How Second Interviews Differ from First Interviews

Getting hired for a job invariably takes at least two, sometimes as many as a half-dozen rounds of interviews. And while the basic skills a candidate uses are the same from interview to interview, there are important nuances that shift as you progress further along in the process.

Here are the key differences between the first interview and the successive ones that will (hopefully) follow.

They're more familiar with you and your stories
If you're a true craftsman about interviewing, you gave it everything you had in the first interview. After all, there's little reason to hold back - you don't know whether you'll even have another round after the first one. But that means the interviewer has heard many of your good stories. So bring new things to talk about at the second interview. Review your career to find stories you haven't discussed. Or dig further to find new, deeper meanings in the ones you told. Better yet, initiate something new at your current job, and then bring in the details and the progress of the project.

Higher magnification
In the first interview, your quick story about how you turned around the purchasing department at JonesCo may have been met with smiling approval and no follow-up questions. But now, in the second interview, the magnification goes up. The hiring manager may want to hear the details of how you did it and specifics about the process. Be prepared by reviewing the story, obtaining all the facts and figures, and memorizing everything about the project until discussing it is a no-brainer.

You're more familiar with the interviewer(s)
While you may be put more on the hotseat because of the demand for greater detail in a second interview, you also have the benefit of familiarity with the interviewer. This means you'll probably have a better sense of where he's going with a line of questioning. Use this familiarity to build even greater rapport and push your strengths even harder.