Job Hunting? 3 Things You Should Do After Every Interview

Interviewing and exploring new job opportunities is one of the best ways to increase your value in the market.

Let me explain.

You don't know what you don't know. When you make time to explore new jobs and see what's available in your current industry, or new industries, you have a chance to sharpen your skills, update your personal brand, and uncover new career opportunities (even if you're not 'looking'). I've experienced this recently and learned some valuable lessons.

Here's my short list of 3 things you should do after every interview:

1. Jot down what you learned
As you were talking with the hiring manager(s) or company representative, what did you learn? Now that you had a chance to hear more about Company X, Y, or Z, and had a chance to ask questions, what have you found out about upcoming trends, industry updates, new technology, business methodologies, and so on? Make a note of these and go back to review them and learn more by doing some research (dig into the who, what, why, where, etc.).

2. Fill out the Job Opportunity Comparison Matrix
With every job/career move, there are emotions involved. The Job Opportunity Comparison Matrix helps you take an objective and collected approach based on a total score from a pre-determined list of criteria such as location, pay, and so on. During my last job search, I came up with this simple Excel sheet, and it worked! What's neat is that the company that I was leaning towards ended up having the highest total score. This is a simple but effective tool to use when you have multiple opportunities and you're stuck on which to choose.

​3. Adjust your resume
Tweak your resume to include keywords, phrases, tasks, any missing experience that you remembered you have, and so on. You can even save multiple, industry-specific, or role-specific versions of your resume. The idea is to improve it using what you picked up from your last interview, so you can stand out for future opportunities. For example, in one of my interviews, the hiring manager kept bringing up 'cross-functional' work and how important it was in the particular role I was interviewing for. Well, after giving it some thought, I realized I had a lot of experience with cross-functional work, including on a global scale, but I just never identified it on my resume. This was a simple and beneficial addition.

​Danny