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3 Things You Should Do When Waiting To Hear Back After An Interview

This article is more than 4 years old.

Sometimes waiting to hear back from the hiring manager about whether or not you got the job is more stressful than the interview process itself. The time between interview and decision can often drag on longer than anticipated, making this waiting time even more excruciating. While there’s no way to make the time pass quicker, there are three things you should do while you’re waiting to hear back about the job offer.

Keep searching for jobs and going on interviews.

Until you have a signed contract in your hands, nothing is certain. Even if you walk out of an interview with the hiring manager basically telling you the job is yours, it’s not a 100% guarantee. By continuing your search you’re ensuring that you still have options, and if you end up not getting the job, you haven’t lost any precious time.

You can scale back on your job searching efforts, but don’t stop them altogether. If you’re offered interviews, take them. Make sure that you’re still putting the same effort and energy into those interviews. It can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that it’s just a backup interview or Plan B. If you approach it that way, it will show through no matter how hard you try to hide it.

Slow down on the follow up.

After you’ve sent your initial follow up message to the hiring manager, don’t keep contacting them. Nothing annoys a hiring manager more than a ‘just checking in’ email that’s sent prior to the date they’ve said a decision would be made by. The same goes for an ‘I’m still very interested in this position’ email. They know you’re interested, and they know you’re eager for a decision to be made – but your emails aren’t going to speed up the process, so give the hiring manager a break.

You can, and should, reach out a few days after the date the decision was supposed to be made has passed. What you want to find out now is how much longer you’ll have to wait. One thing to leave out of the email - that you’re still interested in the job. You’re emailing them to ask about when a decision will be made, so it’s quite obvious you still want it. Stating that directly can come across as desperate, and quite frankly, redundant.

Be patient.

You’ve done everything you could do, and now the process is out of your hands. When you feel like you’re getting impatient, remind yourself of that. Yes, being patient is easier said than done, but you must try your hardest to not become anxious and stressed during the waiting period. All that will do is make the waiting even more difficult.

No matter what the outcome is, these three things will help keep you on track with your job searching process. If you get the job offer, excellent! If you don’t, you won’t have lost any time or momentum and your job search will still be moving forward.

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