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When Should You Postpone an Interview?

January 22nd, 2008

I was supposed to be doing an informational interview with an upcoming college grad now. She cancelled because she felt terrible. She said, “I’ve been feeling nauseous all day. I really wanted to talk to you when I’m at my best. Can we reschedule?”

You betcha we can. If I’m going to give my time to someone, I want to know they will use it wisely. I bet you do too.

If you’re a hiring manager and you can’t give the candidate 100% of you, postpone the phone screen or pull yourself out of the in-person interview loop.

If you’re a candidate and you’ve got a bad head cold, please reschedule. If you can’t get the nausea under control, please reschedule. If you have pneumonia, please, please, please reschedule. I don’t want to get sick. I will respect you more for explaining you don’t want to infect the rest of us. You need to give 100% of yourself to the interviewing process.

Entry Filed under: interview


2 Comments Add your own

  • 1. Dwayne Phillips  |  January 23rd, 2008 at 12:22 pm

    Yes Johanna, but if she cannot perform in an interview while nauseous, how is she going to hold up on our death march projects. We want tough people to work here! ;-)

  • 2. HR World » Blog Arc&hellip  |  January 23rd, 2008 at 7:06 pm

    [...] People offers up some rules of thumb for when it’s a good idea to postpone an interview. Click here to [...]

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