Missing in person interviews

blatini

I know there are some hiring managers who frequent this forum so I figured why not try to get some perspective. Today I had scheduled an interview at a very large, well known company. Took the morning off leaving me plenty of time to get there and back. However this morning around 5am our internet circuit went down. Long story short the whole thing was on our ISP side, but I was stuck here manning the fort, replying to emails, all the usual stuff making sure things were ok.

Suffice to say I had to cancel the interview. Sent a pretty long email around 5:30 letting them know of what happened and followed up with a call about a half hour before. The HR guy didn't seem too upset, but none the less I was really excited for this interview. Had trouble falling asleep last night because of it, and now that anxiety has hit the other spectrum where I feel like I might have missed out on a great opportunity.

How do you guys as managers generally perceive this situation? How about if the person still wants to get a job after the fact?

DatabaseHead

Sounds like you are looking for some reassurance, personally me I would let it go and allow you to interview again and hold nothing against you. But other managers I know for a fact would AT LEAST be a little bit annoyed (right or wrong) and it would impact your chances (even if it was just slightly). Hopefully you get someone who is understanding. Either way I wouldn't write off this opportunity, go for it!.

networker050184

Things happen. As long as you let them know beforehand I don't think it would be an issue. We have people that just don't show at all now and then.

Chinook

If you gave them fair notice I don't think it would affect your chances. They probably understand things go wrong. It might even make you look good for prioritizing your current job first.

I once applied for a contract and had an interview at 9 AM in the morning. I had a full out disaster, spent the entire night replacing servers & showed up to the interview 2 hours late covered in dust while wearing track pants. I'd explained I didn't have time to change because.... and they were OK with it. And I won the contract.

Edit: They were pajama pants not track pants.

blatini

DatabaseHead wrote: »

Sounds like you are looking for some reassurance

Very much so hahah. I appreciate the responses. Just frustrating because I have been interviewing at several different places over the last month trying to make sure that everything is evenly spaced out and give myself enough practice for the interview I am most excited about... then BOOM

EnderWiggin

Sounds like you did the right thing by letting them know as soon as possible. Just try to get a rescheduled time for the interview. And don't stress over it, either they'll give you the job, or they won't. Just do your best.



Funny story, I once had a manager scheduler an interview with me for a position, and it was over the phone. So I dialed into the conference line five minutes prior to the scheduled time. Well, thirty minutes after the scheduled time, the manager gets on, and apologizes, and says he double-booked, that he'd have to reschedule with me. I called my recruiter that had set up the interview, and told them what happened. It ended up being rescheduled, and I still don't know if I got that job because I was the most qualified, or the manager felt guilty about leaving me hanging for half an hour haha.

tmtex

If you just did a no show that's one thing but you did let them know within plenty of notice. HR/Managers also run into issues and have to cancel

scaredoftests

I have cancelled interviews and some interviewers understand and are willing to change the time. Of course, I have had some instances where the interview is cancelled (by them) and you hear nothing back.

UncleB

So long as you let them know in advance of the interview (you didn't say when it was supposed to be) then there shouldn't be any hard feelings. Most managers have loads of other things they can be doing, so if you give them time to adjust it is OK, but if you leave them sat twiddling their thumbs waiting for a no-show when they could be getting stuff done then they will hold some of that against you as poor communication skills.

I can cut candidates slack when they are late, but being rude or failing to keep me advised of delays is a bad mark straight away. I will make a point of pushing them on this in the interview, often early on to see how they react when they know the messed up and it helps me see if they can cope under pressure and how well they can get their sht together after being stressed.

thanks
Iain

markulous

networker050184 wrote: »

Things happen. As long as you let them know beforehand I don't think it would be an issue. We have people that just don't show at all now and then.

This x2. I personally wouldn't be offended or have an issue with it if I was the hiring manager. It's a legit reason and you gave notice when you could.