Missed Flight for Interview

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thommo77

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So, we are all set to interview a prospective candidate for a position at our firm. We are flying this person in from another state (about an hour flight). We paid for the flight, booked her hotel and booked the reservation because we believe she is a strong candidate. This morning, she calls and says she missed her flight due to traffic, leaving the house late etc. WTF? I told the hiring manager we should write her off and not interview her. Thoughts?
 
Dump her. Due to traffic and leaving house late? How would you ever trust her to do anything important at the job?
If it was car accident + hospitalization, that’s ok. But if she’s fine, forget it.
Try to get your money back from the un-used hotel and flight, and move on.
 
It depends on whether she’s really a strong candidate. If it is, at least put her on hold for a couple of weeks if your firm can afford the time. I would ding her right away regardless though.
 
Agreed. For a big interview like that, you make SURE you are at the airport in advance. Shows a lack of planning, dedication and time-management skills for one thing.
Even if she is really interested in the position and was just having a bad day…oh well. Life isn’t always fair.
Put it back on her now. Say that you are still interested, but won’t be paying for her to fly in according to company policy. If she’s the real deal, she will fly in on her own.
Or, the more appropriate response (as most people on the board would say) is “does she have big knockers?”
 
i’d dig a little deeper. ask “is this not important enough to put an extra 30 minutes into your schedule?” - something like that. she may still be good, but def guage the interest.
i missed a flight in college when i was supposed to interview, but it was because the flight was cancelled due to a snow storm. i called the airline for updates every 30 minutes for 6 hours before the flight (11pm-5am) and there was no shot. i called the hr lady at 7am, left a voicemail, and called again at 8am to explain what happened.
 
I would ding her. And I would specifically tell her missing the flight was a super-dunce move.
Just shows she’s not that into the position anyway.
 
had an interview at a big bank last week - was sitting at starbucks for an hour before the scheduled time “just in case” - if it was important to her, she would not have missed the flight.
 
Thanks guys. No idea how big her knockers are. That is why we were interviewing her in person. Might put her on hold for a couple of weeks as IEV said.
 
Thommo, no joke, if I really wanted to work for your firm, I’d be at the airport hours beforehand. If for some reason I missed the flight, I would just buy a ticket on my own and get there ASAP (hopefully in time for the interview).
As we’ve commented elsewhere, getting a job is hard enough in this economy - proving you’re qualified, that you’ve got the drive and characteristics, etc. Easier stuff like, “Did you bring copies of your resume?”, “Did you write a thank-you note?”, and “Did you show up on time and look good?” are freebie points that should not be missed.
 
I had an interview with American Funds about a year ago. They were paying for expenses and everything. I had to be in San Antonio for an interview at 8:00 the next morning. I had my flight cancelled at the airport due to severe storms in my area, so I called AF, got the flight rescheduled at a different airport 2 hours away, drove through the storms and left on a flight about 3 hours later. Did not get the job…but i wasnt goin to miss that interview. I would have drove the 16 hours if i had to…i say drop her.
 
CFAcountry Wrote:
——————————————————-
> I had my
> flight cancelled at the airport due to severe
> storms in my area, so I called AF, got the flight
> rescheduled at a different airport 2 hours away,
> drove through the storms and left on a flight
> about 3 hours later. Did not get the job…but i
> wasnt goin to miss that interview. I would have
> drove the 16 hours if i had to…i say drop her.
I would hire you. And would have done the exact same thing
 
I had my interview on Friday right before CFA L2 exam (June). Had to take two flights (7+ hours) to reach the destination. Made there at 1 am midnight on Friday, got interviewed for 4+ hours next morning and was back at home same evening for CFA exam next day.
Drop her, highly irresponsible behaviour. I think she’s not interested, for if she was…she would have given a better reason than to say I woke up late!
 
CFAcountry Wrote:
——————————————————-
> I had an interview with American Funds about a
> year ago. They were paying for expenses and
> everything. I had to be in San Antonio for an
> interview at 8:00 the next morning. I had my
> flight cancelled at the airport due to severe
> storms in my area, so I called AF, got the flight
> rescheduled at a different airport 2 hours away,
> drove through the storms and left on a flight
> about 3 hours later. Did not get the job…but i
> wasnt goin to miss that interview. I would have
> drove the 16 hours if i had to…i say drop her.
When I first read your post, I read AF and thought that somebody at Analyst Forum (AF) rescheduled your flight! I was like wow the powers of AF.
Good advice. I think we will drop her.
 
thommo77 Wrote:
——————————————————-
>
> Good advice. I think we will drop her.
Agree.
 
gauri Wrote:
——————————————————-
> I had my interview on Friday right before CFA L2
> exam (June). Had to take two flights (7+ hours) to
> reach the destination. Made there at 1 am midnight
> on Friday, got interviewed for 4+ hours next
> morning and was back at home same evening for CFA
> exam next day.
>
Yikes.
 
Ask her to send pics.
But seriously, this all depends, right? If you have other comparable applicants, then maybe this is enough to drop her. If she’s truly exceptional, then maybe you might be willing to consider that this might really have been due to circumstances beyond her control.
 
It is possible she left the house late for something serious. Ran over neighbor’s dog, kitchen caught on fire, etc… I would say its very unlikely, but this kinda stuff does happen so I wouldn’t rule her out on that just yet.
If she offered to pay for the flight and made a strong effort to reaffirm her interest then I’d say at least give her a shot. Shit happens. But this doesn’t seem to be the case and if thats true, dump her.
 
What’s the job for? If looks are so important, it’s a sales position?
 
No looks are not important for this job. We were being facetious. Although it never hurts to have good looking people in the office.
 
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