So you’ve targeted a company, landed an interview, done your research, and think the interview went well. You’re excited! This is “the one!!”
It’s natural at this point to breathe a sigh of relief and want to take a day off. Maybe two. Don’t do it! No matter how well the interview went, or how much you desire to work for that company, you should keep applying to other positions to keep your “pipeline” full.
Why? That plum opportunity may not turn into an offer. Or it may not turn into an acceptable offer. If you let your pipeline go dry while you wait, and bad news comes, you could set your job search back by weeks. Not good, right?
If you keep it full, the worst case is that you’ll receive multiple job offers. Oh wait – isn’t that the best case? And before you write in saying “No one gets multiple job offers in this economy,” let me tell you that is precisely what happened to two friends of mine during their job searches this year.
As of this writing I am awaiting news on the results of interviews with three different companies, the oldest dating back to the first half of September. What am I doing while I wait? I am continuing to network and apply to other companies. In fact, I have an interview with a fourth company this coming Tuesday.
I’ve also attended the Career Navigator job search “boot camp” to brush up on my job search skills. And I’ve been giving presentations on social media and job search to keep my presentation skills up, blogging to keep my writing skills up… you get the idea.
It’s easy to drop your guard during your job search when you have landed one or more interviews. Don’t do it – keep your pipeline full.
Chris Bigelow 
Chris, this is excellent advice. So many times I have heard a person who “thought” they had a job offer in hand so they quit networking and connecting. After a few weeks, when the job offer doesn’t materialize, they are angrily complaining to anyone who will listen about this ‘unfair’ treatment.
To Chris’ point, it is so important to keep networking and connecting – even after you’ve started working. None of know when we’ll be in job search again and the best way to be prepared for that is to keep the pipeline full. Great post.
Chris it’s hard sometimes not to hope that an interview will lead to an offer but I think we’ve had enough experience and heard enough stories to know better. It’s especially important to keep looking through the holidays, with or without interviews lined up.
Deb and Michele –
Thanks for your comments. I completely agree with your point, Deb, about continuing to build and nurture your network after becoming re-employed – the best time to build a network is when you don’t need it.
We always hope for the best, Michele, but need to plan for the worst. And to your point about continuing to search through the holidays – many candidates will slow their searches then, which provides added opportunity for those who do not.