If you are just setting out into that minefield of interviewing, you will definitely need to be as confident, assured and focused then ever before. With the job market at its most competitive in the twenty-first century, this is a time to be fully prepared.

There is nothing worse than sitting and waiting for the phone to ring after you’ve left a job interview, no matter how successful you may think it was. This is what you should be doing after every interview you attend:

1. Before you leave your interview, make sure to find out what the next process is. Many employers will give a timescale as not to keep you hanging on afterward, but some will merely mention they have others to interview and therefore they’ll be with you in due course.
   Make a note of whether the company has a second interview stage or what date they expect to make a decision by. It’s also worth finding out here if they contact everyone who attended or just the successful applicant.
2. As soon as you leave the building, conduct your own interview assessment. This is basically a summary of the questions you were asked during the process and what your responses were. This is crucial in case you’re invited back for a second interview, and the interviewer wants to expand on what you previously discussed, making you prepared for the next round.
3. Consider sending a quick follow up email to your interviewer. This could be a brief message merely thanking them for their time, or a little longer affirming your suitability for the post, or a means of supplying any relevant additional information required that you weren’t able to present during your interview time. Either way, it encourages the employer to remember your face and name.