What should I do - Interview clashes with work commitments

[sophierosie]

Am v unhappy in my current role and looking for a new job and have an interview next week for a job which is great...

...the only problem is it clashes with a Very Important Meeting.

I've emailed the interviewer to see if they can change the date/time and there is no chance of a change.

I can't change the date of the meeting as its been arranged for ages and is really important - it will be attended by my director, a third party and myself.

I don't want to tell my director that I have an interview, but should I just cancel at the last minute and let my director go it alone...

Help.....

Difficult one.

Tbh, I would probably throw a sickie, but for 2/3 days to make it realistic iykwim.

Good luck!

sophierosie good news about the interview.

If you have tried to change the interview and can't, and can't change the meeting, my best professional suggestion would be to phone in sick.

If you are unhappy in your job and planning to leave anyway, however important the meeting is, it's not worth losing an interview for.

rofl at '2/3 days to make it realistic'

I say phone in sick..or ask for special leave and just say you have a personal issue to deal with ..ermm... can you delegate the meeting to someone else?

i'd have an "emergency appointment" and would blame one of my children
aren't we turning out to be a norty lot?

Thank you for your responses - I feel a bit better for contemplating throwing a sickie. Unfortunately there is no one I can get to attend on my behalf. I'd feel gutted if I turned down the meeting and them it was cancelled by the other party.

Just hope no one sees me dressed up smart on my way to the interview...gosh it's terrible isn't it?!

Say your children are sick and there is no one to take care of them but you so if they see you out and about you can say you're going to the pharmacy or something and I second having a few days off to make it realistic! Good luck

Sorry - but why can't the interview be changed? I often interview people at 'out of hours' times to avoid situations like this - e.g. in the morning before work, or in the evening (prefer the 7.30/8am interviews though). I also have had people rearrange interviews because of exisiting work commitments, and I don't mind.
I find it hard to believe that the time / date of the interview can't change (unless someone is flying into the country for it).

I know you don't like your current job, but you still need to maintain your professionalism while you're there - imagine in you did throw a sickie and someone saw you out and about?

Don't mean to put a downer on it - just want to make sure you can focus all your attention on the interview while you're doing it instead of worrying about if you get caught.

Waynetta sounds like you are able to be flexible with interviews which is great. Unfortunately it really isn't possible a lot of the time. IME frequently interviews involve panels of senior members of staff who may be on very tight schedules/not usually based at that office/have travel arrangements etc and there may be a packed timetable of interviews all on the one day. It's a nightmare getting a day for interviews everyone can make let alone changing it.

May not be the case for sophierosie of course, and it's always worth asking whether an interview can be changing but not pushing it I'd say.

Hope it goes well sophierosie anyway

They have managed a 'last minute' change of time - someone has pulled out of the interview so can make both meetings! Hurrah!

Interview is tomorrow so fingers crossed!

Brilliant! Everything crossed here

Just found out I didn't get the job

Have asked for feedback as I thought the interview went really well

Oh sorry to hear that! You do normally 'know' when it goes well don't you? It was probably that it went well for you and another candidate who just pipped you at the post.

Do make sure you get some decent feedback, and fingers crossed for something else .

Thanks - I'm finding it rather difficult to find anything at the moment as I'm applying for things that I appear overqualified for which is a conscious decision as at this point in time as I want something with less responsibility.

btw - thanks for your email from one of my other posts. I have since contacted the charity and have not heard back from them about the outcome of the interview or a response from my email Not very impressed given the charity involved...

that's not very impressive at all is it? Worth a phone call? You at least need to know the outcome!

Trouble with applying for posts you are overqualified for is that people will assume you are

a) desperate for a job and therefore willing to take something beneath you

and/or

b) will be frustrated very soon and will either then leave or will be difficult to manage.

You need to deal with those problems when applying - you may already be doing this, but you need to make it very clear in your letters that you are making a conscience decision to look for something at a slightly lower level and give good reasons why.