TORC

When trying to secure yourself a new job you should always be looking to gain a competitive edge over other candidates. One of the ways in which you might do this is by scheduling your interview for the optimum time.

Obviously, you won’t always be able to choose when your interview will be scheduled, but it’s not uncommon for recruiters to offer candidates a few different time slots.

When they do, it’s useful to have an idea of the various consequences of arranging your interview for different times of the day, or different days of the week.

Here are a few things to consider:

Time of day

By being the first one up, you get to set the bar!

The morning is your perfect opportunity to jump in there and impress the interviewer before anyone else has the chance to. Come the afternoon, the employer may have already seen a few strong candidates which they’ll be measuring you against. By being one of the first up, you get to set the bar.

In general try to avoid being somewhere in the middle of the interview schedule, or the first one after lunch.  Sometimes the last slot of the day can work – the interviewer will be a little more relaxed knowing its the last one, and will know exactly what he/she needs to focus on – also there will be a little flexibility about your slot – giving you more time to really nail it!

Day of the week

In general I would advise against scheduling an interview for either day each side of the weekend, or any other holiday period. You want to minimise all risk of the interviewer not being fully prepared, under work pressure or being distracted by non-work matters.

My personal preferred day for conducting interviews is Wednesday. Wednesdays are advisable because your interviewer will have completed their ‘beginning of the week to-do list’, and will be yet to move onto their ‘must action before the weekend pile’. It’s a period of limbo for most where we can actually focus on our own tasks and projects, rather than making sure we’re hitting deadlines for others! By Wednesday most people feel as though they have control of their week, and can push on with strategic projects. It also means that you may well know the outcome of your interview by the weekend.