The time between an interview and hearing back from a potential employer can feel endless and invoke stress in any candidate. Unfortunately, this uncertainty is a natural part of any job search, no matter how much research and preparation you have done.
But take heart. While there’s no such thing as a surefire guarantee, there are some signs that point toward an interview having gone successfully. They include:
The interview ran longer than scheduled.
Employers are busy. They won’t waste valuable time speaking further with candidates they aren’t interested in. But, if they feel they’ve met someone who will be the right fit for a role, they will gladly invest additional time to learn what they need to know to make an informed hiring decision.
Your interviewers’ body language clues were positive.
Nonverbal communication – a.k.a. body language – speaks volumes in any dialogue. It helps you accurately sense when someone is genuinely interested in talking with you versus simply going through the motions. For example, were your interviewers engaged in what you were saying? Were they genuinely smiling? Did they lean in to listen further? You can take any of these as positive signs.
You were asked follow-up questions.
Interested interviewers dig deeper into your responses with related questions versus just going through the motions on their required checklist. Pressing you for more information is generally a very good sign.
You were introduced to other team members.
If your interviewers went out of the way to have you meet people who were not originally scheduled as part of your meeting, this means they were advocating that you’d be a good fit and wanted to expedite the approval process.
Your interviewers tried to sell you on the job.
Interviews go both ways, so if your interviewers were actively selling you on the job and their company, take this as a plus. Note: If they asked about your current job search status or if you were interviewing anywhere else, this is an additional win, as they were likely trying to size up the competition.
More detail was provided on the next step in the hiring process.
If interviewers weren’t seriously interested in you, they wouldn’t bother to inform you about the next step in their hiring process. By the way: This also speaks highly of an employer. It shows they have a clear, organized hiring process and value transparency as they communicate with candidates. This is always a good sign when you’re evaluating places to work.
How can you help ensure that you get at least one – and hopefully several – signs that your interview was spot on? A great first step is working with a professional career counselor from PrideStaff Modesto to help land your next great opportunity in areas including administration, customer service, IT, accounting, finance, legal support, healthcare, and production. Read our related posts or contact us today to learn more.
