BEST Second Job Interview Tips

You’ve had one interview with the hiring manager and now they want you to come back a second time and meet the team. Or meet with higher-ups, or you’ve had the hour-long interview with one person on the committee and now you’re invited to meet with the whole committee. 

Welcome to the second interview. Today I’ll give you tips on how to ace that second interview.

Okay, so for clarification because I’m realizing people call different things “second interviews” we are not defining the second interview as the interview after a phone screen or Zoom with the recruiter. That’s a screening. 

We are defining “second interview” as the second time you are meeting with people on the actual hiring committee or department. 

So for example, when I interviewed for my first full-time job at Wheel of fortune, I interviewed with the Marketing Director who would be my boss, and then was brought back for a SECOND interview with all the people in the department and the executive and supervising producers. 

Here are some tips for your second interview: 

1. Keep your energy up! The interview process can be exhausting, but you still need to come with that enthusiasm and excitement. A huge part of second interviews is seeing how you would fit with the team so you need to make sure you’re excited to be there. 
2. Refresh on the culture and mission of the company and why you want to be there. This is important because refreshing on these will help you show that enthusiasm, but also often (and ESPECIALLY if you are meeting with executives/higher ups) they are checking to see that you understand and care about what the company is all about so make sure you are infusing these into your answers. 
3. Be ready to share more examples of experiences that connect to the job. you may share a story you gave in your earlier interview, but be ready to go deeper and possibly have to give a second example. 
4. Learn more about who you will be interviewing with. You don’t always know who you will be interviewing with, but even if they don’t tell you, research the department on LinkedIn. Try to learn more about any connection you can make with them, and use this info to ask thoughtful questions. You want to come prepared with questions that make sense for the person you’re talking to- someone who will be your coworker? How do they see the department? The CEO? What qualities do they want to see in their employees? Be thoughtful of what to ask based on the research you put in. 
5. And as always, send thank you emails. Yes, even if it’s a second interview with someone you interviewed with already, you send another thank you. Interview with 7 people? You send 7 thank yous. The thank you matters!