1 Min Late to Interview - Declined!
As a career recruiter, I’ve definitely seen some wild reasons for declining candidates for roles. I’ve had feedback that candidates didn’t smile enough, were “too much”, asked too many questions, or didn’t ask enough questions. Being back on the job market (albeit briefly) and on the receiving end of it has been eye-opening, but this one takes the cake.
After the phone screen, I had some early reservations about the culture; but I went into the panel interview with an open mind.
They were using an online interview tool I wasn’t familiar with, and I thought I was in the waiting room - turns out I hadn’t clicked the right button. When I joined, I explained I’d had a brief mind-blank moment and we started 1 minute after the scheduled time.
During the interview, they talked about delivering a “world class” customer experience. However, when the recruiter called with the “thanks, but no thanks”, the feedback was: “she was 1 minute late to the interview” and “she wasn’t the same person between the two interviews.”
That’s where their “world class” claim stopped matching reality.
Frustratingly, this is exactly the type of process I could have helped them to improve, as they have been trying to hire this role for over a year! At that point, it’s not a talent problem - it’s a hiring problem. Needless to say, there is no way I would ever let a Hiring Manager decline someone for being one minute late to an interview, given the situation.
My approach to interviews is simple: give candidates the opportunity to show themselves at their best. That means clear and direct questions focussed on the skills required to be successful in the role, giving them grace to allow for nerves or time to warm up to the process and most importantly, treating candidates with the utmost respect.
If you follow that recipe, you’ll get the best idea of what that person is capable of and whether they are a company fit - which is the ultimate purpose of an interview.
Respect is always a two way street, and if someone has taken the time to prepare for and attend an interview, then the bare minimum when declining them is a phone call with some specifics around why they weren’t successful tied back to role requirements. Most candidates want to know where they can improve for next time, so ensuring you give them something constructive to work with leaves them better for the experience.
What I can tell you is that at Hire Wisely, respect and empathy are core to how I work. Every candidate who goes through a process I manage is treated with transparency and authenticity - because how you treat people in a hiring process says everything about how you treat them as employees.
The way you run your hiring process is the clearest preview of your culture. Most companies just don’t realise what they’re showing. And if you'd like to work with a talent partner who takes that seriously, I'd love to hear from you.
