Applying

You’ve been trawling the job sites, Job Centre Plus, Indeed, CV Library etc, you’ve found a few that sound good, a couple sound perfect, you may have even found the one that sounds so damn amazing that you know you can do this job standing on your head. Your CV is glowing, your cover letter is pristine and so you apply for the job.

Here are the three potential outcomes;

• You hear nothing back.
• You receive a generic email.
• You get an interview.

Now, not hearing back at this stage, in my opinion, is perfectly acceptable. They may have been inundated with applicants and responding to everyone is just not feasible.

Receiving a generic email is always nice, something along the lines of;

“Thank you for your recent application for the position of Guardian of Hell, unfortunately we won’t be taking your application further. We hope this doesn’t deter you from applying for similar roles in the future”.

And then we have ‘getting an interview’, which is pretty self explanatory.

Preparation

Here we are, you’ve managed to get the interview, you’ve done the obligatory extensive researching of the company, you know the ins and outs, you’ve looked for the people who will be interviewing you on Facebook just so you’re not completely taken by surprise when you meet them. You have gone over some practice questions, you know exactly what to say about your strengths, weaknesses and what you can bring to the workforce.

You have printed off an extra copy of your CV, you have a notebook and pen ready with questions you have prepared earlier. You’ve planned your route, your outfit is gleaming, freshly washed and ironed. You are going to nail this interview.

The Interview

You arrive slightly earlier than agreed, you don’t want to look too desperate but you don’t want to be late neither. You greet the interviewer with a smile and a firm handshake, everything is good. Introductions are made and now comes the scary bit. It’s okay though, you’re cool. It’s just questions, ones which you do know the answers to, just breathe, take a sip of water and relax.

You breeze thought the interview, it’s all smiles and you even make the panel laugh, not too much that they think you’re a clown but just enough to be memorable. Your answers were clear, concise and you really feel like they were impressed with you. You don’t like to jinx things but you really feel like you’ve got this in the bag and if not it just wasn’t meant to be.

Interviews can be super stressful, they are for me anyway. I get slightly panicky, my anxiety starts to rise,  not only have I had to possibly drive to an unknown area but now I have to talk to people face to face and that prospect really does make me uneasy. I deal with it though, seriously what is the worst than can happen? I suppose the worst that can happen is that you don’t get the job but like I said it just wasn’t meant to be this time.

After going through the rigmarole of applying (which is sometimes a lengthy process if you have to fill out giant application forms), researching, preparing and psyching yourself up, then making it unscathed through the interview the least you would expect is a courteous email informing you that you’ve been unsuccessful. (Obviously if you were successful they would contact you anyway).

The worst thing in the world about interviews is not hearing back afterwards. I think two weeks is the maximum time to hear back within. It’s just bad form and seriously unprofessional and kind of makes you glad that you didn’t get the job because why would you want to work for people like that anyway?

I don’t expect a handwritten, gold embossed letter listing all the negatives and positives, a nicely worded email will do. I understand it’s not very nice for anyone to deliver bad news but it’s the polite thing to do.

If they give you a cut-off day for informing you of the outcome and you still don’t hear back, don’t be afraid to drop them a quick email. I’ve done it for many places that haven’t responded. There are a million reasons why they don’t get back to people, they could have interviewed hundreds of people and it’s just taking longer to get back to everyone than expected, they’re busy (after all they all have jobs), they’ve simply forgotten or they are just rude. Just remember it’s unlikely that will get every single job you go for and if you don’t get it then there is definitely something better just waiting around the corner.

If you have an interview coming up just be prepared, research the company, practice some interview questions and dress appropriately.

Interview checklist:

• Note pad and pen
• Extra copy of your CV
• Bottle of water
• Mirror
• Anything they may have asked to see ie, certificates, portfolio etc.
• Mints

Good luck!

*I’d just like to take this opportunity to thank the people that I have ever interviewed with and for getting back to me and providing valuable feedback.