How to Avoid Interview Afterwit
What to do about questioning whether you did enough.
Reading time: 6 minutes.
We’ve all been there.
You finally land an interview.
You develop strong initial rapport with the interviewer. You make an observation about their hometown or their alma mater. (You’ve done your homework.)
They smile. You relax a bit.
But as the interview goes on, you have that nagging feeling like you’ve wasted precious time.
The interview ends and you start analyzing.
Why didn’t I say [important talking point]?
Why didn’t I use this story instead of that story?
Why didn’t I end on a stronger point?
What is “interview afterwit”?
One term for this is “afterwit.”1 It’s the clever thing you think to say after a party, after that cool person you wanted to impress finally talks to you, after you were put on the spot, after, after, after.
While you’re not trying to be clever or witty in an interview, you are trying to recall information in the moment, formulate the strongest response possible, and leave a lasting impression that gets you what you want: Another interview.
How to avoid interview afterwit
How do you avoid interview afterwit? It may be impossible to completely avoid, but here are three ways I’ve found to counteract it.
Strategic preparation
Share it after
Trust yourself … and the Universe
Tip #1: Strategic preparation
The best way to avoid interview afterwit is to be prepared. But not in the clicking-around-the-company-website be prepared. You have to be strategic about it.
Prepare your Master Interview Script. Interviews are not the time to “wing it” and hope for the best. A Master Interview Script (MIS) is a tool you can use to prepare with and rehearse from. By the time of your interview, you should be “off script” and able to respond to any question naturally, from memory.
Identify your specific talking points. The advanced version of an MIS is to identify the three things you want a specific interviewer to know when the interview is done. For example, you’re interviewing with the hiring manager for a Director or Product Management role. Because you asked the right questions during the recruiter screening call, you know that the HM is looking for three things: data-driven, customer-centric, flexible player-coach. Your main talking points need to center around those three things for this upcoming interview.
Testify instead of tell. Sometimes the most authentic and powerful response to an interview question isn’t telling another story but a “testifying moment” of your core beliefs. Building off of the second bullet, prepare a one-minute “the three things I believe about X” for each topic so you’re more clear-headed in the moment. You may not use it, but you know it. Here’s an example from an interview I did recently.
Interviewer: How quickly once you start do you ensure your teams are working closely with customers?
Me (thinking “That’s an odd thing to ask; not really sure how to answer other than ‘Immediately.’ I don’t even have a great story for this question.”): Here’s what I believe about being customer-centric …
Know what you’re best at. Share what you’re best at. You might do this at the beginning or the end or maybe even in response to an interviewer’s question. Phrasing it this way (“Here’s what I’m best at …” or “Here’s what I’m known for …”) doesn’t pit you against anyone. You’re not saying, “I’m awesome! I’m a rockstar! I’m better than everyone else!” You’re simply acknowledging your unique strengths. Pick three, jazz them up a bit with marketing language, and be able to state them in a confident, relaxed way. My version of this:
“Here’s what I’m best at: altitude-jumping, I’ve ‘seen the movie,’ and customer-obsession.”
I then briefly describe each and why it’s important for their company.
Tip #2: Share it after
The interview is over. You’re reviewing the game film in your mind or, better yet, the actual game film. (I highly recommend recording your interviews! Ask the interviewer permission to record and then use an AI notetaker like Otter.ai or the Voice Memo app.)
In your review, you realize you forgot to share something important. Or you start to think that flash of skepticism or surprise on the interviewer’s face was because they misunderstood your answer.
The follow-up / thank you note is a good time to clarify or reinforce your message. Don’t state directly, “To clarify that one thing I said ….” Do clearly restate your talking points.
And do use AI to help you write follow-up emails. The key word here being “help.” We can all tell when it’s “all AI” and none of your own voice.
Here’s a template for your follow-up emails:
Hello [Interviewer Name],
It was a pleasure to meet with you today regarding the [position of job title], an opportunity I [how you feel about it; e.g., “am very excited to continue exploring”].
I appreciated/enjoyed learning more about [something they shared their unique perspective on].
As we discussed, my past experiences and skillset make me uniquely qualified for this position … [re-state anything that seemed to impress your interviewer. Put a positive spin on anything that may have left a poor impression. Mention anything you wish you had said in the interview (the “interview afterwit”).]
Should you have any additional questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely,
[Name]
Tip #3: Trust yourself … and the Universe
If preparing strategically and sharing after aren’t enough to avoid “interview afterwit,” you need to let it go.
This requires you to trust yourself. Maybe you could have done something differently in the interview. Maybe you could have performed better. Maybe it would have affected the outcome. Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe.
Here’s what I believe:
I believe the Universe is always working in our favor. I believe if you bombed an interview, it was what was meant to happen.
I believe that if one 30-minute conversation with the hiring manager made you so anxious that you forgot important things you wanted to share or you walked away torturing yourself about what you could have done better, you won’t actually enjoy working with that person.
I believe less is more. I believe you said exactly the right things at the right time with the information you had at the time.
I believe you can separate yourself from the person who performed in the interview and the person reviewing the game tape. That you can be a kind coach to yourself in the after moments.
I believe you did better than you think you did.
Interviewing can be stressful. We make it worse sometimes by the self-imposed torture of interview afterwit. Follow these three tips and you’ll experience more of that “Yes, I did it!” feeling after interviews instead.
I love helping others land more interviews and perform their best in interviews. If you could use support, let’s connect on LinkedIn.
Origin of “afterwit” is “L'esprit de l'escalier” or “staircase wit” as coined by French philosopher Denis Diderot. Learn more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27esprit_de_l%27escalier