Interview No-Show

No-shows

That's happened to me once or twice, but not often enough to assign a percentage. Definitely less than 1%. I agree that it's annoying.

Kate

Rarely.

Wow.  I've had it happen exactly twice in a couple decades, both times for a paid internship interview.  I suspect that something happened that made getting to the interview on time a problem, and the candidate was inexperienced enough that they simply didn't know what to do.

I've never had a "real job" applicant just not show, though I have had morning-of-the-interview cancellations.  I always pre-screen with a phone interview, and occasionally I'll have an applicant who doesn't get back to me to schedule a call, or misses the scheduled call.  That happens maybe once in 30 or 40 candidates.  We aren't hiring at all right now, so I don't know if things have changed.

I don't think common courtesy is exactly dead, but it's not healthy, either.  The old rules are certainly dead (I don't think even the military teaches proper use of calling cards any more) and the new ones are so ill-defined that I think I lot of people don't know what to do, and don't take the time or energy to think about it.

 Sigh.

On the bright side...

And this is even after pre-screening phone interviews too.

I suppose I should be thankful - if they can't bother to show up for an interview or at least call to cancel, they definitely don't belong working for our company. Maybe I should just consider it self-(un)selection on the part of the candidate.

I've interviewed several

I've interviewed several hundred candidates over the past few years and only had one (sort-of) no show.

The candidate did show up - 30 minutes late.  The HR rep met him at the security desk and was going to bring him to me, but he was obviously agitated.  He began to berate and shout at the HR rep that it was farther than he expected (we talked about the location relative to his house during the phone screen and it's less than a 30 minute drive), too hard to find a parking spot (we have a big suburban corporate campus with tons of visitor spots), etc.  When the HR rep suggested he take a few moments to compose himself before the interview, he declined and launched into further shouting and complaining.

Needless to say the HR rep made the right call and didn't bother to bring him back to me...

Check the phone screen

I guess the real question is, how can you weed out those people during the phone screen? You might ask some behavioural questions related to their prioritization and use of time. At least then you will have saved yourself the trouble of bringing duds in. If your "fail" rate is really that high, I would definitely tighten up the phone interview.

- xcelerator

Doing better today

I can adjust my no-show percentage down a bit - one of the no-shows did call and let us know she had already accepted another job offer, but left her message on someone else's voicemail so I didn't get it until the next day.

Xcelerator, that is a good idea. I ask a question about prioritization during the normal interview, but I'm always interested to hear what types of questions others ask. Do you have any that you use specifically?

Thanks!

Prioritization questions

I work with engineers in a technical arena so one of the questions I have asked entry-level / engineering grads is:

"This job requires you to manage a diverse set of tasks -- completing calculations, reviewing drawings, responding to customer technical inquiries -- and manage them effectively by determining priorities. Give me an example of a similar situation you've been in and how you managed it?" I also add something to the effect of: "Sometimes prioritizing means you'll have to miss a commitment ... what have you done in these situations to recover?"

Moving this into the phone screen should give you a better handle on their ability to juggle priorities (which may be the root cause of the behavior). It also gives you material to go deeper in the face-to-face interview later.

Where do these candidates

Where do these candidates come from?  Unsolicited resumes?  Applicants from company website job postings?  ...from Monster postings?  Candidates from recruiting agency?  ...from internal referrals?

And 50% of what?  If the total interviews is 4 and 2 didn't show, it could just be a random anomaly.

While I don't know how you're going about it and assuming it's a significant number of interviews, that high of a no-show rate points to a method/process problem.  Different methods could yield better results.  For example agencies, while costing money, are very interested in getting the position filled so they are likely to be in very close contact with a candidate all the way through the process.

-Jazz

What about when the shoe is on the other foot?

I once showed up for a face-to-face interview with three people, one of whom was the hiring manager, one of whom was a peer of the hiring manager. This was set up a full week in advance. The only person who showed up was a potential future co-worker. What would you make of this?

- Tom

Well, I know my first question...

Tom,

That's a puzzle.  I think one of my first questions would be "What happened?  I was expecting two other people..."

Charitably, there was some emergency, and the future peer was sent to explain, and arrange to reschedule.  At the other end of the spectrum, they've already decided to hire somebody, but the hiring manager is too chi... plagued by lack of fortitude to do the professional thing.

Did you ever get any explanation?

md-144

What about when the shoe is on the other foot?

To complete the story, I continued through the interview process, was called back twice more, received an offer ... and declined. No explanation was ever offered why the hiring manager (wtih 200+ directs and an admin) did not show up the first time and did not call.