The job interview tends to be where the job is won or lost.

Often, you dont get a lot of valuable feedback from a company after youve interviewed with them but have been told you didnt get the job.

Sometimes they will simply tell you theyve decided to hire someone else who they felt best suited their requirements, other times they might throw you a bone and give you a hint as to why you didnt get the job.

The fewer details you get regarding why you didnt get a job, the harder it becomes to actually figure out how you can improve your performance during interviews in the future.

At the end of the day, job interviews are how you separate yourself from other job searchers and having as much information at your disposal is how you will win the job.

As a recruiter, Ive taken many phone calls from hiring managers where they have explained why one of my candidates did or didnt get the job. In many cases where the candidate didnt get the job, the feedback the hiring manager gives me is often the complete opposite of what the candidate told me after the interview.

In other words, the candidate told me the job interview went great. The hiring manager told me the opposite.

Since you cant always guarantee being told why you didnt get the job, here is some typical interview feedback that I get from both job searchers and hiring managers regarding the same interview.

In other words, here are both sides of the story so you can ensure you arent making mistakes during interviews that you might not even be aware of:

Job Searcher: I answered all the questions they asked me.
Hiring Manager: They gave vague answers on some questions and couldnt properly answer several others.

Job Searcher: I arrived for the interview on time.
Hiring Manager: They arrived 30 minutes before the interview started and had me paged the moment they arrived. I was in another interview at the time so this really disrupted things.

Job Searcher: I filled out their application when they asked me to.
Hiring Manager: They complained about having to fill out our application and they didnt bring a pen and had to ask me for one. They left some important areas blank.

Job Searcher: I wore a nice suit to the interview.
Hiring Manager: They wore an ill-fitting suit and they wore white socks with their dress shoes. They didnt present very well.

Job Searcher: I have all the skills they are looking for.
Hiring Manager: Many of the skills they have are theoretical ones they learned at school. Some of the others skills arent as developed as we require or havent been used in several years.

Job Searcher: I asked them some questions regarding the job when I was prompted.
Hiring Manager: They asked about the salary we are offering and asked about the benefits plan. They seem money motivated.

Job Searcher: I felt really confident about this interview. I think it went really well.
Hiring Manager: They seemed very nervous and they tripped over their answers. Their answers were long-winded, they didnt make eye contact with me and they fidgeted a lot. I dont think they were really interested in the job to be honest.

As you can see, there are certainly two sides to every story, or in this case every interview. Are you doing everything as well you think you are during the interview?