Have you ever been so nervous about an interview for a job you really wanted that you… sort of blew the interview?
Don’t fret too much!
Here are some small steps you can take to recover:
- Send a thank-you note to the people who interviewed you, restating your interest and possibly re-framing some of your answers: “On reflection, I don’t think I gave you a good illustration of a time I succeeded. Here’s a better example….”
- Reach out to anyone you know in the organization. Just say hello and that you interviewed, and you aren’t sure you did well because you were nervous.
- Debrief with yourself. Did you prepare adequately for the interview? Are there lessons you want to take into the next interview you do? What factors led to you feeling you weren’t at your best, and how can you manage those better next time?
- Seek help if you need it. Some people are simply anxious interviewers, so if that’s the case for you, enlist the help of a friend or family member, find free online interview tools, or seek the help of a coach.
- Dust yourself off. It’s hard when something feels like a dream that you’ve managed to torpedo, but that’s rarely the case. If something truly is a good fit, you probably did better than you think you did. If not, they wouldn’t have seen what they wanted from you even if you were in top form, so try not to beat yourself up.
The job search is difficult and generally unpleasant at the best of times (and this is decidedly not the best of times), so please give yourself a little grace as you go through it.
