Article - 7 Fatal Mistakes Made by Most Job Applicants: Bad Timing - by Brent Jones

[Brent Jones]

Have you ever heard before that you should arrive 15 minutes early to an interview? This is wrong!


I agree that you should be at the location of your interview at least 15 minutes early. I might even recommend a full half hour in advance just to be safe. But walking up to an employee or receptionist and telling him or her that you are there for an interview 15 minutes early can be quite a nuisance.


Depending on the type of job environment you are walking into, one of two things will happen:

1. You will be sitting in what is often a small room with a receptionist who has a job to do, and now he or she has to sit there feeling uncomfortable as you listen in on every phone call, every transaction, etc. And this will last for a quarter of an hour!
2. If you are able to walk straight in and introduce yourself to your interviewer, you are likely interrupting what he or she is doing since you were not expected so soon. It is unlikely that he or she planned to do nothing for that 15 minutes just in case you arrived!

The second scenario I have outlined here used to happen frequently to me as I did not always have a receptionist or greeter available to meet applicants. I would be in the middle of another interview, or possibly concluding a meeting with my current employees when I would have an applicant walk in to my small, two-room office expecting to be interviewed.


Given the confidential nature of my work, it became awkward when I would have to ask the applicant to come back in 15 minutes. If this scenario happens to you, you have not only irritated your interviewer, but your dismissal has probably already weakened your confidence before the interview itself.


There is no such thing as an acceptable reason to be late. If something important comes up, cancel it or delay it – after all, most interviews last less than an hour.


If your car breaks down, take a cab.
If the buses aren’t running, start walking.
Find a solution.


There is not a recruiter in the world who believes in an acceptable reason to be late. Once you have agreed to meet, you have been assigned a portion of his or her day. Should you fail to arrive, you have wasted time that could have been applied to something else more productive. I would estimate your odds of getting the job will be pretty low at this point.


If however you run into an unforeseen situation that prevents you from being on-time, call the company immediately. It is always a good idea to leave home with the company’s phone number on-hand just in case. Inform whoever you can, even if not your scheduled interviewer, that you will be late. Do not be surprised if you are rescheduled for another day altogether. 10-15 minutes might not seem long to you, but to the person interviewing you, that is enough time to complete another entire interview. And as any recruiter will tell you, as soon as you fall behind with your interviews for the day, it is tough to catch back up.


Here are a couple of tips to ensure that you arrive on-time:

• Plan your route the day before your interview. Travel that route for practice. Ensure you know exactly where you are going.
• Should you not be driving yourself there, make sure you have a guaranteed method of transportation for the next day. If a friend tells you he or she can “probably” drive you, that isn’t good enough. Plan to call a taxi.
• Aim to arrive at least a half hour early. That way, if you are running behind, you should still be there 15 minutes ahead of time.

Find something to do for the next 10-12 minutes. It is best to arrive for your interview 3-5 minutes before it is scheduled to start, unless you were instructed to come early to complete paperwork such as an application or a release for a background check.


When the moment finally comes to walk in, you are not likely to be greeted by the person interviewing you. Regardless of whether you are or not, do not assume whoever you speak with knows who you are or why you are there.


Give a full introduction, such as, “Hello. My name is Brent Jones. I have an interview at 3:00 with xx. Can you let him/her know that I am here?”


Good luck, my friend. Now is when the magic begins to happen!


Taken from my eBook 7 Fatal Mistakes Made by Most Job Applicants. If you enjoyed this article and would like to download the entire eBook, please subscribe to receive updates at JobGettingTips.com, or visit http://www.jobgettingtips.info for more information.