Another One Bites the Dust
Well my excitement over having a job interview was premature and, after Tuesday, a disappointment. Monday night I made sure to have everything ready; had my suit layed out, my stack of resumes and research on the company printed and filed in my brief/planner, the directions to the office, and a list of questions to ask the interviewer. I went to bed earlier than I normally do, and set 3 alarms to make sure I got up in the morning.
Next morning, I woke up and took my shower. Got ready, grabbed everything I needed and went out on my way. Half-way there I noticed I had forgotten my cell phone at home, but it was too late to turn around to go get it. I followed the directions to the T, and pulled into an office complex that had the address that was given to me. I went to the suite I was given, and walked in; the receptionist asked if she could help me and I told her I had an interview with so-so. She informed me that I was in the wrong place, and that company doesn't even have an office in the building. I didn't have my cell phone with the recruiters phone number to call the recruiter to find out where I went wrong with the directions.
I walked back out to my car, and decided to see if I could find the office by chance or see if someone else could tell me where it was located. I went to the building next to the previous one that I had just entered and did the same thing. They had no clue where the company was located either. I continued to do the same thing with another building and got the same response. At this point I was 15 minutes late for the interview.
I drove to the university I attend that was nearby where the interview was to be located, and I hurried and emailed the recruiter to find out what went wrong. I didn't get a response right away, so I drove home thinking I would call her when I got back. There was a message from the recruiter on my land line and on my cell phone; the interviewer called her to tell her that I didn't show up. I checked my email and she had responded by then. She told me she was sorry that I got lost. The company couldn't reschedule me for another interview until next week Wednesday. However, they had 2 other interviews schedule for Friday and they may hire before they could reschedule me.
Needless to say I was completely and totally disappointed and frustrated. I have never missed an interview in my life, and it frustrates me that this happened. It makes me look bad and incompetent.
Cynthia,
That's really disappointing to hear that you may have missed out on the opportunity to be interviewed for this position. A suggestion for this opportunity: immediately mail an apology note to the recruiter and reiterate in it your qualifications and strong interest in the position. Convince them that you're going to be better qualified for this position than any of your competitors and that your failure to show for the interview was an anomoly and that you very much want the position. They aren't going to hire you because you want the position. That's basically a given amongst all interested candidates. But few organizations are truly in such a rush to hire people that they won't wait a few days to interview a highly qualified candidate that could prove to be the best of the applicants.
And now a suggestion for future interviews. When you set up the interview, ask for specific directions. Then do a dry run the day before by actually driving or otherwise going to the location of the interview so that you are positive that you know how to get there and how much time it will take. The time that it takes for you to do that pales in comparison to the time that it will take for you to apply to more jobs just so that you can get back to that point of being offered an interview. The preparation of doing the dry run is a very good investment.
Cynthia, your frustrations are more than understandable. For the sake of your own self esteem, go to the phone book or the Web and check the address of the company where you were supposed to interview. Another thing you can do is call the phone number that was given to you for the company (if it was) and ask them to confirm their address. Compare that to the address you were given. It could be the address has changed in the last month or so or that there was a tragic comedy of errors on this situation.
A bit of information for your consolation. There was one person who attempted to respond to an ad in a jobs magazine. They went to the address where the business was supposed to be located in order to complete an application and leave their resume. What they found was a building that was in the final stages of construction. No business offices were open at all. Either the construction date had gone past the company's expected opening date when the ad was placed (no doubt, four months in advance) or there was a change in plans that didn't get printed.
After doing that double check on your end, call the agency and ask them to re-read the address you should have used to attend the interview.
Have you registered with any other agencies? Follow up with them. Do you need help in knowing how to work with a search agency? Let us know.