How To Close An Interview Successfully

Too often candidates leave an interview not really knowing where they stand with the hiring manager. Now picture this, you’ve aced the interview and created great rapport with your prospective boss. You like them and they seemed to buy into you as well. They’ve not actually said anything concrete about the outcome, so when you get on the phone with your recruiter and they ask you how it went you say “their body language was very positive”. That’s great, but wouldn’t you rather know than assume? We can give you some tips on how to close an interview successfully.

So, what are a few things you can say and ask at the end of the interview that will get you the information you need and give you the opportunity to clarify anything if required?

Open vs Closed questions

When you’re given the floor to ask any questions, aside from job-specific questions you should look to understand whether the interviewer has any reservations regarding your ability to do the job, experience, etc. This may be due to communication, so if there is a gap somewhere you can double-check and address that by asking “Do you have any reservations about offering me the role?”.

This might seem a bit too forward to some people, but if you position the question this way, the hiring manager doesn’t have much way in beating around the bush. Depending on their answer you will have a chance to discuss and rectify their concern. Sometimes they may have reservations based on some experience they assume you don’t have because they haven’t asked you, you’ve said something which has left room for interpretation or even a valid reason, so why leave stones unturned?

Finishing off with an open question will likely get you roughly the same response, however it does give the interviewer a chance to skirt around the crux of the matter. This might leave you thinking everything went great when in fact one or two things may not work in your favour even if they could easily be corrected.

Your aim is to leave the meeting knowing that there is no doubt in the hiring manager’s mind that you’re the perfect person for the job. That’s the dream and a doable one at that!

Example questions:

“Based on my experience and everything we’ve discussed so far, how well do I fit the bill for what you’re looking?” (Open question)

“Based on what we’ve discussed in this interview, do you have any reservations about my fit and offering me the role?” (Closed question)

Your interest in the position

Once you’ve had a chance to discuss any concerns, reiterate your interest in the role at the very end. This will let the hiring manager know that you’re very keen on the position and that you believe you’re a good fit for the company and role. It can also serve as a way to let the interviewer know that you’d love to work with them personally. Depending on how you word this last bit, you can also find out what other decision makers there are, where they’re at in the interview process with other candidates, and if there’s anything else that you can do to speed up the process (references, etc.) This will definitely put you on the way to close an interview successfully.

Example questions:

“Following everything we’ve discussed today, I’m even more excited about this job opportunity. Is there anything else you need from me?”

“Based on everything we’ve discussed; I would like to say that I’d love to work for you. When are you expecting to make a decision?”

And there you have it a few tips and questions that will help you in closing an interview successfully. Although there are no formulas set in stone when interviewing, trying these will most likely give you a better sense of where you stand instead of interpreting what was said and body language afterwards.

So there you have it- our tips on how to close an interview successfully. Do you have any others we may have missed? Let us know in the comments.

Are you looking for a new role in the Dynamics 365 or Salesforce space? Click here to view our live vacancies.