to send this reply?

[BobMarley]

I had been invited for an interview for a maternity cover contract. Unfortunately the interview date was when I was away abroad for the week and asked them if we could reschedule to a later date.

This was the reply I got:

"Thank you for your e-mail.

Unfortunately due to holiday/diary arrangements we are unable to reschedule your interview.

If we are unsuccessful in making an appointment following the interviews, we will be in contact with you"

AIBU to send this back:

"Thank you very much for getting back to me. However, I must say that it is incredibly disappointing that not more effort can be made to re-schedule the interview. Unfortunately it does not give me a very favourable impression of the sort of person and company I would potentially be working for. I would therefore not be interested in an interview if you were not to find the right candidate with the current interviewees."

oh my apologies what planet are you from? is there not a recession where you are? obviously not!

tbh i would encourage you to send the first email so as the panel can actually give the job to someone who really wants it. stop wasting everyone's time.

Op I understand, I got an email to advise me recently tgat whilst I had made it through the second stage they were now putting the job on hold and they might contact if tge decide to go ahead. This was already 3 weeks after they should have let me know and after being told they were desperate for someone as had noone in role since December

scuzy so you think employees should accept any job under any condition? Very convenient for employers, this recession.

I have a choice and I will make a decision to what suits me and my circumstances best. And perhaps this company and I are not best suited!

And scuzy the person that want the job most is not necessarily the best person for the post

op do what you want couldnt give a fiddlers. but there are some people that send out cvs and applications day after day after day with NO reply or ackowledgment of receipt. and yes they would give their right hand to be offered an interview.

your reply may you sound really snotty. simple as that. your second reply is better. go and enjoy your holiday.

and whether you like it or not yes it is an employers market at the moment. just be thankful you dont need this job that badly.

As has already been mentioned, it is surprising how much people in related fields talk, and an email is so easy to forward, with your name on it as an aide-memoire to ensure you are identifiable.
So have a sulk and a rant if you want to, but it is likely to prove expensive in the future if you send a tantrum in email form.

Hmmm, I work in academia where it is fairly standard now to state on job ad the date of the interview so you know not to apply if you can't make it. I had exact same situation as you though when the date hadn't been advertised and I couldn't make the interview date they offered.mi was annoyed but I figured they must have had other strong candidates or it was an inside job. I would never have sent a snotty email as it is a small world and you may need them in the future, you never know.

I guess at the end of the day it's better not to burn your bridges.

You never know, they might suggest you for another role or indeed to another company. Someone might remember your name years later and not hire you if you send and sharp email back. I got my last job due to my name and CV being passed on to another firm by one of the senior partners (they did ask me first)

through gritted teethbest to send a polite cheery reply. It reflects better on you as a potential candidate.

Send it, if I was the manager I'd like the warning not to invite you if we didn't appoint!

Yabu. I recently interviewed for a temp teaching job to cover long term sickness and had to tell one candidate that we were unable to reschedule. This was due to my Vailability and the fact that we wanted candidates to teach part of a sample lesson and there was only two weeks left of term.

She would have been a strong candidate but we saw a couple of other strong candidates (plus one total incompetent) and couldnt hang around or we would have risked losing them all.

Send the first one, it obviously sums up how you feel they should treat you The sense of entitlement is overwhelming, they have the pick of candidates so unless you have some super skill no one else have why should they drop everything to work around your holiday.

Actually I just read back my initial reply - which I hadn't looked at since I wrote it - and you are all very right. It sounds ridiculous! I don't actually recognise myself in that. Must remember to never send emails when I'm pissed off .

Anyway, lesson learnt. It is interesting how mean people get on a forum like this though.

I think I must be the only person here who 'gets' you Bob. It's a ranty email that was better put on here rather than sent. Good that you are going to send the second one.

And yes, there are some jobs lucky enough that the employee interviews the employer , this midwifery job may be one of them. In my job the interview is definitely a mutual thing. I've turned down many jobs when I've felt like it's not right for me.
There are some jobs that are fortunate like that- experienced professionals with good references in some fields are like gold dust. That may sound arrogant to some people, I can understand why, but it is the reality for a few jobs. So I can see why you were a bit put out, but can see why others may think that is being snotty.

Yes I agree an interview is a two way street. It isn't just the employer seeing if they want to employ you, it is also for you to work out if you want to work for them.

However it is a short term contract, all they need is for someone to do a satisfactory job on a short-term basis. They don't need the best of the best, they just need to get by for perhaps 6-9 months until the permanent employee returns.

You don't know how late they may have left it to advertise the position. It may be that their employee is going on maternity leave very soon and they simply cannot afford to push back interviews to ensure they get cover in time.

Also, as other people have said interview panels are usually made up of a lot of top people with busy schedules and it may be that it's too much hassle for everyone to change their plans for one person when they have probably dozens if not more people who want the job.

It is interesting how mean people get on a forum like this though.

can you explain this please?

'Anyway, lesson learnt. It is interesting how mean people get on a forum like this though.'

Or honest, in a way that you can't be IRL when you might meet the person again.

OP - it really does depend on the job and how many 'right' applicants there are. I was on the interview panel for a fairly senior position recently (more senior than me anyway!) and the interviewee contacted us to say the date was not suitable so as she was one of only 5 who fitted the bill out of 120 applicants, we moved things to fit around her. A few days before the date of interview, she contacted us again to say that her childcare arrangements had broken down as she was travelling from London to us for the interview, could we source and fund her a crèche nearby. We said no obviously. On the day, she turned up late, all flustered and was really hostile and abrupt throughout her interview, making it very clear that she thought she was doing us a favour by just being there! Needless to say she didn't get the job, and no one on the panel has forgotten her so doubt she'd get far if she ever applied for a position with us again.

It really is an employers market at the moment, we've been seeing a lot of highly qualified people with MBAs applying for traditionally entry level professional roles in my line of work. Our HR department insists we interview anyone who fits the person spec which is not always possible - I did a 4 day interview panel once and after a while, all the applicants started to blur into one! We have started to be really, really picky in short listing just to be able to cope with the sheer volumes!

I'm glad you changed your mind about sending that email OP, please don't burn any bridges as some of us have very long memories...

Are you in the right field of work OP? Sounds like you might suit something where it's more usual to challenge the status quo and bend the rules.

True fallen

stepout my line of work in private sector is quite suited for challenging the status quo but perhaps not so much in public sector. I would not know for sure though as never worked in public secor.

I wouldn't send the second email, either.

Perhaps if you worded it to express your disappointment at not being able to make the interview rather than disappointment at them not being able to reschedule, it would be better.

Op you can take this As honesty. But you need to read your posts back. Your second email still implies they are wrong and even when you acknowledge yabu, you have to add a further comment that says everyone else is wrong. Maybe you should think about that before your interview.

The last time I was on an interview panel, the date was set so that it fell between the two night flights that I was on.

Two other panelists where called in from supervising jobs in the uk and one other was a CEO from the U.S of A.

We had five applicants wittled down from just over 800, to reschedule would have cost the company several hundred thousand pounds.

Am not quite in the leaque for those type of interviewers boney!

Funnily enough my success rate at interviews is pretty high dprince so don't think I need to worry about that. But then interviews don't involve writing emails in the heat of the moment on an anonimous forum...