Interviewing With the Same Company Again

Over time, your career path tin take some pretty unexpected twists and turns. Like—when you all of a sudden find yourself trying to rejoin a company or team yous once left backside.

If you're lucky, you were approached by your sometime boss or co-workers—and they really want you lot back. Merely possibly you realized that you made a mistake by leaving in the beginning place; or, after spending time elsewhere for a few years, yous see a not bad new opportunity bachelor. No matter what the reason, though, that first step dorsum to reconnecting with your former company is one that needs to exist handled carefully.

And then, how do you make the initial connectedness and interview a piddling less awkward and a lot more than productive? In order to get some useful tips, I talked to a few professionals who were once in your very same shoes. And while their "render stories" were all a niggling dissimilar, their suggestions striking on some like themes.

i. Review Your Resignation Letter and Get out Interview

Hopefully, yous left your former job on good terms and had a carefully crafted resignation letter—the last thing you want is Hour pulling out your file and remembering your choice words about the visitor on your last day. (And frankly, if you lot didn't leave on a good note, yous need to really ask yourself if going back is worth it.)

But assuming your parting words were complimentary and thoughtful, they tin be useful icebreakers when you lot apply or when you get-go contact those influential employees who tin can help you land an interview. For example, did you say that yous were leaving to gain management experience at a bigger visitor, or mention that you would be open to sure kinds of opportunities in the time to come? Use that as an opener or a segue to more detailed give-and-take about your future responsibilities.

2. Treat the Interview Seriously

So you've landed an interview with the company you lot in one case left behind—great! Merely don't automatically presume you're a shoo-in. Sure, your familiarity with the company is a huge plus, but go on in listen that you're likely i of many other qualified candidates. Any 1 of them may take expertise that surpasses yours, and some of your company-specific experience may not be relevant anymore.

In improver, consider who you'll be interviewing with. You may be meeting with newer employees (who volition look at you just like any other "fresh" candidate), or interviewers who do know yous but may not remember your former contributions. Make certain you not only depict your past accomplishments and responsibilities in detail, but that yous also highlight any new skills you've gained since yous left.

iii. Be Prepared for the Tough Questions

Keep in mind that those same interviewers who never knew you from your previous job (and even some who did) may be skeptical of your motives for coming back. There may fifty-fifty be some resentment, peculiarly if y'all left them in a demark or if they had invested a lot of time and money into your career.

And so it's your task to assure anybody that you lot're not a flying risk and convince them that you're worth the investment once again. Be prepared for lots of questions about your departure, and have specific reasons for why you're excited to come up back. And when in incertitude, be honest. If you made a fault leaving the company in the outset place, don't agape to admit that.

4. Address Your Concerns

That said, while the interviewers need to exist assured that you lot'll be the right fit, don't forget to ask them your questions every bit well. First, don't assume that you already know everything well-nigh the company and its culture; company dynamics, policies, management, and more than may accept significantly shifted since you lot left. And if you were disappointed with the company when you quit, yous'll need reassurance that things have changed. Think back: What were the specific reasons yous left? Was your career path limited? Were y'all unchallenged? Make certain that the interviewers tin give y'all verbal details on how these things take evolved and then that you don't run into the same disappointments once more.

One final note: Fifty-fifty if the company specifically contacted you and but y'all for the gig, make sure that you lot give thanks your interviewers for the opportunity. Follow up with thank-you letters correct after the interview and brand sure you lot're gracious to the people who believe in you lot enough to ask y'all to come dorsum. If y'all make the right moves, your old company could be the start of a wonderful new chapter in your career.

Photo of woman interviewing courtesy of Shutterstock.

Anne Niederkorn is the black sheep of her It department, where she enjoys educating her co-workers about fashion and Bravo TV. She is as well the writer of Pocket-sized Boondocks Girl ... Livin' In an 80'southward World, a humorous memoir about growing upwardly in Wisconsin.

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Source: https://www.themuse.com/advice/getting-back-together-interviewing-at-a-company-you-used-to-work-for

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