New Year’s Eve came and went. The ball dropped and the champagne popped. After a night of tearing it up, many people spend New Year’s Day lying in bed and chugging water regretting every decision they made the night before. Everyone knows that if you party too hard, you’re gonna pay for it in the morning with a nasty hangover. What you may not know is that you can feel the same regret after a job interview. The career experts at AMI are here to help you by teaching you how to cure a hangover after a bad job interview!
What is an Interview Hangover?
Before we get into how to cure your interview hangover, we need to explain what it is and how it can happen to you. Imagine you’re in a job interview. Your heart is racing and your mouth is moving a mile a minute. You’re answering questions to the best of your ability and you feel like you’re doing well. Then, before you know it, it’s over and you’re shaking the hiring manager’s hand. You’re riding high! You think you just nailed your interview. Then, you get home and start thinking about the things you said. You realize that you forgot to mention some skills and didn’t really answer that one question with that ten-minute anecdote. Your heart sinks when you realize that maybe the interviewer was just being polite when they smiled and said they would let you know soon. You wish you could go back and do it all over again. The regret and embarrassment you’re feeling is all part of your interview hangover.
What Causes an Interview Hangover?
There are a few factors that can lead to an interview hangover:
- Overconfidence: You waltzed in thinking you were a shoo-in and the hiring manager hit you with some hard questions.
- Under preparation: You thought you were a smooth talker and didn’t have to do any research about the job or company.
- Lack of Focus: You didn’t keep your eyes on the prize and let your answers get away from you instead of staying on target to show the interviewer you’re the best person for the job.
- Overcompensation: You were nervous and made a mistake and then spent the entire interview trying to compensate for that mistake.
- Apathy: You tried to play it cool, but then realized after the fact that instead of coming off as measured and confident, you came off as someone who doesn’t care.
This is just a small sampling of things that can make you rue the choices you made at your job interview. However, while there are many roads that lead to regret, there is a catch-all cure.
How to Cure an Interview Hangover
Practice! It’s really as simple as that. All you need to do to nail your interview is make sure that you’re adequately prepared. Research the company and the position. Reflect on your own experiences and how they apply to the job. Be confident, but don’t be full of yourself. Be ready with your own questions at the end of the interview. Make sure to stay on message. Everything you say at the interview should show your interviewer why you’d be a great fit for this job at this company, whether it’s because you’ve got the know-how to get the job done or because you’re kind and charming and would make the workplace better with your awesome personality. The best way to get the practice you need to nail the interview and land the job is to create an account with AMI and work with an Interview Specialist to make interview hangovers a thing of the past!
