Thoughts on matters of time, civility, and character…
A prospective job candidate called a recruiter friend of mine and asked to change the agreed-upon location of their interview. The candidate also requested to meet at the downtown library. This new location was only a few blocks from a meeting that she was attending earlier in the morning.
Wanting to accommodate, the recruiter agreed to the new location even though it meant she had to drive 45 minutes longer to get there.
It’s the day of the interview. 11 AM is the scheduled interview time. The recruiter left her home at 9:45 AM.
The recruiter arrives at the library at 10:45 AM. She heads to the library meeting room and sets out her pad of paper and a pen.
Soon it’s 11:10, 11:15, then 11:20 AM. There’s no call or text message from the candidate.
The recruiter calls the candidate twice and gets voicemail both times. The clock continues ticking. 11:25, 11:30, 11:35 AM. Still no show, no call, no text.
The recruiter doesn’t know whether to be worried or annoyed. Has there been an accident? A mix-up in time? A change of heart about the job? She spends the time reading resumes and fretting.
It’s now 11:45 am, a full 45-minutes after the designated interview start time. The recruiter decides to leave. She calls the candidate to leave a message that she’s gone. Just as the candidate’s voicemail begins, in walks the candidate, sporting a coffee from a well-known coffee shop just down the street from the library.
“Sorry to be late. Traffic was worse than I expected, so of course I had to get some coffee to carry me through our meeting. I bumped into someone I used to work with who was getting a coffee, too. He’s going to help me with my job search,” breezily declared the candidate.
Sheesh, thinks the recruiter, neither a “hello” nor a smile accompany the pronouncement.
“Good morning, Leslie. I am surprised you’re this late. Since we moved the interview location to better mesh with your schedule, I’m a little confused about your time in the coffee shop and why you didn’t call.”
“Oh, gosh, that’s right. I’d forgotten about that. That meeting was cancelled a couple days ago. I figured I get downtown in 20 minutes but that guess was obviously wrong. You know how it is with traffic around here.”
As my friend told me later, she sure did know how it was—that the candidate had all the technical skills in the world but was sadly lacking in interpersonal abilities. The candidate failed to show awareness of her actions on others. Plus she failed to show respect or an appreciation of others’ time.
Pretty important attributes important in today’s relationship-centric times.
Guess who wasn’t offered the job?
We all get caught in traffic or the stuff going on in our heads (or on social media!), and time slips by. If no one is waiting for you, losing track of time is fine. However, when someone else in involved in your time equation, then it’s another story. It’s not all about you any more. Then it’s time for a little kindness, a little respect, a little civility.
All those delightful salves that keep interpersonal contacts well-oiled and tell the world what your character really is.
Is your character story a good one?
Image source before quote: morgueFile.com
