Whilst spending an afternoon
to’ing and fro’ing between two parties to book in a first stage interview, I
had a little think about the implications of this part of the process, and
whether a bumpy ride at this stage can foreshadow how the process plays out
later on.
The conversation in question went
a little like this:
“9am on the 15th!”
“9am on the 16th!”
“How about 10am on the 16th?”
“No, I have a meeting then. OK scrap that, next week? When
are they free?”
“They’re free Monday and Tuesday.”
“How about Monday at 5pm?”
“Oh they can’t make Monday now…”
…And so on. It was a bit like a
game of schedule tennis.
This got me asking - does the interview process begin before you’re even
there? Is what you do at this stage important?
Interview etiquette would dictate that the interviewee, the
jobseeker, should do what they can to accommodate a meeting of minds. That
is to say, they are the ones on the back foot when it comes to ‘moving things
around’ or cancelling prior engagements. If a company wants to see you on
Friday afternoon but that would interfere with your
timely commute back home for the weekend, as inconvenient as it is, you go and
meet them and take a later train.
It is, after all, within your interests to get in front of
them as soon as possible – protracting the process
allows the momentum to trickle away and allows other candidates to get into the
frame. It is also beneficial for your candidature to be accommodating
and flexible. Understand your interviewer is a busy person and accept
there may only half an hour a week when they can take time to interview.
After all, they are only pushed
for time because they are down a pair of hands in their team - and that is
where you come in! If you can accept this fact and do what you can to make the
magic happen sooner rather than later, then it really will be to your benefit.
Similarly, gracefully accepting
last minute cancellations will win you brownie points - you will be perceived
as flexible and understanding, whereas making a stand against the fact you’ve
had to book half a day off work for nothing other than a route-to-work trial
run – will potentially stick in your would-be employers throat.
I’m not saying that things should
be this one-sided, but they often are. That is not to say that within the UX
industry things are as black and white as I’ve made out. Our clients are often
flexible when it comes to providing meeting times and understanding candidates
issues with scheduling and ‘flying under the radar’, however I have noticed
through working within the wider recruitment industry that it’s often a case of
“now or never”.
My advice would be – even though
that meeting may be less than convenient now – think of the longer term benefit
involved in taking that step towards a new career!
