She'd Really Like a Job-Interview Do-Over

Shayla writes:

Today I had my first “big” interview since my graduation. I guess I wasn’t entirely prepared though. I was asked about my college experience, and I don’t feel like I really went into enough detail. I know if I was given the opportunity to have a second interview, I would be able to talk about how successful I was in college. I had a 3.8 GPA, and I organized and participated in many events. I also participated in the virtual stock market and was respected a great deal by many of my teachers including the Director of Education. Should I include my feelings in the follow-up letter or just cross my fingers and hope for the best?

The Career Doctor responds:

Let me give a little lecture first — what else would you expect from a college professor — and then some advice. Interview preparation, as you have now learned the hard way, is critical to successful job-hunting. You can’t anticipate every interview question, but there are many sources for finding the common questions employers ask — and all job-seekers should at least have a handle on how to respond to those.

I just heard from one of my alums, who has still not found a job, that the employer did not have a complete copy of her resume during her recent job interview, so the interview was awkward. What was her big mistake? Even though she had been told many times to always bring extra copies of her resume to the interview, she actually did not even bring one!!

So, repeat after me, if you really have any interest in a job, be sure to prepare for the interview.

Okay. So what can you do now? Write a more detailed thank-you letter than one normally would. We call it, a thank-you letter that mentions afterthoughts. You still write the traditional appreciation for the interview, but then you add a paragraph that details the one or two key points (relevant to the job) that you forgot to mention in the interview.

And yes, this approach is much better than waiting and hoping. You also need to be proactive and (politely) aggressive when job-hunting.

Find a sample thank-you letter that mentions interview afterthoughts, as well as all sorts of other tank-you notes and post-interview follow-up letters in this section of Quintessential Careers: Sample Job Interview and Career Thank-You Letters.

And for help with preparing for interview questions, check out these Job Interview Question Collections for Job-Seekers.