Closing an interview – Leave the cring behind! Many candidates have asked me what is the best way to close an interview. It’s the no man’s land at the end of the meeting when there is usually an awkward silence, because you’re not sure what to say and the client has wrongly or rightly heard enough and so it’s time to wrap things up!
In such a manufactured environment as is the interview, where you have been pretending to get along with a total stranger for an hour, let’s face it, it’s a rather weird concept!
Who hasn’t left an interview and thought, well that went well but you thought one of the interviewers (if there was 2) was a little odd at the end of the interview and closed in an awkward manner?
Back in the 1990’s interview techniques were rather different then, in fact the whole recruitment industry was totally different! There was a boom in recruitment companies popping up all over the place and if you have watched the films Boiler Room or Wolf on Wall Street, well that gives you the kind of idea of the excitement and buzz that was in most recruitment offices across the globe and what came with that was some of the most cringe worthy career advice on how you should close an interview.
Back then the famous closing line at an interview was “So when do I start?” or “Have I got the job?” and the general feeling was if you don’t ask one of those questions at the end of the interview then someone else will and that was needed to seal the deal!
I am afraid that this type of close now just says “Cringe” and that can have a negative effect on what positive thoughts they had about you throughout the whole interview.
https://projectstart.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Closing-an-interview.pdf