- It shows general courtesy and social grace. If you ask someone to meet you for dinner at 9:30 and they show up at 10:10, you might be a bit angry or at least annoyed. Turn that around, a Company invites you into their space, their metaphorical home, for a 9:30 interview and you show up at 10:10, they might be a bit turned off as well!
- Practice makes perfect as the saying goes. Interviewers can view you actions at the Interview as practice for when you are with the company. If you show up late on the big day, what’s going to happen 6 months in?
- Showing up too early is a problem too! The ideal time to show up for an interview is 10 minutes early, give a minute or two either way. If you show up to an interview 45 minutes early you might be interrupting someone’s lunch, breakfast, important meeting, or they just simply may not ready for you. That’s never the impression you want to start with.
- People run their days on schedules, by arriving late or too early you could be throwing a wrench into a finely tuned system meant to maximize the day. Again, not something you want to be remembered for.
- 10 Minutes really becomes the “sweet spot” when factoring in balancing between two early or too late. It’s early enough where you are able to show promptness and diligence, but not enough were you are inconveniencing anyone. It allows the perfect amount of time to introduce yourself to the front desk, get offered water, sit down for 5 minutes and then get greeted by your Interviewer to get things underway!
So how do you make this happen?
- Know where you are going! All directions and mapping should be secure and laid out the day before. You should not be Google mapping things that morning or an hour before the interview!
- Do a test run if you can, actually going to the office location or taking the drive will take out a lot of guess work and make for a less stressful day of commute!
- Pick your outfit the night before and have it laid out. Trying to pick out what tie or shoes to wear that morning is just asking for undue stress.
- Account for traffic and delays. Train delays or highway traffic can happen when you least expect it, account for it! Leave 15-20 minutes earlier than needed.
- Ok so you did the above you’re early….but really early. Take a walk, listen to your favorite pump up song in your car, grab a coffee, go over your notes, or browse cute cat photos on Instagram. Anything to occupy your time before you hit the magic 10 minute mark. Showing up 30 minutes early can be just as detrimental as showing up a minute late.
