Waiting for feedback after your interview can be quite agonising – there’s a lot of anticipation around moving on to the next step of the interview process. Trust us – as a recruitment agency and talent acquisition consultant in Ho Chi Minh, we know how candidates feel post-interview. However, instead of worrying when that next call or email will be, we suggest doing some of the following to make the waiting game more productive and work to your advantage.

Why do you have to wait?

There are a lot of things going on behind every recruitment call or interview. We have to update our Applicant Tracking System (ATS), verify information, complete documentation, format CVs, write candidate profiles and more. For every candidate that we talk to, we have to replicate this – we talk to dozens of candidates just for one role, and we recruit for multiple roles at any given time. There can be a lot of documentation to keep up with.

Apart from this, getting feedback from clients about candidate profiles can also take time. They’re busy business leaders, and may need more time evaluating, deciding and selecting the right people to join their team. This can take a while, but it’s part of the process.

In the meantime, here are things we think you should do.

Send the interviewer a thank you message

Whether via email or text message, a simple thank you is always a nice gesture after an interview. It shows you appreciate the time and effort they took to consider you for the role.

This is also how you can build rapport with the recruiter or hiring manager. By having a good professional relationship with them, you’ll reinforce the good impression you made during the interview.

You can also ask for the next steps or a timeline to give you a better idea of the process if this wasn’t already covered. This lets them know how interested you are in this opportunity.

Reflect on your interview performance

Interviewing is a skill, and some people can buckle under the pressure of a preliminary interview, effectively ruining their chances to move on to the next level. Take the time to think about what your good points were – did you give excellent insights into your skills, work experience, achievements, and leadership? Where were you lacking – was it your confidence, was it the hesitation to answer challenging questions, or were you meandering and failed to give a conclusive answer?

Evaluate the good points and anything that might need further improvement. Try to practice answering questions more competently to give you that needed rhythm and confidence during interviews. In particular, focus on practicing ‘competency questions’ to help you prepare more specific answers to your past career achievements and challenges. The more you practice and learn about what should be said gives you a better chance of a more successful interview next time.

Research further

While waiting, it might be best to do your due diligence to know more about your role, the industry and company you’re joining. Read the company website, any investor pages, LinkedIn pages, Glassdoor and Indeed. How is the industry doing? What do you think the company should be doing to improve? Should you move on to the final interview, you’ll be equipped with enough knowledge to make an even better impression.

List further questions

Candidates sometimes seem to forget their questions or concerns in the flurry of the interview. Once you have time to yourself and have given thought about this potential role, list important questions that you’d want to ask the hiring manager or recruiter should you be fortunate enough to move to the next phase. You can ask more about the organizational structure, the leadership team, who you will be working with, and the challenges of the role. You may also ask for further specifics about the role, the workload, training and growth opportunities.

Asking these questions tempers your expectations for the role and prepares you for when you’re hired.

Contact your references

Give your previous bosses and managers a heads up so they know when to expect a quick call from your recruiter. This will allow them to make time for the call or email, and to ultimately give a glowing recommendation for you.

Be patient

We know it’s difficult to resist the urge to contact the recruiter or hiring manager everyday to follow up on your application. We don’t recommend doing this as it puts you in a bad light – you’ll appear to have low emotional intelligence, and you might actually disturb the interviewing and hiring process. Waiting patiently for feedback is a good way to keep a good impression. Perhaps a once-a-week respectful follow-up is enough, and will let recruiters like us know you’re eager for the role.

In case you don’t get hired for the role you applied for, use this as a chance to work on your interview skills. Ask the recruiter for feedback on how you can make a better impression next time. They will be more than happy to help you improve, and will most likely keep your profile for future vacancies.

Recruitment agency in Ho Chi Minh

Make your post-interview waiting time meaningful. Do everything you can to make a good impression and learn more about the role you’re applying for. The interview is just the first step – getting in and doing the job well is the more important part of this process. You’ll be glad you made the effort for self-improvement whether you get the job or not because you’ll only be more prepared for all the future job interviews ahead.

ASW Consulting is a trusted recruitment agency and talent acquisition consultancy in Ho Chi Minh that can help you find the right job, and provide you helpful job-related consultations. We have strong experience interviewing and providing advice to candidates like you across all industries. To know more about interview preparations and virtual interviews, visit our Resources page.