post - interview anxiety

I recently had an interview for my first choice job opportunity for next year. Since it was one of my first real face-to-face interviews, I didn't want to screw it up so I asked some of the career advisors and looked at the Career Guide for advice on how to conduct myself after the interview.

Hopefully one of your questions during the interview was "What can I expect next in the hiring process?" In response, the employer should tell you the approximate timeframe of when you should hear back from them about a second interview or a job offer. This was helpful for me because I didn't want to wait anxiously for an unspecified amount of time before hearing back.

One aspect of post-job interview etiquette that I learned is commonly ignored is the thank you letter. Generally these are sent to your interviewer within 24 hours of the interview. If you have multiple interviewers, try to send a personalized note to each - perhaps by mentioning a few things that you spoke about during the interview and why they were interesting to you. A few sample thank you letters can be found in the Cornell Career Guide here. Thank the interviewer for their time and reiterate *briefly* why you think you're a good fit for the job/organization. Nowadays it is appropriate for the letter to be sent by email if that is the way you have been communicating with the employer before the interview. I read a few articles online about writing thank you letters, and one question that was frequently asked was whether employers might think you are "sucking up" by writing such a note. The common response was that most people like to be thanked for their time, and it is rare that an employer would be upset to be thanked in a formal manner.

If you hadn't done so before the interview, get a list of references together in the event that the employer asks for their contact information. Make sure to confirm the willingness of each of your references before you give out their information to your potential employer! References can be professors, work or lab supervisors, coaches and other contacts who know you well in a professional context.

If the employer doesn't get back to you within the expected timeframe, it is appropriate to send a polite email inquiring when you should expect to hear back -- but aside from that, the only thing to do is sit and wait!