In your quest to stand out at an interview and Get That Offer, you are focused on every detail – including when you interview.
You hope for some control in the scheduling and overthink it: if you are the first up, you might be forgotten by the end of the process. If you go last, you could be talking to someone who already made the decision several candidates ago.
Is it possible that, as Glassdoor.com says, the time when you will be shown in the best light is Tuesday between 10 and 11:30 in the morning? They say that’s when interviewers are recovered from Monday and they have had at least their first coffee of the day.
Every interview slot has its pros and cons. While a negative aspect of going first could be that you fade in the interviewer’s memory, an advantage is that all other candidates will be compared to you.
Going last might be meaningless if one of your predecessors already wowed the interviewer, but you will be the most recent candidate seen, so the most memorable compared to that first bar-setter – particularly if the selection process has been a long one.
Interview in the middle of the pack and you could be lost completely in the shuffle. Or you benefit from the interviewers learning more about what they really want and can expect from the pool of candidates, as they refine their questions through the process.
The key to a successful interview is more about who you are than when you sit for the interview. Stress less about the day, time and order of this important meeting, and put your energy into researching your prospective employer and preparing great questions for the interview.
If you are the right candidate for the position, your slot will not matter at all.
Sherri Sacks is a Career Coach for the JCS Career Center. The JCS Career Center offers comprehensive employment services to help job seekers of all abilities and skill levels find and maintain employment or change their career. Services include career coaching, career assessments, resumes, interview preparation, and connections to employers who are hiring. For more information, call 410-466-9200 or visit jcsbaltimore.org.
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