Boss Rejects Job Candidate For Being 25 Minutes Early To The Interview — 'I Felt Rushed'
Landing a job is getting more difficult every day.
Rido | Shutterstock When it comes to a professional setting, arriving early, be it for a meeting or just the start of the workday, is a power move. This is especially true for a job interview ... right? Atlanta business owner Matthew Prewett didn't think so. In fact, he took to LinkedIn to tell the tale of a job candidate he rejected solely for the fact that he showed up 25 minutes early for the interview.
Needless to say, his story and post garnered quite a bit of attention. From critics calling him the bad guy to sympathizers shouting about the quality or lack thereof in many candidates, the fact remains, finding a job in our current economy is not for the faint of heart.
A boss admitted he rejected a job candidate for arriving too early for an interview.
Prewett is the owner of a cleaning service in Atlanta and is looking to hire an office administrator. Obviously, the skills needed for such a job involve organization, good time management, and a positive customer-facing attitude, among many others. Apparently, according to Prewett, being too early to the interview for this particular position was a glaring red flag.
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He wrote in the comments to his post, "Here is why I saw this as a negative. Showing up early is good. Showing up extremely early can suggest that someone is not good with time management or that they expect to be accomadated time wise." If you're thinking that his take was a little harsh, he dove in a bit deeper. "I had scheduled my day to be available about ten minutes before the interview. This candidate knew we are a small office. I was doing double duty as receptionist so him being early meant that I had to leave my office door open and have an entire phone call with him listening in. It was not something explicitly private or I would have asked him to come back at his scheduled time but it made me feel rushed."
Let's just say the general consensus to his argument wasn't great. He concluded, "Overall, I felt that it demonstrated a lack of social awareness and a lack of proper time management as he was not coming from a great distance. If one looks this up on various interview advice sites one will find that most suggest showing up five to fifteen minutes early and advise against showing up signfiicantly earlier."
Most people argued that the boss was wrong in his assessment of the job candidate's early arrival.
Is it really so bad to arrive early? Most of the commenters on LinkedIn didn't think so. One person simply pointed out the obvious, "The only reason to be bothered that he was in your office early is if you were not ready. That’s a you problem. I hope you do some reflecting about this and all the feedback you’re getting."
Another even suggested that none of us, including Prewett, knows whether he was forced to catch a ride to the interview or even take public transportation. Perhaps being that early was him showing good time management because his transportation wasn't as clear-cut as simply driving over.
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When it comes to the ideal time to arrive for an interview, experts vary being 5 minutes to 20 minutes early. Adrian Granzella Larssen, editor-in-chief of the job site The Muse, wrote, "Plan to get to the interview site (or near it) 20-30 minutes early, so you’ll still have a buffer of time in case anything happens or some time to collect your thoughts and mentally prepare. But don’t go inside the office. Instead, sit in your car or in a Starbucks across the street until 5-10 minutes before game time, when you can walk into the lobby calmly and collectedly."
Larssen's advice is sound, but what if? What if the candidate doesn't have a car? What if there isn't a Starbucks nearby? What if the weather is awful? The extenuating circumstances for this candidate's early arrival are really endless. The issue beneath all of Prewett's arguments seems to be one thing. Without an office administrator, he is overwhelmed, and this candidate arrived when he was already having a bad day.
The job market is difficult right now, and this candidate's experience is only one example of the multitude of issues that can impact the hiring process.
The horror stories when it comes to finding a job in the midst of mass layoffs and an unsteady economy seem to far outweigh the success stories nowadays, and Prewett's post is proof of that. Yes, there are two sides that can be seen here, and 25 minutes is a little more than expected, but as a reason not to hire someone, it seems nitpicky and almost absurd.
Prewett is clearly in need of an administrator, but this candidate was not the right fit. Fact of the matter is, people have likely lost out on jobs for less than simply being too early, but the hiring managers didn't take to LinkedIn and admit to it. Personality plays a huge role in finding the right job, which is why interviews are integral to the hiring process. In the end, although perhaps a hard pill to swallow, the candidate dodged a bullet.
Erika Ryan is a writer working on her bachelor's degree in Journalism. She is based in Florida and covers relationships, psychology, self-help, and human interest topics.
