How can I ask the people I helped prepare for a job interview if they were successful?

Question

I am sometimes asked to help people prepare for job interviews. After the interview, I'm curious how it went for two reasons:

1. If I'm helping them, it's probably because I genuinely want to see them succeed and so information about their success is interesting
2. If I'm giving bad/unhelpful advice, I would like to know about that

I'm hesitant to reach out to people after their interviews proactively, because I suspect that they would have followed up with me if they got the job, and so the lack of follow-up probably indicates that the interview didn't go well.

I've been around the block enough times to know that people don't get jobs for a variety of reasons, and would not think less of anyone for not getting a job with that they were really excited about, but I'm not sure how I can communicate this.

Is there a way that I can ask how things went while not putting people in an awkward position?

Answer 1

I worked in casting for commercials and film. We "interviewed" lots of people - a casting session is, essentially, an interview... We'd see 30-40 people per role and (as you say in your question) the problem isn't always with the candidate. We'd regularly get requests for feedback from casting agents so, from the hiring side, I recommend the following:

You say that you're interested in both knowing how the interview went and whether they get the job, so the easiest way to prevent this from being awkward is to let them know in advance that you want to chat about how the interview went and explain why rehashing the interview soon afterwards is important, particularly if they don't get the job, you can strategize for how to improve in future interviews.

Make a "process"

Let them know up front during your preparation session that you'd like to follow up with them about their interview - heck, make it part of the "process". This way they know to expect to hear from you and you can ask when the interview is so that you know when to talk with them. Explain that by talking shortly after the interview, they are more able to accurately reflect on the experience and you want to be there to support them if they have questions regarding "I did ____ during the interview - was that wrong?"

If they outright say that they're not interested in a follow-up, respect that.

Follow up yourself.

On your end, track when the interview is and communicate with them later that day or the following day. If they seem to be avoiding you, don't force communication from them. It's important for you to reach out since you're the one who wants the information. Don't expect them to call you because they may forget, so you'll not be able to help them out further or find out how things went. The longer you wait to contact them, the more likely they will have heard back from the company, so you want to do it within a day or so so that it's before they have an offer letter in hand.

When you chat with them about the interview, ask how they think it went and if they know when they'll hear back about an offer. Let them know that you'd love to hear if they got the job either way so that you can meet up to celebrate - but at this point, as a third party, I don't think you can really expect someone who isn't a friend to keep you updated. If you see them again in the future, you can always ask if they got the job at that point.

Answer 2

If it is something you do as a favour, for a friend or someone you know, I think it would be fine to simply ask him how the interview went. Also ask him his personal tips to improve your preparing skills. You should specifcy that you want to get better at this, therefore his feedback is extremly important.

If you do this as a job this is different. Simply calling your client for feedback might be considered unprofessional and maybe rude. Therefore I suggest that you specify how important their feedback is before you start preparing him. And maybe also at the end. Something like:

Good luck for the job interview! I would appreciate some feedback on my work, feel free to write at my email adress!

should be fine.

Answer 3

When I'm looking for new work in my industry, it's common for me to go through the process with recruiters. As a rule ( at least here in the U.K. and in my industry ) its normal for the recruiter to call you ( or you call them) after the interview.

During the call, the finer points of the interview will be discussed, with questions such as

• "how did you feel about the interview/ the job/ the people"
• "how do you think you did / what do you think they thought about you"
• "Do you/did they have any concerns or worries"

I would perhaps approach this in a similar way, rather than ask if your help was of use, most people will be happy to talk about their experience and provide feedback that you might find useful. not only will it be of benefit to you, and with perhaps greater granularity than a simple 'how did it go' but it'll be useful for them as they'll be able to review their own responses in the interview.

Don't think of it as an imposition, but rather as part of the process in itself. As mentioned in another answer, it might also help to mention to the person that you intend to follow up after the interview to get see how it went and work forwards based on their feedback to help them improve for any future interviews.

It's also worth mentioning that often employers won't offer a job straight away, it may be weeks ( sometimes even months) before they get the job, and employers won't always contact those that are unsuccessful. in such cases there is nothing wrong with a follow on call to "see how things are going", usually the person in question will have other interviews on the horizon that they will want assistance/help with.