Interview scheduling etiquette?

July 16, 2009 2:49 PM

Interview etiquette: do I call to follow-up on scheduling an appointment for an interview?

I was contacted Tuesday afternoon for a job interview for a dream job, applied for on a whim, while getting on the bus. I asked if I could call back the next day to schedule an interview (because I was getting on the bus!), and hiring manager said that would be fine, no problem.

So that evening, she sent me a follow-up email saying that she would like to schedule an interview Friday afternoon -- but I had my one other interview at the same time! So I wrote back and gave my general availability.. but haven't heard back since Tuesday night (now Thursday afternoon)!

I know sometimes people take a couple days to get back to you with this stuff, but I just hope I didn't mess up by emailing back and not phoning (which I realize now would have been much more efficient)..

Finally my question: should I call to follow up this afternoon (or tomorrow morning, Friday), or would that be more of an annoyance, and down the chances of being hired? I realize this is kind of subjective, but I'm not super experienced with the etiquette here, and would love to hear some other folks' views..

posted by anonymous to work & money (5 answers total)

Call and propose a specific time yourself - you've already rejected one time. If you have lots of uncommitted time, your general availability times could even imply that other potential employers don't find you a compelling candidate.

Sometimes unavailability will get you dropped from the candidate pool if the company is on a tight time line for filling the position. The longer you leave setting a specific time, the more chance that they'll have already interviewed other candidates and be happy to fill the position from that pool.

Follow up sooner rather than later. And good luck.
posted by Lolie at 3:06 PM on July 16, 2009 [1 favorite]

Don't think there's anything wrong with calling and saying "Hi. Wanted to get in touch with you to schedule that interview. When is a convenient time for you?"
posted by zachlipton at 3:07 PM on July 16, 2009 [1 favorite]

What zachlipton said. And do it ASAP (right now, depending on your time zone) since they are interviewing people tomorrow.
posted by lunasol at 3:51 PM on July 16, 2009

As HR...I'm kinda wondering why you didn't call and remain proactive on this.

You best call asap, and do some fancy explaining if they wanna make a big deal about it. I mean the person who called to schedule the interview may have been someone different than the person who received the email. You waited 48 hours to fix this...and only 24 hours before the interview.

Fancy explaining is the way to go.
posted by hal_c_on at 4:10 PM on July 16, 2009

I wouldn't beat on anonymous too much about this though. He did write back on Tuesday with his availability and was giving the hiring manager a reasonable chance to respond. Sure it's important to be proactive, but no one wants to be "that guy" driving the office nuts either.
posted by zachlipton at 5:37 PM on July 16, 2009