Here's exactly what to do if you leave a job interview and realize you totally flubbed a question

Andrew Burton/Reuters

Sometimes you leave an interview and feel like you messed up.

• Job interviews are stressful, and sometimes you may not give the best answer to a question.
• At The Cut, workplace advice columnist Alison Green suggests that the best way to deal with a question you flubbed is to clarify your answer in a thank-you email to the interviewer.

Job interviews are often stressful, and sometimes the pressure can throw you off your game.

But even if you walk out of the interview worrying about your answers, all may not be lost.

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In her weekly column for The Cut, "Ask a Boss," workplace advice writer Alison Green addresses what to do if you feel like you messed up a question in an interview. Green suggests that it's not a bad idea to write the interviewer a follow-up note in a thank you email and clarify your answer.

Here's Green:

"If you feel like you just messed up on a question or two, as opposed to the entire interview, you could send the interviewer a thank-you note that reiterates your interest in the job and says something like this:

'I realized after we spoke that when you asked me about X, I should have said ____. I realized I'd misunderstood the question afterwards and wanted to correct it!'"

It's generally a good idea to write a thank-you email after any job interview. A well-written follow-up email can help you stand out from the crowd and leave a good final impression on a hiring manager.

Dr. Deborah Good, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh Katz School of Business, previously told Business Insider that a post-interview thank-you note should be professional in tone, have an attention-grabbing first paragraph, and include a specific reference about yourself to remind the interviewer who you are.

And as Green pointed out, a thank-you note is also an excellent opportunity to make clarifications to any answers you feel like you messed up.

Read Green's full column at The Cut »