You’ve just walked out of an interview and are replaying it in your mind, going over your answers and whether you could have/should have said something different. Did you sit up straight enough? Too much? Make the right amount of eye contact? Anytime you can examine yourself and how you could improve either in an interview or on an application helps you become a stronger candidate.
- It can help calm your nerves. When an interview doesn’t go the way you want it to, some of that may involve nervousness, which is only natural. If you can go over the responses you didn’t feel ready for or those you stumbled on, you’ll feel much more prepared when you get a similar question at your next interview. So much of the fear of an interview comes with the inability to feel prepared, the inability to know what’s coming. Evaluating not only your answers but the way you respond (tone, brevity, staying on point) will take away some of that fear.
- It allows you to improve. Some of us refuse to look at ourselves honestly because we fear what we might see. Others feel they’ve done all they can do, so why try to change anything? However, both attitudes can hold you back from fine-tuning your performance, either written or in person. And if you can step back and take an honest look at your responses to potential job questions, you may realize where you can make changes for the better that will make you a stronger candidate.
- It can make you see things you missed. That doesn’t mean wearing an ironed shirt or checking your resume for mistakes; it means whether your personality goes with the job you’ve just applied to or interviewed for. In examining how you did, you may see a company doesn’t fit your personality in terms of how you prefer to work or your personal objectives. You may also see where you could have used a networking contact to make a better connection or you need to add a certain skill to your experience.
Self-evaluation, when done in a positive way, can help you become a stronger candidate for future opportunities. When you want to evaluate what job will work best for you, reach out to the PrideStaff Thousand Oaks and Ventura County recruiters today!
