Since follow-ups frequently involve meetings with several people, your interviewer may have been receiving feedback all along and may know more than you do about how things went. Nonetheless, you should focus on how well things went and have good things to say about the people you met and the information they shared with you. But don't be a Pollyanna. If you saw or heard things about the position that you would like clarified, this is the time to bring them up. To fail to do so now could leave you vulnerable once in the job.
Missing Information Somewhere during your interviews, you should have been able to learn about your office, your hours, your physical location, your secretary, the availability of a contract, benefits, policy on salary increases, moving expenses (if applicable), the community to which you would be moving, schools, activities, and more.
You should have also learned something about the drawbacks to the job; every position has them. Use this closing opportunity to ask about areas that the host feels could be improved within the company, the department, or the community. If you haven't gotten this information, ask for it. Any respectable employer will want you to have a fair, balanced picture upon which to make your decision.
Until now, we have placed a lot of emphasis on what could go wrong and what to watch out for. That does not mean you should expect the worst. On the contrary, most follow-up interviews are pleasant experiences, and you would need little coaching to get through them. However, here is an obligation to help you prepare, and that means continuing to help you recognize where interview traps may lie and to show you how to deal with them successfully.
When you wrap up this meeting with your host interviewer, you may find that you still have not been offered a job. This too is not uncommon.
Most such sessions close with a comment such as "We'll get back to you" from the interviewer. Stay poised. Here is one time when the sales approach to skills marketing must be modified. Don't press for the order. Instead, recall the trial closes I discussed earlier and try one of them. At best, you will learn a bit more about where you stand, but the host will undoubtedly want to talk with the others in depth before making a commitment.
Close the interview with all the finesse you used during the first meeting and be on your way. Immediately jot down your impressions, just as you did before. You will have to send a personal note to each person you met, so you must obtain either business cards from them or a list of names and titles from your host.
Keep your notes brief, and be sure each one includes a reference to something job-related that each individual discussed with you. Close by thanking each person for the time spent with you, but avoid the temptation to comment on "how wonderful it would be" to work with him or her.
The Final Step
Within a reasonable period, you should receive either a phone call or a letter from your host. If you are called, the likelihood is that you are being made an offer and there is some room for a modest amount of negotiation, perhaps on salary but more likely on other points such as a moving allowance and a starting date.
In this negotiation, don't quibble. Just assure your caller that you know you will be treated fairly. Stress, that you will trust your employer's judgment. You will gain more from that approach than you would by arguing over nickels and dimes, and you will be more assured of being made an offer.
When the offer is made, ask for a few days to consider it. You need not explain why, even (and perhaps especially) if you are waiting for a better prospect to come through. Set a specific time limit that you can both agree on, and be sure to get back to the caller at that time. If you receive a letter, it may also contain good news. The terms will be more fixed, however, even though the letter may extend an invitation to discuss terms further. It may be to your advantage to follow up a written offer with a phone call, since a letter frequently does not contain everything you may wish to know.
When You Decline an Offer
Perhaps, for whatever reason, you find it necessary to decline an offer. If so, you have no obligation to be brutally frank about your reasons. Just say that you have decided to continue to look elsewhere and that you appreciate the time and effort the host and the other interviewers expended on your behalf.
One seminar participant told me he once turned down a job because he didn't like the working conditions—dirty, unsafe, and so on. He tried giving the caller a courteous yet ambiguous turndown. The caller, with whom he had established a good rapport during the interview, responded by saying, "I don't blame you. I'm not going to be here much longer myself." Unprofessional, perhaps, but it certainly reinforced the candidate's decision.
When You're Turned Down
If you have been turned down, you will most likely learn about it by letter, since a letter is a safer way to convey that information. Whether the bad news comes by letter or by phone, don't take it personally. You must have scored well above the pack just to get as far as you did. You must have been liked, and the decision may have been a difficult one.
Let the caller know that, and express your appreciation for what the people you met must have gone through in making a final decision. You can be assured that they have done their best to select the person most likely to be successful on the job. Once again, what goes around comes around, and people in any given field tend to cross paths when they least expect it throughout their careers. A professional attitude now may hold you in good stead at another time. Although you may not like the "rejection," you will certainly be able to live with yourself a lot better if you remain the pro that you know you are.
When you accept an offer, always acknowledge it in writing and spell out conditions as you understand them. At this point you can also express your enthusiasm about working with the host and ask him or her to extend that feeling to the others whom you have met. Soon you will be on the job.
