After the interview and keeping your job
Always send a thank-you note after the interview
A thank-you note helps you stand out, since most job hunters don’t make the effort. Besides thanking the hiring manager, it’s an opportunity to sell yourself again after the interview or a second chance at a question that you believe you didn’t answer very well. It usually makes more of an impact to send a hand-written note via U.S. mail than by e-mail, but in some cases the hiring manager might make a decision before the snail-mailed thank-you note arrives, so to be safe send it both ways.
Send an e-mail the day of the interview or the next morning. Write down what you’re going to say in the thank-you note you will send by U.S. mail immediately after the interview, let it sit over night, read it with fresh eyes, and then send it the next morning. Make sure that what you say in each one is different. You may want to begin the hand-written note by saying “I’d like to thank you again for considering me for the (blank) position…” Susan Ireland, author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Perfect Resume offers some free thank you letter templates on her web site.
Turned down after interview
If you don’t get the job, call the hiring manager. Say “I know you decided to hire someone else, but I just wanted to find out why I didn’t get the job. I’d appreciate knowing the reason, because your feedback will help me in my job search.” You may get feedback that could actually influence the employer to reconsider. And if not, you’ll receive some insight that will help with future interviews. Being turned down happens to everyone at some point. In fact, if you’re not getting turndowns, you are likely not hunting hard enough.
How to keep a job once you have it
More often than not the people who are let go are the ones who may be quite competent but are moody, annoying, disagreeable, high maintenance and just not very nice. In other words, if you make yourself likeable you greatly increase the likelihood of being kept on.
It’s “show time” when you go to work. In addition to working hard you need to make yourself likeable. Smile and be pleasant to your boss and co-workers. It will pay off in the end.