a job, especially if you do any of the following.

#1 Constantly calling the company to follow up You’re anxious to know if you got the job or not but that doesn’t mean you call or email the recruiter every day for a status update. Reaching out too often doesn’t show that you’re pro-active and serious about wanting the job; it makes you look desperate instead, which is a huge turn-off.

Some companies take a month, others take just a few days to get back to you. What you need to do is be patient. Send a thank-you note, relax (at least, try to!) and wait for the news. If it’s been two weeks since you last heard from the company, it’s safe to drop a quick email note for an update. Otherwise, someone will definitely get back to you in due time.

#2 Connect with the person who interviewed you on social media Don’t immediately link up with the hiring manager on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. You’ve only been in each other’s company for an hour, two tops! No matter how well you got on or if you have mutual friends, it’s best to keep your personal lives separate for now. Plus, there will be plenty of changes to connect on social media later when you are hired for the job.

#3 Don’t change your salary expectations So you finally get that call you’ve been waiting for. And when you find out what your salary is, you think, hmmmm wonder if I can ask for more? Stop right there. This is not the time to try your luck and see maybe if you can score an extra RM100 or RM200 to the salary that you initially said you were expecting during the interview.

One of the reasons why you were offered the job is because your asking salary falls within the company’s overall compensation range. To increase your salary expectations at the final hour will not sit well with your future employer. Don’t be surprised if they decide that you may not be the right fit after all.

#4 Be overly confident! You think you did well at the interview – you probably did. But this is not the time to announce on Facebook that “new and exciting times are ahead careerwise!”, tell colleagues about the awesome new role you might assume (be careful, your current boss may get the wind of your good news) and gasp, quit your current job so that you can “start work” at the new place ASAP. Because just in case you don’t get the job!

Or if this is your first job, aceing one interview doesn’t mean you can stop your job search. Continue to see what else is out there, schedule more interviews. Until you hear back from the hiring manager whether you got the job or not, it’s not wise to assume anything. Besides, you may come across another opening that’s more suited to your career aspirations.

Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash