Posts
Being early to an interview is worse than being late
I've noticed a troubling trend the more I've been interviewing candidates recently. About 50% of the time, candidates are showing up early for their interview. For a startup in a small office (usually without a reception area), this is very inconvenient. Yet the candidates seem to think that they have somehow made a good first impression by showing up early. Wrong, wrong, wrong. I'm here to tell you that being early to an interview is worse than being late.
As an interviewer we want candidates to be on-time -- not late, but certainly not early. When you're early, you create a series of problems. Let me provide you an example, using a case from this past week. In this case, the candidate was scheduled for an interview at 2:00pm. That day, one of our Board members was visiting the office. My meeting with the Board member ran over (no surprise) and that pushed lunch with the team back as well. It was important to me and the rest of the team to have our Board member spend some quality time with us as a group. I was hoping for a lively discussion during lunch with a question/answer session to follow. We started lunch around 1:15pm, and we gathered together in the front area of the office (in the same area as the front door of the office) where we typically eat lunch.
At around 1:35pm (20 minutes later), the front door of the office swung open, and in walked our interviewee. She was 25 minutes EARLY to her interview, and we had to interrupt our meeting to say hello. She was cordial and nice, but I was annoyed. There was nowhere for her to sit and wait. She was now standing over our meeting -- as an un-welcome guest. I almost asked her to leave and come back at 2:00pm, but I didn't want to be that rude. Instead, we tried to continue our meeting. The next natural pause in the conversation could have been the start of a question/answer session. Instead, with our candidate standing idly by, we ended our meeting so we could start the interview.
If it sounds like I'm ranting about a small issue, I'll say two things. First, that's part of why this blog exists. And second, this is a bigger deal than you might think when you are trying to run a start-up in a small office. It's such a simple thing that can easily be fixed.
SWAMI SAYS: What should a candidate do if they are early to an interview? It's pretty simple: Stay in your car! Wait until one minute before your appointed interview time, and then impress the heck out of us by showing up at the door EXACTLY on time. Simple, stress-free, and easy. Oh, and don't be late.
9 comments:
I like this point a lot! It's not that hard to hack. If you're in South Bay, hang out in the car. If you're interviewing in SF, just do some laps around the block. But in both cases, make sure you know WHERE in the building they are. Sucks to arrive early but walk into the office late. Also, I'd say about 5 minutes early is standard.
. . . or you could use the reception area for reception and the meeting room for meetings.
Matt -
Good point. I agree "late" is not acceptable.
I have run into the same situation with an "early arriver".
Noticing that my team was in a meeting, the candidate was polite enough to apologize with a brief wave and a smile. She left the office and returned at the scheduled time.
(I did hire her)
Rick Barrett
Colonial Life
Territory Recruiter
Northern New England
Rick Barrett -
LinkedIn.com
You may be swimming against the tide as job-seekers are typically advised to arrive early to not only show their interest but to allow them to acclimate to the environment before the interview. On top of that, with jobs scarce, a person's eagerness may prompt them to arrive earlier than usual. If you're a small shop - and I know this sounds weird - hang a sign on the door indicating a meeting in progress and that the office will re-open at a designated time. If the person still tries to enter the office, it tells you a bit about that person even before the interview.
I find it interesting that you didn't tell the candidate to come back at the appointed time as you mentioned.
"Hi - great to see you! We are using this space for a quick private meeting - can you do me a favor return at 2?"
I'd love to know what kept you from doing that.
A few people have mentioned that to me (both in person and over email). I agree that is something I could have done. Next time I probably will say something like you suggested. However, in the moment I was surprised and taken aback -- and didn't think on my feet quickly enough. The point of this post was that interviewees should not show up that early in any scenario. We all hear lots of interview advice about preparing questions etc, but this is a piece of advice that is rarely dispensed.
Thanks for your comment.
Matt,
Once again I have to politely disagree, but - you can make accomodations:
1.) Employer: Things like this should be stated to the person coming to the interview beforehand by saying we don't have an office lobby so I would appreciate you waiting until your exact appointed interview time in your vehicle. Ask what they plan to drive that day and color of vehicle, so you can approach them.
2.) Employer: It's also bad office Fung Shui to not have a waiting room where people can read trade magazines, and the like to keep themselves busy while waiting for the interviewer to be ready. You need at least 1 chair, a magazine table, light, maybe a plant. While a receptionist may be going overboard with little or no funds in a startup company, a simple sign stating "Please, patiently wait until you are greeted for your appointment time" would suffice or something to that effect. Even post this sign on the outside door if it's at a home.
Have a bench ready for them to sit on if it's an outside posting in a home. Consider this for the applicants taking public transporation, getting dropped off, or a taxi. Remember they are looking for a job and could be broke at the time of the interview.
3.) Employer: Un-business like settings give a semblence of disorganization. - A bad omen for any company:
I have refused a job because a company had no office to meet with people, and didn't have a simple room to greet people in. The interview was at a Barnes and Noble location for a tech position. I was put off, but that wasn't totally why. After the interview, the company was supposed to call me for a status meeting, but never even called. When I called, they didn't answer for this conference call. I had tested the software, sent the results to one of the owner's 30 email addresses, and called one of the owners 15 phone numbers looking for him. Total communication breakdown. I can't see how this business is going to be successful if they don't have good communication.
4.) Unsafe location: I have also been approached by some people for money while waiting out in the car for my interview time, and have also been mugged before while waiting for someone (Not during an interview thank goodness).
Locking the door doesn't help a brick to the window. I have had my car broken into at a job in Worcester. Other coworkers have had their car hijacked while waiting outside, and others have been arrested for loitering, stalking. This is simply unacceptable to expect this at a job interview, but in places like Boston, Worcester etc this happens. So you need to consider these things when making statements, as not all situations can accomodate this.
5.) Next time, simply politely ask the interviewee to wait outside until the meeting is over and that you will be "right with them". Give yourself some extra time so you can be sure you are available. There is no law saying you can't interview people after hours, right? Ask the other employess to stay if needed to interview the candidate, or ask the candidate to return the next day (or whatever) for the second part of the interview. This is totally a common practice, and will yield better results.
When a company is a startup, sometimes it's hard to find waiting space; however, I absolutely enjoyed this comment:
"Hi - great to see you! We are using this space for a quick private meeting - can you do me a favor return at 2?"
I am personally learning a lot from your posts and the responses because I have had many, many interviewees show up early and even though I may have a waiting space, they are often in the middle of activity that is quite disruptive to our flow.
Even five minutes for me sometimes may be too early. My husband is always early and he would most likely agree w hwork. I prefer on time.
Rick Barrett's employee was a super example. She noticed an intimate business meeting, did not hang around, excused herself, made eye contact with the owner and returned. Awareness.
I have learned a lot from Andrew's comments too.
I'll follow your blog even if I don't hire you. You are bringing up great topics and encouraging community participation. Way to go!
I think you should write a book about being this ceo. Seriously. Get it all down because your content is good.
Happy Sunday everyone.
Post a Comment