When your potential interviewer short listed you for a job interview, you are supposed to take it seriously and turn up for the interview, even if the sky were to fall that day….How will the potential employer evaluate you when you fail to attend the scheduled interview? If you fail to inform the recruiter prior to the interview of your inability to be present for the interview, you are most likely to be perceived as: Lacking the courtesy, courage and responsibility to even make that ONE phone call to say you decided not to attend the interview after all.
Take a look at this interview scenario, as seen in two perspectives.
Perspective 1:
You applied for the job. You got a phone call from someone from the organization, asking you some questions and you agreed to a job interview.
However, after the excitement died down, you have second thoughts. Call it the interview jitters or “cold feet” or just a nagging voice inside you asking you to withdraw your application and not to turn up at the interview at all.
You are confused. You don’t know what to do. You think to yourself, “Maybe I’ll just conveniently “forget” about this interview and pretended I never received this phone call.” So you assured yourself that your dream job was after all, a “dream”.
But it’s real. You cannot change the fact that the recruiter is expecting you to turn up at the interview.
Perspective 2:
Put yourself in the interviewer’s shoes. Imagine yourself as a recruiter and you went through the many resumes that you received for the one job vacancy in your organization.
It was a tedious job, looking through the many almost identical resumes and finally, you selected the few that seemed promising. You made the calls to these shortlisted candidates and some of them made a good impression and you arranged for an interview with them.
The day of the interview has come. You waited and you waited. Half an hour had passed and you knew that your “dream candidate” was not going to show up.
How would you feel? It is not a nice feeling to be let down and not to be informed of a “no show” for the interview.
What can you do when you decided not to attend the interview?
All jobseekers should know that those who get the call for an interview are the lucky ones as they are among the few who were short listed and called for an interview.
You should make it a point to attend the interview. However, if you decide not to turn up at the interview, consider and ask yourself these few questions first.
• Why are you unwilling to attend the interview?
• Why are you having second thoughts?
• Is it because of a lack of confidence or is it because you have something to hide?
• Why did you apply for the job in the first place?
• Is it because you just want to “try your luck in every job” available and are not really interested in the job? Or is it because you have no idea of what you want to do and applied for the job anyway?
• Are you willing and prepared to work?
• Do you see yourself as a responsible person? Do you have the confidence to meet the requirements of the recruiter? Do you fit the specifications mentioned in the job advertisement?
After asking yourself these few questions, ask yourself one more question. What have I got to lose if I attend this interview? Most likely, the answer will be: Nothing. So make an effort to attend the interview.
On the contrary, if you really decided not to attend the interview and nothing could change your mind at that point, always inform the recruiter of your decision.