How To Know If Your Interview Is Going Well

When you’re interviewing for a job, it’s easy to feel like everything is going badly, even when it’s going well. This is because so many of us get nervous at job interviews.

Some hiring managers go out of their way to make job candidates feel uneasy. Even when a hiring manager is doing this, you can still often figure out whether things are going well or not. Here are some indicators that you’re on the right track.

It’s taking a while.

If a hiring manager isn’t interested in you, you’ll probably have a pretty short interview. The longer you’re there, the more likely it is that you’re having a good interview.

Hiring managers are busy. They will show you the door and move on to the next person if they don’t think you are worth the time. This is true with positions where there are a lot of candidates.

A tour.

If you’re given a tour of the premises (especially if you didn’t request one), odds are you are being strongly considered for the role.

The interviewer won’t take the time to show you around unless he or she thinks you might actually need to know all the stuff you’re learning on the tour. If any introductions are made to other employees, that is a very good sign that you’re high on the list.

Discussions about next steps.

If an interviewer talks about inviting you back to a second interview, that’s clearly a good sign.

It’s also a good sign if there’s a discussion about salary, benefits, hours, and other in-depth hiring topics which wouldn’t really be important unless the hiring manager were considering offering you the job. If you’re told you should hear back by a certain date, that’s a positive sign.

If you get the generic “We’ll call you” that usually is a bad sign.

Gut instinct.

If you feel like you’ve established rapport and like you’re talking comfortably with your interviewer, and like the discussion has a natural flow, you may be doing well.

If everything seems forced or the interviewer appears bored or like he or she is just going through the motions, you may not be doing so well.

The most important reason to know if you did well on an interview is to try and establish whether you should wait to hear back. If you get a job offer in the meantime but you’re still waiting to hear back from another company, you can try to play for time.

Usually if you request a few days to think an offer over, you’ll be given them. It’s usually best to at least consider accepting any offer you’re going to be reasonably happy with. The company you’re waiting to hear back from may fall through. Use your own judgment and choose wisely.