Sort of job interview-were they justified in doing this?

[Thebeckhamsareeverywhere]

A few weeks ago I saw a post for a great looking part time job, I contacted them and after a fair bit of back and forth (on their part, quite disorganised, but I didn’t really mind) we came to a day and time that suited us both. I rearranged my other part time job to go to the meet up, on the same day, they contacted me and apologised as they had other work on but could they change the date to another day. I agreed and was very easygoing about it.
Lots of illnesses going around my Dc’s class, she’s been ill on and off since December and has an auto immune condition. I myself ended up getting ill and was in bed for a few days, so I apologised and asked to reschedule. The date we rescheduled for was just under a week later as I wanted to be sure I was completely well. During this time my Dc now picked up what I had and on the morning of the meet up was really not well. We have no family nearby to help us out and Dh couldn’t come back home from work, he did however request for time off if I was able to reschedule and Dc was still ill.
I felt terrible and so unprofessional that it was last minute and messaged apologising profusely and talked about plans Dh had put in place with work if we were able to reschedule.
There was no reply to the text at all and hasn’t been since, well over a week ago.

I realise it probably didn’t come across well, aibu to hope other mums (the meet up was with a group of mums) would be more understanding or do I just have to accept that with a child with health issues, i’m always going to struggle in my career 😔

If you can’t make it to a job interview, how are you going to make it to work?

I think rearranging one interview would have been ok but with the 2nd you just came across as flaky. How would you manage to turn up to work regularly with frequent illnesses and no back up?

Yes tbh I can see why they've given up. Was there no possibility of doing an interview on teams or something similar? Also, if they've cancelled an arranged interview because they have 'too much work' it might be a lucky escape

Why didn't your DH take parental/carers leave on the day to allow you the hour or so to go the interview?

Even the most family friendly company in the world might draw the line at two last minute reschedulings.
Not very professional to ignore you but they may be dealing with fifty other candidates.
Next time, get your contingency plan in place before something as important as a job interview.

If they were interviewing multiple candidates it's OK to make them hang on a week for a rearranged interview, but after that they might have decided they needed to go with someone rather than taking a risk on you and potentially losing other options.

We only really have had a bad period over the last month or so, but dd had been making it in to school, it was just really bad luck, but also unavoidable and not my fault.
I can see how they saw it though, but to not reply seems a bit harsh

He’d already left for work (leaves very early and a lift with a colleague) so couldn’t have come back unfortunately. I was trying to get my dd to go to school, but then felt awful as she was clearly unwell

This is the thing though, it wasn’t a interview per se, a meet up to discuss the plans with a group of other mums, but I know it wasn’t ideal

How would he get back home if you were at work and your child was sick/emergency?

It was very unfortunate timing, but I think two reschedules would put off even the most sympathetic and tolerant hiring manager, especially if one was last-minute.

You should have got your husband to look after your DC, however difficult that might have been.

I work very close to the school, anything else his friend would bring him back

Agree wit the others - 2 cancellations is one too many.

I don’t understand what this was? You have described this as an interview but also as a meet up of mums?

It was for a part time position organised by a group of mums

Yes it was bad timing and rude of them to ignore you, but even you can see how it comes across.

I think once is unfortunate, twice is a red flag. Interviews tend to be people trying their hardest and best to make a good first impression, so if that’s a struggle then it stands to reason that the actual job part might be even more so.

But they should have responded even just to say they won’t be taking it further. It’s unprofessional to ignore.

If they were interviewing a number of people they may have had some days allocated to do this and then made a decision from the candidates they saw. Would be polite of them to let you know the vacancy had been filled . Have you chased them?

They probably hired someone else when you cancelled
and asked to reschedule one week later!

they can’t wait forever

No I didn’t, this was Friday, I asked for the Monday

No, I didn’t feel comfortable after no reply to my message

You didn’t give a very good first impression by
rescheduling not once but twice due to illness/child illness.

You’ve given them a glimpse into a possible future with you as an employee. You can’t really expect them to be interested in you after this.

But it’s not a true picture or a typical situation

I have recently been recruiting and publicised the interview date in advance - could have been flexible on timings that day or following day
Candidates who couldn’t manage either of those 2 days would not have been considered - I need someone to start asap and to be flexible

It’s a true picture in that that’s what has happened. You can’t reschedule a job interview twice even if they have been disorganised themselves.