The Second Interview

Started by alibhai, Aug 20, 2009, 11:13 PM

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alibhai

Congratulations! You impressed the interviewer and you managed to be scheduled for a second interview. The main questions regarding this issue are the following: Is the second interview different from the first? If yes, in what way? The basic difference starts from the fact that this time around you will be spending more time in the company, talking to people, individually or collectively. During this time you will be more closely observed in order to see your behavior and personality at work.

The employer's point of view
The second interview is actually the assurance of the employer that you are the perfect man for the job. From his perspective, he needs the second interview in order to evaluate attentively your skills, behavior and qualities. Sometimes it is rather difficult for you to rise above the others, as some companies might schedule more than one interview with different persons in the same day. What you need to do is to stress your experience, feedback and abilities and the fact that these are the ones which will help you successfully reach your goals. Your target is to convince your interviewer that the job has your name on it.

The persons you will meet
Another difference between the first and the second interview resides in the fact that during the second one you will most surely meet more people who work in the company: managers, department colleagues or other employees. The persons that you will meet will put approximately the same questions; hence you should try to give the same answers but using different forms. The best approach that you can use is to get the names of the persons you are going to meet and some details about each of them, before the interview, in order to have the possibility to conduct discussions on different topics. It may happen that you meet two or more persons at the same time. Try as much as you can to discuss and make eye contact with each one of them.

Steps to follow after the second interview
It seldom happens that you are presented with a concrete offer at the end of the second interview. If it does happen, don't rush to make a decision. Just ask if it is possible to take a few days to think about it. If at the end of the interviews you don't receive any offers, make sure that you send a short letter or a thank you e-mail to each of the persons with whom you discussed. At the same time it might take a few days or even weeks for a company to decide which candidate is the most appropriate for the job. In either case, you need to be patient, flexible and ready for an offer or an invite for another interview.