After finishing an interview, whether it was in person or virtual, you might feel one of three ways: confident that it went great, uncertain but not terrible, or devastated because it couldn’t have gone any worse. Let’s focus on that last scenario. Sometimes, interviews go so wrong that they’re almost comical – if only it wasn’t your own career at stake. If you’re unsure about how your interview went, watch out for certain signs that indicate it didn’t go well.
The key goal in an interview is to engage the interviewer. You want them to be interested in you and what you have to say. If they seem disinterested by lounging in their chair, repeatedly checking the time, or multitasking by checking emails or shuffling papers, it’s a bad sign. Either you’ve said something wrong, or you simply haven’t caught their attention yet. While they could just be a bad interviewer, it’s best not to assume that.
Interviewers meet many candidates in a day, but if you capture their interest, they’ll make time to delve deeper into your skills and experiences. Conversely, if you’re not hitting the mark or going in circles, they’re likely to wrap up the interview quickly. If a scheduled 40-minute interview ends in 15 minutes, something went wrong.
While it can be discouraging to mess up an interview, remember that even failures offer valuable lessons. Take note of where you stumbled and focus on improving those areas for your next opportunity.
