When should you pull the plug on an interview?

One of the biggest challenges I see out there for candidates is deciding when to cancel an interview.  The interview process is long and arduous. It can drag on months on end and often times I encounter candidates get frustrated and pull out of the process.  Sometimes they are making the right move, other times it is an emotional reaction that limits their opportunity.  With that in mind I thought I would share reasons why you should or shouldn’t cancel an interview.

Don’t you dare cancel it!

Before I jump into specific reasons I want to share the overall reason why you shouldn’t cancel  This is all about positioning.  Sometimes job interviews don’t lead to immediate jobs.  Instead they lead to another job down the road or a business relationship.  How you handle yourself when you decide to not work for a company can have long term ramifications. 

You assume they can’t pay you enough money

This is one that I encounter all the time.  However, please understand that there is a difference between assuming and knowing.  If a company flat out tells you that they can’t pay you what you need. Then you should end it.  But if you are just making an assumption, then you should either speak directly with the company about it or wait for the offer and negotiate. 

Before the 1^st interview

If you have accepted a first interview it is in your best interests to follow through with it, unless you have a compelling reason like unreasonable commute, money or your have accepted another job.  The reason here is because the company will feel like you didn’t give them a chance.   This could potentially burn a bridge and you never want to do that. 

You are cancelling at the last minute

This one is about courtesy.  Unless you have accepted another job, you shouldn’t cancel at the last minute.  It looks really poor and you start running into the bridge burning thing again. 

You are making broad assumptions

First of all, you know what they say about assumptions…  I will have people cancel interviews all the time and then later find out it was because they thought that their wasn’t enough growth, or the company couldn’t meet their scheduling needs.  The common thread is that the candidate never asked me or the company.  A good first interview that goes nowhere can mean a fast track in the future when you need it.

You have heard bad things about a company

This is one of my biggest pet peeves.  When I worked in the restaurant industry, a wise man once told me that bad experiences are shared something like 10 – 30 times more than good ones.  The same applies here.  You are much more likely to hear feedback from a disgruntled ex-employee than you will from a happy former employee.  Please understand I’m not saying that the disgruntled ex-employee can’t be right.  Instead, I’m saying that you should take the info with a grain of salt and make your own determination in an interview. 

You are really far along in the process

If you have invested a ton of time and energy and you are frustrated because it hasn’t paid off yet I think you owe it to yourself to see it through.  You might not get what you want but there will be finality to the situation and you won’t be thinking what if.

Cancel it!

You’ve Accepted your #1 Job

In this case you should totally cancel it.  The only caveat I would add is that you still shouldn’t cancel at the last minute for positioning purposes.  In this case, take the meeting and then notify the company later in the day or the next that you

You have a significant life occurrence that changes the equation

If something changes in your life (pregnancy, illness, death, divorce, moving) and you can’t make a change then you should feel free to cancel the interview.  Here positioning is key again as how you handle it will preserve future opportunities.  Depending on the severity of the event you can choose to call or email.  However, in this event just give specific information (you don’t need to share a ton here – just enough to not be cryptic) and thank them for their time. 

A dealbreaker presents itself

If you have concrete evidence (not an assumption) that something won’t work then cut your losses and move on.  These could be things like salary, schedule or commute.  However, if you knew about these things before scheduling an interview, you are better suited to have the interview and then end the process afterwards as there is an emotional difference between declining to move forward and cancelling. 

So there you have it!  What do you think?  Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section.  As always I can be reached at sthompson@insurance-csg.com.