One of my recruiting colleagues has seen a very disturbing trend the last couple of weeks. Candidates that confirm for interviews, then the day before or the day of, send off an email telling the recruiter that they accepted another offer and aren’t going to come in and interview. This is unconscionably rude, most especially to the hiring manager. It is also a bit duplicitous, because in each of the three cases, the candidates had told her they didn’t have any offers on the table or believe they had any pending.
I don’t think most candidates know how much time goes into scheduling interviews. The hiring manager provides the recruiter with a list of interviewers and alternates for a given position, usually 3-5 people. Either the recruiter or if s/he is lucky enough the recruiting coordinator/admin then spends several *hours* trying to build an interview loop based on the candidate’s availability and all the interviewers. Usually this is done with Outlook.
Then the hiring manager will send out an email that all the interviewers read, with the information on what we are considering the candidate for, any feedback from phone screens, and asks each interviewer to read the resume, the notes, and then formulate questions to address specific competencies or past history. And keep in mind that this usually happens for *several candidates for each position.*
The reason a position is usually open is either because someone has left, or the business is growing enough to justify additional people resources. That means that until the opening is filled, everyone on the team is pulling a significant additional portion of additional responsibitities over and above normal. And then they take out an extra hour or two for *each candidate* in the form of preparation, interview, and then feedback.
So don’t be a rude candidate. Don’t wait until the last minute to cancel an interview. Or better yet, even if you have an offer in hand, go to the interview and see if you may have a better opportunity to compare.