No matter how well-qualified you are for a position or how strongly you feel you’d be a good match for it, sometimes the interview simply doesn’t go your way. If you have a bad interview, quickly fixing the errors can help the interviewer forget about them and reconsider you for the position.
Use these tips on how to recover from a bad interview:
TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND REQUEST A REPEAT.
Sometimes interviewees get basic questions wrong. Maybe you answered a question that wasn’t asked, or maybe you became scared and delivered a response that wasn’t genuine to yourself. Take a deep breath and ask if you could answer that question again before collapsing into your chair and speeding through the rest of the interview. This will demonstrate to the interviewer that you are self-aware and capable of resolving workplace mistakes.
TURN THE TABLES AND SPEAK WITH THE INTERVIEWER.
Interviewees frequently find themselves doing interviews in front of a drained and uninterested audience. Some interviewers are just worn out from participating in several rounds of interviews and sorting through huge pools of applicants on top of their usual jobs! When it’s time for questions, interview the interviewees if you notice that the energy in the room is dwindling. Find out why they enjoy working there or what they believe they individually receive from their employment there. This will make the interviewer pay closer attention to you and show interest. Keep your answers brief and use stories where applicable to keep the audience interested while responding to queries.
WRITE A THANK YOU NOTE AND MENTION THE BAD INTERVIEW
Don’t give up hope of receiving an offer if your bad interview failed. Expand on the customary “thank you” message by describing what went wrong rather than hiding your head in the sand. Perhaps a recent family emergency kept you from paying attention, or perhaps you kept referring to the interviewer by the wrong name the entire time. Being honest about what went wrong may frequently help to dispel any negative emotions that may have resulted from a poor interview.
LEARN FROM YOUR BAD INTERVIEW
Some bad interviews can’t even be fixed. Don’t give up; draw lessons from your past mistakes. If you stumbled on any questions, be ready for your next interview by researching typical questions and creating a few quick anecdotes that illustrate the qualities you exhibit most effectively at work. Have a friend or family member sit down and do a practice interview to help you be ready for the next time if you spent the whole interview avoiding eye contact and squirming. If you’re not sure exactly what went wrong, ask trustworthy friends and advisers to assist you by conducting mock interviews with you and pointing out your faults. Simply get ready for the next interview rather than beating yourself up over the last one.
The bottom line is that even the most experienced interviewer has been a victim of a bad interview. Rather than avoiding the flaws during your interview or hoping they would be disregarded, confronting them front on will demonstrate to employers that you are capable of acknowledging your mistakes and are responsible enough to confess them. If there is no recovery, learning from your mistakes and applying solutions to future interviews will help you acquire other jobs.
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