One of the common areas of trouble for many is at the end of an interview. Typically, the interviewer will always ask if you have any questions for them. It is important that you have prepared some questions to ask. This is where we go into the closing stage. The closing stage is about finding out what the next steps are. So for example, you might use it as an open question, like “How do we progress to the next stage?” You’ve cleaned up all the fears. They’ve answered the questions. There’s no fears and there’s no problems. We’re happy with everything. The next question is, “Well how do we progress to the next stage? And can I ask when you’ll be making the decision?”
What you’re doing here is that you’re preparing, in your mind, your own expectations. Because there’s nothing worse than when you leave an interview and not knowing what the process is. This is one of the biggest mistakes people make, is they walk away unsure of what the next steps are. So make sure that doesn’t happen to you.
So let’s talk about the question that I always use here, which asks how we progress this to the next stage. It’s kind of an assumptive close. It’s assuming that you’ve got the job and also it’s giving an open question so they can respond back. Whenever you ask a question, always keep your mouth shut and let them answer as well. That is really important. Don’t try and answer for them. I also ask, “Can I ask when you’ll be making the decision?” That is also a good question, because 9 times out of 10, they’ve got to see other people during the day or during the week. You probably won’t get a decision on the spot. But what’s important is that you do show your commitment to the job, in trying to close, and in trying to find a decision. This just prepares your expectations and theirs.
So for example, if they say “We’ll be making the decision next Tuesday the 23rd of April,” you know exactly where they stand. You know exactly that they’ll be contacting you. So that’s really important. So just to summarize, I would always use “How do we progress to the next stage?” And I would also ask “Can I ask when you’ll be making be making the decision?” Those questions are really the key points that you need to close, and need to understand.
The final tip I can share is to always continue your search. You never know what job opportunities are about to open up. To many times candidates sit back pinning all their hopes up on the one job that they’ve applied for and become very despondent if that job doesn’t come in and they lose momentum. But by keeping your momentum during the decision making process you’re giving yourself more opportunities. At times everybody fails. I have failed with job interviews. There’s not many people that I don’t know that have failed at some point in their lives. So it does happen. But make sure that you keep your momentum going because obviously there’s a greater chance of success.
