Signs You Didn't Get The Job After the Interview

Lidia Staron, author at OpenLoans
Lidia Staron   Head of Content
Personal Finance
I enjoy navigating people through important financial decisions.

After a job interview, you probably won't hear whether or not you have been successful straight away. Instead, you might be left to speculate.

In this guide, we're looking at some of the signs that indicate you didn't get the job and signs that you did. We will also look at tips for maximizing your salary so that you are happy in your new role. There's no reason your financial wellness should take a hit.

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How to Decline a Job Interview

In the modern age, you might not only get offered a job interview if you have made an application. If you have signed up to LinkedIn or you have profiles on other industry platforms, then there is a chance someone who is recruiting might just contact you to offer you a job interview. If you are suited to a position, you might be offered an interview whether you have applied or not.

It isn't rude to decline a job interview. If you go to the job interview knowing you are very unlikely to take the job, you could be wasting everyone's time.

Woman interviewing.

To decline a job interview, you should simply email or call back, thanking them for the opportunity and letting the employer know that you are not available for the position. You might even want to ask them to consider you in the future if you think the job might be of interest at some point.

If you have an income source or can take out a personal loan, you can hold off on rushing to find a job.

How to Cancel a Job Interview

You might not need to attend a job interview anymore. Even if you have applied for the job, if your situation has changed, it will not be worth going to the interview. You might have got another job in the meantime. Most reasonable people understand that circumstances change, so there is no need to feel guilty.

If you are wondering how to cancel a job interview, the best tip is to simply be very polite about it and to give the company in question plenty of notice if you possibly can. Canceling on the same day is likely to be perceived as rude.

Salary Negotiations Tips

Your financial situation could largely depend on your earning power, so the salary negotiations might be one of the more important conversations you have in your life.

Salary negotiation is about getting what you deserve and what you need. Of course, you can always turn to other options. There are even personal loans for bad credit if you have struggled in the past to repay debts. If you are moving house for your job, this might incur certain costs, and it is important not to undersell yourself.

Woman interviewing for a job.

You might be wondering how to ask for a certain salary for the first time. If you haven't got a frame of reference, you may not know what sort of budget the company has for your position, or even what others in similar job roles are earning. Luckily, you can use some online job sites to determine what people in similar roles are earning. Some job sites even have a salary range and show you how much you should expect to earn in each location.

When negotiating the salary, you should think of the other aspects of the job, too. Low salary or benefits — which are more important to you? For instance, you might get a lot of benefits with the job, such as a car allowance and health insurance, and these might be more helpful to you and make up for some of the lack of salary.

How to Answer the Desired Salary

Answering the "desired salary" section of a job application is important, and knowing how to negotiate salary is difficult, especially if you have never negotiated a salary before. If you ask for too little, you can find that you can't manage the salary once you get the job. Ask for too much, and you might price yourself out of consideration and ruin your chances of getting employed.

To answer the "desired salary" section, ensure that you have done plenty of research on the standard salary for that position in the industry. Search engines and job search sites can be your best friend for this. People tend to be pretty secretive about their salaries, so even if you know someone who does the same job, it can be tough to know what they earn.

Signs You Got the Job

Interviewing for a new role.

There are plenty of signs you didn't get the job after an interview, as well as signs you did get the job.

Of course, you mustn't get your hopes up until you get confirmation. However, here are a few telltale signs you got the job:

  • The interviewers make a point of introducing you to other staff members.
  • They talk about "when you are working together" rather than "if."
  • They discuss details like where you will be working and the perks of the job.
  • You can discuss money, and you can start considering either a high, medium or low salary vs. benefits and whether the job is financially viable.
  • Sometimes, an interviewer might start chatting to you in a much more casual way and relax when they have decided to give you the job.
  • Suppose they call you after the day of the interview to ask if they can check your references. This is a sign that they have thought about it and are ready to move forward with your application.
  • They tell you they will be offering the job! Yes, this is a "sign" rather than being confirmation. A verbal offer isn't necessarily binding, but it is a great indicator that the formal offer is coming.

If you feel like you've nailed it, and the job could be yours, it still doesn't mean that it is time to celebrate. You never know when management might have a change of heart and even decide not to recruit for the position after all. This is unlikely, but it is definitely possible, so don't treat it as if you have already got the job because you get good vibes. Getting too relaxed might even cost you the position.

The signs you didn't get the job after the interview are somewhat reverse of the listed above. Unfortunately, you will probably experience this more often than you will experience the positives of being offered a job. That's just the nature of recruitment as there are only so many positions out there, and most have a lot of applicants.

Signs You Didn't Get the Job

  • A recruiter is mentioning the word "overqualified." This is pretty much a sure sign that they won't offer you the job and rarely gets mentioned in any other situation than trying to let you down gently.
  • Everything goes quiet. It can take days or even a week or two to decide on recruiting, but most companies want to recruit quickly, and so long waits don't indicate good news.
  • They don't even discuss salary. If they are interested in taking you on board as a staff member, they will probably want to know what you are currently earning or what you expect as a salary. If it isn't discussed, then you are unlikely to receive an offer.
  • The job ad gets reposted. This can be a real kick in the teeth and a blow to your confidence. If you are looking at job boards and notice the job you applied for getting "renewed," you could be very likely that you didn't get the job.
  • A quick interview. In some scenarios, this means that you have blown them away, and you can expect to be offered the job. Normally, it means that you haven't done enough to impress them. It might not be personal, the previous candidate might have just blown them away, and you never really stood a chance.

Conclusion

You are trying to read what an interviewer is thinking can be incredibly difficult. After you've been through the interview process, there is every chance that you will find out relatively quickly, so while signs you didn't get the job after the interview are important, they aren't something to get hung upon. Use this as an opportunity: even if you don't end up with the role, you can gain experience or even learn how to negotiate a salary for the first time. You will probably find out for definite whether or not to start planning for that new role quickly, and in the meantime, it is a good idea to keep looking anyway.

 

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