The resume did the job and grabbed the attention of a hiring manager, and you were called for an interview. Congratulations! You did your homework, researching the company, products and people. You have sent a thank you note and now you are waiting to hear back on the next steps.
Take a few moments right after your job interview to write down your thoughts. Research shows that we forget almost half of what we’ve heard after just four hours, so the sooner you can complete the post-interview worksheet, the better. In fact, I recommend reading through this post-interview information BEFORE the interview so that you will have an idea of what kind of information you want to remember.
1. FOLLOW UP INTERVIEW INFORMATION
  • Company name
  • Job title you interviewed for
  • Date/time of the interview
  • Most Important Questions You Were Asked: (list 3-5)
  • Connections — What did interviewer like most/best about your skills/education/experience?
  • Disconnection — Did the interviewer raise any concerns about your skills, education, and/or experience?
  • Does the company offer continuing education/training? (describe)
  • Opportunities to advance (describe)
  • Pay/Benefit Information (Do not ask about pay/benefits unless the interviewer brings it up.)

2.  REFERENCES
Best practice is to contact your references before an interview to let them know you are going through the job search process and how you will be using them as a reference. At that time, be clear about what type of reference information you are looking for – what the person will say about you, i.e., were you co-workers and will they be talking about your cohesive working relationship? Was it a boss/employee relationship where the person will be attesting to your leadership skills? Your reference list should have people that cover a variety of working relationships.
After the interview, contact your references and let them know how the interview went and any specific issues (good/bad) they should be aware of, if contacted by the interviewer.
3.  NEXT STEPS
You should ask what the next steps in the hiring process are before you leave the interview. This helps you to gauge timing just in case another offer comes in, or you are juggling other interviews and current workload.
  • Follow-up/next step (will they contact you? More interviews?)
  • When is hiring decision expected?
  • If I don’t hear back by this date, I will follow up.
  • Additional notes from interview

In case you have not already done it – send a thank you note to the interviewer. (Handwritten or via email, within 48 hours of interview.) Do not overlook this vital part of the post interview process!
An important note: whether you think you aced the interview or really bombed, it is essential to keep track of the results of each interview. You never know if you will get a call back by the interviewer, or another job opportunity comes up within the same company. There are so many situations that can come up in the future that it is helpful to write down key points to refer to should it be needed.