Post Interview Paranoia (PIP)

Keep telling yourself that. 😉

We have all had it.  It’s like going on a date with a guy you really like and then replaying the dinner in your head over and over again, wishing you hadn’t acted like such a freak.

However, in interviews we ask ourselves questions like “Did I sound intelligent? Should I have told them more about my internships? Was my skirt too short? Did I seem too desperate? Was I too quirky and not serious enough? Was I too serious and not show enough of my sense of humor?” Just to name a few.  Rather than, “Did he think I was pretty? Will he call me? Did I get food on my face?” Etc.

Our parents usually don’t help with PIP (post interview paranoia).  If your parents are like mine, they continue to ask questions like, “How did it go?  Did you get the job?  Did you mention your internships? Did you mention your GPA?  How big is the company?  What did you wear?  Have you written them a thank you note yet?”  They think they are helping, but really, after the interview is over, it is out of our hands. Even if we did do something wrong, we cannot press rewind and go back for a do-over. Trust me, sometimes I seriously wish we could, with many aspects of our lives.  But unless time travel is real, which by the way is definitely not something to mention in an interview, then we are out of luck.

Tell yourself, and your parents, that you did the best that you could and it’s over now.  If it was meant to be, then they will call you for a second interview.  If not, sayonara and you will find something better.

PIP will only cause you more stress and make you that much more anxious in future interviews. It is in our nature to want to call a loved one right after the interview to break it down for them and search for any underlying comments the interviewer made and get a second (or third) opinion. DON’T DO IT. Get in your car, decompress, go buy yourself a frozen yogurt and chill out. And when you get home, write the interviewer a hand written thank you note, put a stamp on it, and send it and the entire interview on its way.

Now trust me, I know that putting your recent interview out of your head might be close to impossible.  If you must harp on what you should or should not have done, write down what you think impressed the interviewer and what you think you probably should have left out.  After you do that and write the thank you note, it is really done.

Interviewing is a really difficult part of a young woman’s post college life. But the truth is, we have to squash our PIP or we will not only be caused undue stress, but we will also drive ourselves insane and never really learn how to be confident in the professional world.  If you believe that you gave a good interview and that you deserve the job, chances are that your confidence and demeanor rubbed off on the interviewer. 

Good luck ladies!  I know it is hard out there, but keep your heads up high and know that there is something out there for all of us, and we just have to believe in ourselves.

♥AUTHOR: SAM DAVIDSON