This hasn’t been a great week for booked interviews. Our office has had a number of interviewees who have not arrived at all for a scheduled interview with either me or one of my colleagues. Now of course I understand life gets in the way ( or another opportunity), but please, a phone call would be really appreciated. If I did that with my dentist, they would send me an invoice as I hadn’t given 24 hour’s notice! As a recruiter, we offer a free service to candidates, even an email would be really appreciated.

If you were to assume that these candidates were inexperienced and entry level individuals, you would be wrong. The three ‘no-shows’ I had this week were all senior level candidates, well-experienced, with the presumption of professionalism, or so I thought.

When coordinating these interviews over the phone, I had confirmed with all three candidates that I had active vacancies to discuss with them. So unfortunately, as they did not attend our prearranged interview, not only have they missed out on some exciting opportunities I am recruiting for currently, but they have also shown that they can’t be relied upon. So How would I know if they would be reliable enough to meet with a hiring manager on time, or even arrive on time and prepared on their first day of their new job?

I believe it is extremely important to be punctual and commit to promises. Building your personal network pays off in the long term, especially within property market, as it seems to be such a small world where everyone seems to know everyone else.

If you are unable to attend a meeting, appointment or interview it’s critical that you manage the situation properly. Call your interviewer with an explanation of why you cannot attend and offer an alternative date or time. Or, if you do not wish to meet the person, tell them! Failing to attend with no attempt at contact is not only disrespectful of my time, it damages your own brand.

Call me old fashioned but it pays to be polite!