Close the interview strong

- As the interviewer myself, I always pay attention to how a candidate opens the interview and how they finish it, and most people leave it up to the interviewer to close it. It looks something like, "That's all I have for today. Do you have any questions?" And sometimes interviewees ask a few, often they don't. When they do, the most common question is, "When will I hear back?" But it doesn't feel like a strong finish, does it? So here's what I want you to do instead. First, reiterate your interest. Most job seekers believe that interviewing for a job shows their interest, but that's not how the employers see it. Employers want confirmation that you don't want just any job. You want this job. And the end of the interview is the perfect time to reiterate your interest based on what you learned about the job during the interview. The key here is to be specific about exactly what you're excited about. Here's what you can say. "I really enjoyed our conversation and I loved what I heard from you about your customer-first approach to sales." "I approach sales as relationship building, so this really resonated and made me even more excited for this role." Next, remind them of your top three qualifications that you shared earlier. Here's an easy and natural way to bring them up. Simply add them after you talk about your interest in the role. If we stick with the same example, it can look like, "This made me even more excited for the role, and now that I have a better understanding of your challenges and the goal for this role, I can see that this is a mutual fit as I've been shown to grow sales in even the most competitive environments." "My strength is in working with top-level executives, and in developing data-driven sales strategies." You're really looking for just that one sentence here as you would have talked about these qualifications already. And finally, ask about the next steps. Most interviewers will bring up the next steps themselves, but this can be an opportunity for you to show that you are in demand, but you are choosing this opportunity. If you're interviewing somewhere else, especially if you're at the offer stage, I would bring it up here and make it clear that this current opportunity is your number one choice. You can say, "What would be the next steps and the timeline? I'm currently in the final stages for a different opportunity." "This role is my number one choice, and I want to ensure that we explore the next stages." Now, I want you to think back to your latest interview and think about how you could have talked about your interest, top qualifications, and the next steps at the end of the interview. Then add these three steps to your next interview. Okay, one last thing. After you finish the interview, I'd like you to do two things. First, send a thank you note before the end of the day. I like to send separate notes to each interviewer if there were multiple, and similar to reiterating your interest at the end of the interview, I like to add one sentence about exactly what I enjoyed in the interview and what made me excited for the role. And finally, reflect on your interview. If you're actively job searching, chances are that you will go to multiple interviews in a short period of time, and to improve, self-reflection is key. So within a day after your interview while it's still fresh, I'd like you to write down three things that you did well and three things that you could have done better in your interview so that you can address them in your preparation for your next interview. If you recently had an interview, do the reflection right now. And if you haven't already, make sure to download "The Step-By-Step Interview Guide" in the Exercise Files. Use it to apply and track the steps that you learned in this course with each new role you interview for. Now, before we finish, I'd like to share a few resources to help you to continue growing in your career. Follow me on LinkedIn. I share daily actionable career advice for ambitious job seekers looking to step into the next level in their career. And if you're looking for an A-to-Z roadmap to discovering and landing your dream career, along with my support every step of the way, my coaching program, The Star Candidate, might be just the right fit for you. You can find my courses and coaching programs as well as free resources on my website thecareerdiet.com. Cheering you on, always.