Although we remind our clients that top talent is getting harder to come by in this tight market, some companies are still dragging their feet during the hiring process. You can’t control how long it will take the company to make a final hiring decision, but you can make sure you have done everything on your end to keep the process moving.
To be positive that you aren’t responsible for stalling the hiring process, here are some tips for during and after the interview that can hopefully help speed things up.
Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.
It isn’t wrong to let the interviewer know that you are actively pursuing and interviewing for other opportunities. In fact, you should let them know this. If the company is sincerely interested in hiring you, the process may move along a little faster knowing that another company may beat them to it. This shouldn’t be a lie either! You should always continue your job search no matter how many interviews you have lined up.
Don’t leave the interview with any questions.
At the end of your interview, make sure you are aware of the next steps in their hiring process and be sure that you and the interviewer are on the exact same page. You don’t want to be waiting around for weeks anticipating their decision when really they were waiting on additional information from you. If they mentioned needing something else from you during the interview, confirm everything they are expecting before you leave, and get this to them as soon as possible. The hiring process may already be lengthy, and you don’t want to be the reason the process is on hold.
Before leaving, it’s also helpful to ask for a timeframe as to when they think they will have a final decision.
Follow up with care.
Following up after the interview is necessary, but tricky. You want to remind the company that you are still interested without sounding desperate or annoying. A thank you email is still a mandatory step and the first form of follow up after the interview. It’s important to restate why you believe you are the best fit for the position.
If the timeframe in which they said they would have a decision comes and goes, call them to re-express your interest and confirm if you are still in consideration. If the interviewer did not have a timeframe for you after your interview, it’s okay to call a week after the interview to follow-up.
Following up after this point gets tricky. Use your best professional judgement to decide if things are just progressing slowly, or if it’s time to move on completely. Either way, you know the ball is in their court at this point and you took care of what you needed to in order to move things along.
If you’re sick of waiting for what seems like forever to find out if you got the job after the interview, remember to do everything in your power to move things along smoothly. Unfortunately, waiting is part of the job search process, and some companies are going to make a decision slower than others.
Are you working with a KRG recruiter during your job search? Lucky for you, the recruiter will handle most of this for you. Although we can’t promise the company will make a decision any quicker, we will handle all of the necessary follow up to try to get you the fastest feedback possible.