The rule of the day relates to no showing an interview, showing up late, and excuses that people give to justify it.
I was kidnapped by aliens.
My car tires were flat, too.
Then I missed the bus.
The dog ate my homework, too.
Fortunately, I haven’t heard any of these excuses for not showing up at an interview (no showing) or being late for one – and I’ve never had to use one myself – but if the excuses given above sounds pretty unbelievable when you read them, remember that they sound even more unbelievable when you try to use them or ones like them and think that someone will believe it.
We already talked about timeliness and not being late but we know that sometimes it does happen and we can’t do anything about it. The question is what do you do about it?
This morning, I was 30 minutes late for a doctor’s appointment but I didn’t care because he’s never on time and I knew it wouldn’t matter. Sure enough, the doc was 35 minutes late so he actually got to the office after I did.
But in an interview – whether with a recruiter or hiring manager – showing up late or not at all just doesn’t cut it.
I’ve only had a small number of cases where a person no shows an interview with me and I can only recall one case where a candidate of mine no showed an interview with one of my clients – although he did have a good excuse and the client was ok to reschedule it.
But I do know of recruiters who have had people simply not show up at a job interview and they never hear from the person again. Weird. Talk about unprofessional.
Bottom line: Plan ahead and show up on time. In the case where you can’t make it on time and know you’re going to be late, make sure you’ve planned ahead. Have your cellphone handy and charged up, and bring the phone number of the person you meeting with so you can call them and let me know before you’re late.
When a person no shows an interview with no legitimate reason, I stop working with them. If they show up late and don’t seem to care, I don’t care either and won’t work with them. If they call ahead and let me know they’re running late, at least I know they’re trying.
It’s not as good as being on time, but it’s better than nothing.
