Whether you are thoroughly practising your handshake or rehearsing the best pitch, you will undoubtedly be inundated by interview preparation.
Once you have raised your confidence levels to their utmost proficiency and prepared as much as you possibly can, it can be disappointing to blow it all with a messy ending to your interview.
The last impression is the one that lasts and therefore it is vital to finish your interview effectively. Luckily, there are certain steps that you can follow to ensure that you leave the best impression with your interviewer.
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1) Ask Specific Questions About The Company
Managers will often finish the interview by asking you if you have any questions and this inherently provides you with the opportunity to ask some impressive questions.
You should take advantage of this opportunity by preparing relevant questions that will ensure that you gain the utmost insight into the company.
There is no replacement for research and you can note two or three specified questions that will show your enthusiasm, curiosity and passion for the role itself. Some good questions include:
- Why is the position available?
- What do you expect from me within the first 90 days?
- Are there developmental opportunities within the company?
- What is the best thing about working here?
- How is performance assessed within the role?
2) Reinstate Your Enthusiasm And Interest
Prior to leaving, you should take a moment to affirm your enthusiasm for the role as a high standard of engagement is a desirable quality for managers.
People want to believe that you want to work for them for more than a pay cheque and that you have the drive and interpersonal skills required to work for the company.
3) Summarize Your Skills And Experience
You should attempt to reiterate your skills and experience in order to re-establish your propositional value.
The smoother that you can make this, the better, as you do not want to come across as arrogant. However, if the opportunity arises to reinstate why you are the best person for the role, then you should definitely seize the moment.
You can close by highlighting your key attributes and skills and ensure that these are tied into the role itself.
4) Find Out The Next Stage
You should ask what the next stage of the hiring process is. Whilst this may seem obvious to some, the vast majority of people forget to ask people what the next stage is in the hiring process as they are consumed by the interview itself.
You should leave the interview confident in your performance whilst prepared for the next stage of the process.
Additionally, by asking if there’s anything else that you can provide during the following stage, you will be demonstrating your drive and enthusiasm accordingly.
5) Send Your Gratitude
Sending a thank you email to your interviewer will demonstrate your enthusiasm for the role and your appreciation for their time.
The vast majority of job seekers do not send a thank you email after attending an interview. Therefore, to stand out from the crowd, you should extend your gratitude and converse with those who you met during the process within 24 hours of your interview occurring.
This will demonstrate that you have strong interpersonal skills and are a team player who shows appreciation for those who you will be working alongside.
To demonstrate your engagement, you can briefly reference specific subjects that you discussed during the process.
6) Hone Your Confidence Skills
Whilst confidence isn’t always the easiest trait to own, it will bring you a wealth of abundance. Harnessing self-belief is the best way to ensure that you close your interview effectively as you will be less likely to speak incoherently.
You will also have a calm mindset when closing the interview and inherently be able to ask relevant questions with regards to salary negotiations and promotional opportunities.
People want to work alongside those who are proactive and with those people who they believe have the strength and desire that is required to fulfil the role successfully.
The more confidence that you can possess, the more likely you are to be able to close the interview effectively.
To conclude, there are many skills that you can implement in order to close an interview effectively. You should ensure that you have prepared a number of questions that you can ask your interviewer in order to demonstrate your enthusiasm and desire for the role.
This will also showcase you as someone who takes the initiative to ask questions and learn accordingly.
You can follow up your interview by sending your thanks and reiterating the key points that were discussed during the interview as this will demonstrate that you have absorbed the information that you were told and provide you with the opportunity to further equate the company’s values with your own personal attributes.
Above all, adopting a personal manner and being likeable is the best way to ensure that you nail an interview.
Whilst confidence is key in order to speak coherently and demonstrate your strength and resilience, you should avoid becoming arrogant in the process of demonstrating your skills.
There is a fine line to strike when ending an interview impactfully and interjecting awkwardly could also scupper your chances.
If the opportunity arises to reiterate why you are the best candidate for the role, seize it immediately without hesitation as this is the perfect time to reinstate your skills and to affirm your enthusiasm and desire for the role itself without overstepping the mark.
