Promptly send a thank-you note. Your note should express your
appreciation, reconfirm your interest in the job, and brieflynote how
you think your key P.E.A.K.S. would enable you to succeed in the posi-
tion. It should be sent within a day or two of the interview.
Send promised portfolio items withexplanations. If you promised
to send some items from your portfolio, do so with your thank-you note.
Remove any information in these documents that should not be dis-
tributed. And be sure to explain, as you did in the interview, the context
for these items and their relevance.HOW TO USE YOUR PORTFOLIO DURING SUBSEQUENT INTERVIEWS
If you are invited back for further interviews, the approach you take to
these interviews should parallel what you did in the first interview. You
should, of course, take advantage of the fact that you now know more
about the organization, about the potential opportunities there, and
about the specific P.E.A.K.S. being sought in job candidates. Here are
some specific things to think about if you are invited back for another
round of interviews.Prepare a more targeted portfolio. Use the information you gath-
ered in your first interview to adjust your portfolio so that it is more
precisely targeted at the opportunities you would like to pursue. This
may mean adding or subtracting items and possibly rearranging the
order in which they appear. You should now have a better idea of the
kinds of P.E.A.K.S. they are looking for. Choose your items accordingly.
Make copies of portfolio items you might leave behind, based on
what you now know. Since you now have a better idea of what the
prospective employer is looking for in a candidate, a second interview
is a very good time to bring extra copies of several items you believe
would particularly impress the person who will interview you.
Assume your next set of interviewers will know nothing about you.
Do not assume just because you have been invited back for further in-
terviews that the new people who interview you will already know all
about you and be favorably disposed toward your candidacy. The first
person who interviewed you may have done nothing more than forward
your resume to your next interviewer with a note that said something
like,“I think it’s worth taking a second look at this candidate.”In fact,
your first interviewer might refrain from describing you at this stage so
that the next interviewer can take an unbiased look. There’s also the
possibility that your next interviewers have interviewed some other
candidates and already have their own favorite, so your challenge will
be to win them over. Your portfolio can help you do so.
Remember that the ideal interview is still H.E.R.O.I.C. Once there,
you will again want to be aware of which stage of the interview you are
in so that you can get your best results by using your portfolio appro-
priately in each phase.Chapter 6: Using Your Portfolio to Get That Job 95