How to Nail a Second Interview

Being invited back for a second interview is a great achievement. You have impressed the hiring team in your initial interview, they feel you are capable of the role, and now they want to see more of you, introduce you to others in the company and ascertain how you may gel with the team. The pool of candidates has been narrowed down, and you are still in the running. So, what now? 

Here are our top five tips for the second interview:

1. Maintain your enthusiasm. The process of job searching and interviewing may be quite daunting and draining, but it is important that when you are meeting with a potential employer that you maintain your energy and demonstrate enthusiasm for the process. You are excited to be there, so be sure this comes across. Be engaging; remember, this interview is for them to get an idea of how you will fit in the team, so make sure you are well-rested and energised. 
2. Revise the company culture. What are the company’s values? What is their mission statement? Why do you want to be a part of this team? What values do you share? An important part of second interviews is that the hiring team is looking to see how your values align with what the company cares about. This is especially important if you are meeting with people higher up in the company; they want to make sure their new hire is on board with their culture, vision and mission.
3. Be ready to share experiences. During your first interview, you will no doubt have shared some of your experiences that connect with the role. If you are interviewing with different people this time, you may reuse those experiences, as they won’t have heard them. But if the interviewing panel has some of the same people from your initial interview, you may need to be prepared with more experiences to share. They may want to touch over some of the examples you shared in the first interview but look at them on a deeper level. So, refresh on the experiences you already shared and prepare yourself to share different ones. 
4. Learn about who you are interviewing with. If possible, find out who it is you will be interviewing with so that you can prepare yourself. You could look them up on LinkedIn and try and work out from there what things you have in common. You want to be able to ask them well-thought-out questions, so getting some level of familiarity before entering the room will help you to do this. But the questions you ask potential co-workers will be different from a manager, so if you can work out who you are meeting beforehand, you will be better prepared. 
5. Send thank you emails. This will help you leave a lasting impression. Contact each person on your interview panel to thank them for meeting with you. They have taken time out of their day to talk to you, so express your gratitude for that. 

It’s important to remember that they liked you at the first interview and let that put any nerves at rest. This second meeting is to gain an insight as to how well you may fit in with the team, so go with confidence, be outgoing and engaging, and you’re sure to make a good impression. 

We hope these pointers will help you through this next exciting stage of this process and wish you a successful interview, and if we can help you in any way, please contact us.