5 Steps to help you recover after missing an interview

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Make no mistake about it: this is 100% your fault and you should be clear about taking ownership. Without assigning any blame to outside parties, you need to offer your sincere apologies and assurances that this type of behaviour is extremely uncharacteristic
missing and interview

They’re very few things in life that are more daunting or as devastating as realising you were supposed to be in an interview and it completely slipped your mind or heavens forbid, you overslept. Whatever the reason, be it your alarm clock hates you or you prepared so late into the night than waking up in the morning was as hard as life without internet, the situation is not completely unsalvageable.

Here are some tips to help you recover.

Gather yourself

Before making a breathless and panicked phone call to your interviewer and begging for mercy, take a moment and think of your options. Admittedly, accidentally missing an interview does not reflect well on you so it is critical that you don’t compound the issue by making an emotional and disorganized appeal.

Do your best to formulate a game plan, which should certainly include a reasonable explanation for your absence (more on that below). However, you should try and reach out as soon as possible as the longer you wait, the less credible you may sound. Whatever you do, don’t ignore the issue.

Show remorse

Make no mistake about it: this is 100% your fault and you should be clear about taking ownership. Without assigning any blame to outside parties, you need to offer your sincere apologies and assurances that this type of behaviour is extremely uncharacteristic.

If you come across as trying to deflect responsibility, it will reflect poorly on you and make the interviewer feel even more distrusting. It may certainly hurt your pride to apologise so profusely but it may just be your one saving grace.

Be pro-active

Rather than passively hoping the interviewer will forgive you and reschedule the meeting, take proactive measures to ensure that you can get your foot back in the door. You should follow up on all verbal communications with an email (and vice versa).

You should also offer additional insights into your candidacy for further proof of your seriousness; for example, I would suggest providing additional references or offering to perform additional interview steps as a means of demonstrating that you are dependable and industrious.

Let’s face it, you are now going to have to work harder than any other candidate to convince the interviewer that you are the right person for the job.

Work on your excuse

I’m going to be honest: it is extremely hard for a recruiter to forgive a candidate who misses an interview. (Of course, if you endured a personal emergency or something wholly unforeseen, most interviewers should certainly be sympathetic.) In all likelihood, though, you will certainly have an uphill battle on your hands – especially if you have a weak excuse.

If the interviewer demands an explanation, you are going to need to provide something quite compelling to get yourself back in the running. So, if you missed the interview because you overslept or forgot to put the interview in your calendar, do yourself a favour and come up with something better. This is a rare instance where telling the truth may not be in your best interest.

Remain professional

Look, it may be that you have simply blown this opportunity. Regardless of your efforts, the interviewer may no longer be interested in your candidacy. While this is regrettable, it isn’t hard to understand why. In such a case, I would advise you to pick up your pieces and move on. Don’t lash out at the interviewer and do not take to social media to voice your displeasure.

You should retain a strong sense of professional decorum and remain contrite in your communications. You never know when another opportunity may arise so keep all your options open by keeping your emotions in check.

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