#7 Signs to Help You Predict Your Interview Results
Are you tired of anxiously waiting for that post-interview call? Well, we've got a secret to share with you! Your interviewers might have already dropped some hints about your fate. In this blog post, we're going to reveal 7 telltale signs that can help you figure out how your interview went and predict the results. By recognizing these signals, you can save time and even start considering your Plan B, making your job hunt more efficient.
Let's be real, most of the time, you won't get an immediate verdict after your interview. That's because interviewers often need to huddle up, compare notes with other candidates, and deliberate before making a decision. And, let's face it, getting rejected on the spot can be a real ego-crusher.
But this waiting game can be a bit frustrating for job seekers. So, let's break down these 7 signs:
1. Overly Short Interview Duration
When an interview ends within a few minutes, this largely means that the candidate fails to catch the attention of the recruiter. Nobody wants to waste time on unqualified applicants, especially recruiters. The recruiter's continued use of the phone or other activities also indicates that he is uninterested in the applicant and does not want to have a pointless conversation. In most situations, the longer the interview process, the higher the likelihood of you passing the interview. This is because the recruiter is willing to spend time to understand you.
However, you have to be cautious. Usually, as the interview gets longer, you may become more comfortable and relaxed which may result in you misspeaking and jeopardize your chances of acceptance.
Therefore, the success rate of interviews is higher when the interview is long, rather than it being too short as it shows that the recruiter is showing interest in you.
2. Not Introducing Roles and Responsibilities
During the interview process, if the interviewer fails to share with you your daily roles and responsibilities at work, this is not a good sign as it is an indication that the interviewer is not keen for the candidate to join the team.
In most cases, many interviewers will take the opportunity to introduce what the team is doing if they are pleased with the candidate and want the candidate to join the team. They will usually share the culture, mission and values of the company in order to attract the candidate to join.
Being transparent and honest about the work environment is something that welcomes candidates. It also prevents the candidates from leaving the company due to the unaligned values or they do not know what they are getting into.
Therefore, it can be predicted that the success rate of interviews is higher when the recruiter introduces more about the job, as compared to the interviewer not sharing about it at all.
3. Not Asking for Earliest Start Date
Especially for urgent positions, the candidate’s earliest start date is an important consideration. There are two possibilities if recruiters don’t ask candidates for their earliest start date.
1. Applicants are not considered
2. Recruiters are not in a hurry to fill the position
No matter which situation it is, the probability of failing the interview will be relatively high, so go for Plan B immediately. However, if the recruiter asks about the earliest start date and the candidate’s answer is far from what the company wants, he will fail too.
That being said, the success rate of acceptance is still higher when the recruiter asks about the earliest start date rather than not asking.
4. Dismissive of Your Question
Usually, at the end of the interview, candidates will be given an opportunity to ask questions. However, if the recruiter skips this step or answers the questions hastily, it is very likely that he has no interest in the candidate.
On the other hand, if the recruiter is willing to take the time to answer all the candidate’s questions patiently and in-depth, there is a higher chance for the interview to be successful. The ideal situation will be that the recruiter confirms that he has answered the candidate’s question accurately and encourages the candidate to ask more questions.
Therefore, the predicted success rate of acceptance will be higher when more questions are being encouraged and the recruiter takes time to address the candidate’s question.
5. No Clear Waiting Period
At the end of the interview, the candidate will be asked to go back and wait for the results. However, there are very few that will receive the notification. In normal circumstances, only those who are accepted will be notified, while those who are rejected - despite making it clear to the recruiter that they want to be notified regardless of the outcome - are rarely notified.
If the interviewer says “Go back and wait for the notification or I will notify you within a week”, it is best to not have high hopes as there is no clear waiting period. However, in some cases, these candidates will be treated as a “spare tire” and will be compared with other candidates.
On the other hand, if the interviewer is satisfied, there will usually be a clear waiting time, for example. “I will notify you before 12 noon on Wednesday or I will notify you of the results before I get off work today”. This is mainly to give the candidates reassurance as recruiters are also afraid that suitable talents will change their minds or be poached by another company, thus they will try to get it settled as soon as possible.
However, the efficiency of the company must also be taken into consideration. The processes of each company is different and thus, you may get notified at different time frames according to the company.
However, as a rule of thumb, the clearer and shorter the waiting period is, it is predicted that you are more likely going to be accepted.
6. There are Other Candidates
No one can assure that he will be the last candidate, thus if there are other candidates who applied for the job, it is a very common sight. However, a common way for recruiters to kindly reject candidates is to say “Please wait for the notification as we have other candidates, and we need to consider them”. Refer to the above point, if there is a clear waiting time, it means that the candidate is still under consideration and there is still a chance for him to be accepted.
7. Leader/HR is Busy
This situation may occur after the first round of interviews is over and the interviewer says “The leader/HR is unable to proceed with the next round of interviews as he is busy, please wait for the notification”. Although this may be true in some cases, however, in most circumstances, it isn’t the case. Most of the time, the recruiter feels that you are not good enough for the role and there is no need to waste the leader’s time.
Job Seeking Made Easy
These are the 7 key signals which you can use to predict the failure or success of your interview. Aniday hopes that through this article, you will be able to successfully identify the signals given by interviewers so that you will not be wasting your time and can more efficiently find a job that suits you and gain experience from it.
