If You Find Yourself Not Making It Past The First Interview, Don't Get Discouraged
You’ve been working on your resume, applying to jobs, and
you finally got an interview with a company you are interested in working for.
You made it through the first interview and now you’re waiting to hear back
about the next steps, but you never get the call. So many people find
themselves in this situation wondering where things went wrong. Don’t become
discouraged, the next job could be waiting right around the corner from you.
Here are the top reasons why you aren’t getting a second interview, and what
you can do in the future to better your chances.
Lack of Preparation
One of the most common reasons that you may not be getting a second interview was that you showed a lack of preparation in one way or another in the initial interview. Preparing for an interview should be something you do for every interview if you want to get the second interview. Making a good initial impression is incredibly important and can be the difference when they are selecting from a narrowed down group of candidates. In interviews, employers are looking for signs that you have prepared adequately for the interview which they use to draw conclusions from. This could be a lack of knowledge about the company, not being able to speak fluently about your resume, and even your presentation with things like being underdressed or late to the interview. Employers are looking for all the signs that you are prepared and are ready to take your job seriously and will make note of seemingly the smallest things. Make sure that you are doing adequate research about the job position you are interviewing for, the company, and their culture, and arrive on time and dressed accordingly. These things can make all the difference for an employer who could be interviewing upwards of 50+ candidates for the same job that day.
Problems With Social Media
If an employer gives you an interview for a job, it means that they see something in you as a candidate that leads them to believe you have potential within their company. This also means that they are going to do their research on you before offering you a job. Some jobs will do their research on candidates before the initial interview, but other jobs that have large numbers of candidates simply don’t have the time or energy to dig into every potential candidate. If a job researches you and finds things on your social media they do not like, this can lead to being eliminated from the candidate pool. These kinds of things are dependent on every company but common problems with social media include inappropriate posts, hateful posts, and anything else that does not align with their company values or that could reflect poorly on them. Remember, before a company gets to know you, they can only make judgments based on public information like your social media. While social media is a great way to stay in touch with people, keeping it professional helps to maintain a positive online image.
You Didn't Tell Your Story
Being able to tell your story in an interview is an important skill that can make or break your chances at a second interview. Telling your story doesn’t mean telling them a story about yourself, but rather means being able to talk about what skills, experiences, and personal values define you. You want to be able to talk about these things in a way that paints a picture to employers of who you are and who it is they thinking about hiring. While you want to be able to highlight these high points in your story, you don’t want it to sound too scripted and it should come naturally in conversation. If you find yourself struggling with this, try practicing at home before interviews.
It Wasn't The Right Fit
The first interview with a company is their chance to get to talk to you in person see if you could be a good fit for their job opening. Sometimes, it just might not be a good fit with the employer. They may be looking for something incredibly specific in a candidate, or even have someone already in mind. While you may not end up getting the job, these kinds of interviews can still be a great learning experience, networking tool, and chance to practice interviewing so when the right job comes along, you nail the interview. This is not a reason to be discouraged, because a poor fit with an employer can lead to you being dissatisfied with being an employee there. Sometimes finding the right fit may just take some time.
Our team at ExpressPros Minnesota are staffing and employment experts dedicated to helping you find your next job, or employee. Contact us today by calling us at 952-448-3653, or emailing us at [email protected].
2679 W 78 St., Chanhassen, MN
11011 61st St NE., Suite 125, Albertville, MN
