How to do better if you come out of interview feeling good?

[Newbie1234]

I understand when people leave the interviews feeling bad about it AND know where they performed poorly, they can adequately prepare for it in the future. But what about when you come out of the interview feeling pretty good about it and the results are shockingly bad? It almost feels like there's nothing you can do because you don't know what went wrong.

[Jochi1543]

How do you know they were "shockingly bad"? Just judging by a rejection? That doesn't mean anything. There's usually 2-3 people interviewing for every spot, so the rejected ones are usually the majority. Also, it doesn't mean you said something terribly stupid, it might just mean that the other person(s) was more eloquent, had a background that helped him or her address some particular questions in more detail, and just a better interviewer by nature.

 

Secondly, I remember someone on this forum who does interviews (ffp? She did CARMS interviews), and they said that generally, 10% of the people interview terribly, 10% do outstanding, and the remaining 80% are all pretty close together.

[Julie]

also, just to add my 2 cents, once the interview is over, it's usually preaty easy to find ways you could have said some of the things better... at least it was for me and most people I talked to. Even if the interview went reasonably well, if you ruminate on the questions for a few minutes, you'll probably find much better answers than the ones you gave. It's always easier when you're not on the spot. You'll probably be able to think of at least a few things you could have done better. The challenge is often not to be too hard on yourself for that!

 

However, if it ever does happen that you felt you had as good an interview as possible and you didn't get in (as Joshi said, doesn't mean you had a bad interview), maybe try the prep interview at your campus, if they have some (if not, maybe call some currents students from that school?). The people preping you might be able to give you advice, or at least a confidence boost

 

Best of luck

[NLengr]

While I've done well so far with my med school interviews, I've probably done about 25 interviews for work terms when I was an undergraduate engineer, and I did 2 the past summer for a full time engineering job. Most times, I wasn't offered the job. The thing about interviews I have found is you never have a sweet clue what they are looking for. Every interviewer reacts to your answers differently, so even if you feel good, it may not have been what the interviewer wanted.

 

On top of that, interviews are only a part of the process. Sometimes you can have a great interview, but maybe you don't have the experience they want. It might not be your interview holding you back. You really need to look at the whole picture.

 

Also remember that others compete against you. Maybe someone else's package was just a little better then yours. It's a dynamic process. And interview that is good one year, may not be good enough the next year.

 

As for ways to improve, practice, practice practice. Make sure you know yourself, your application, and the points you want to make about obvious questions before you go in.

[Crossup01]

When you look back at anything, it always seems like that there was room for improvement (or at least I hope that that is what a critical mind manages to glean). Anyhow, you are usually quite an accurate judge of your performance (a lesson I learned from mentorship), and weaknesses that you see are likely there. Granted, there are a lot of things that you may not see, but flaws that are self-evident can be addressed and improved upon after reflection.

[peachy]

I understand when people leave the interviews feeling bad about it AND know where they performed poorly, they can adequately prepare for it in the future. But what about when you come out of the interview feeling pretty good about it and the results are shockingly bad? It almost feels like there's nothing you can do because you don't know what went wrong.

Sometimes, it may be about improving your total application rather than improving your interviewing skills in particular. When I was an interviewer, I tended to feel like people did less well not because their interviewing skills were less polished but rather because they didn't have the same depth of experiences to draw on as applicants who did better.

[Smurfette]

If you really do think it was the interview (and not other aspects of your application) that you did poorly in, then you might try videotaping yourself in a mock interview. It's excruciatingly painful to watch yourself on tape, but you can sometimes pick up your own annoying mannerisms and stuff that you don't realize you're doing.

[The Law]

If you really do think it was the interview (and not other aspects of your application) that you did poorly in, then you might try videotaping yourself in a mock interview. It's excruciatingly painful to watch yourself on tape, but you can sometimes pick up your own annoying mannerisms and stuff that you don't realize you're doing.

 

Man, I would hate to watch myself on tape for a prolonged period of time... in an interview setting. lol

 

I do agree that it would be awesome to do that. I believe Western's student development centre records the mock interviews they conduct for people who want interview prep.

[Riona55]

that is an awesome idea.....i'm inspired:p