Everybody’s busy right? And if you’re in the job market you may be in the unenviable position of squeezing an interview into an already full working day. Keeping all of your professional and personal balls in the air can be tricky.

Sometimes, despite best laid plans, interviews are cancelled or rescheduled by client or candidate. As recruitment specialists, we often have the difficult task of mediating between and managing the expectations of both parties. Doubts start creeping in and fragile relationships can be jeopardised.

If you find yourself on the cusp of cancelling that all-important job interview, take a moment to read through our top tips. Interview indecision be gone!

I’m the candidate:

1: Avoid the ‘3 U’s’: the client may assume you’re uninterested, unorganised and unprofessional

2: First impressions count: cancellation can be interpreted as lack of enthusiasm

3: No second chances: rescheduling isn’t guaranteed, you could lose out on your dream job

4: Back to the future: your decision to cancel now could impact future opportunities - our industry is small, people talk

5: Team work: we’re your biggest fans and we like nothing better than promoting you to our clients. In the words of Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire ‘Help me, help you’. If you have no option but to cancel please do let us know. We want to be able to continue presenting you to the client as the best person for the job! If not managed correctly we lose that trust and confidence of our client which impacts everyone.

I’m the client:

1: Choices, choices: candidates have many jobs to choose from, your cancellation could mean they accept an alternative job offer by a competitor

2: Time is money: taking time off to attend an interview with you is difficult to arrange with their current employer, a cancellation will limit their ability to reschedule quickly

3: Winner takes all: strong candidates will have several interviews booked in with different companies, they’ll also receive several offers of employment. If contact with your firm has been disorganised and a negative experience, you may well lose their interest to a competitor

4: Building blocks: candidates start to build a picture of your firm from first contact. Changing interview times and locations can convey that you’re unorganised. They may think that this is a sign of what’s to come as your employee, and question the company’s values.

5: Chatterbox: candidates will talk about their experience with you to industry peers, impacting the views of future applicants

Dealing with expectations of clients and candidates is one of our main challenges as recruiters. And of course in an ideal world we’d never have to cancel an interview. On the occasions that cancellation is the only option we’ll try to negotiate a suitable time to reschedule. We will of course do everything in our power to prevent this from happening and manage the situation professionally when it does. We want to offer a professional and trusted service.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU NEED TO CANCEL YOUR INTERVIEW

1. Contact your agent immediately, by text, phone or email
2. Provide a reason for cancelling (so we can feedback to the client/ candidate)
3. Provide a new time and date to enable us to reschedule
4. Do you really want to stand out? Why not consider a small token gift by way of an apology and acknowledgement that you are still interested in the other party.

Article by:     Alice Cadfan-Lewis (LinkedIn)    alice@blockrecruit.co.uk