The wrong choice of interview location or time can disourage good candidates

We have often encountered a situation where the company managing director, who is leading the selection process, asks his secretary to invite candidates for interview. Because he considers, quite correctly, that most of the information he holds on them is confidential, he only gives the secretary their names and mobile telephone numbers. The secretary then invites them exactly as she has been told to.  She follows her instructions perfectly correctly. She first invites Mr X for 8 o’clock, Mr Y for 9 o’clock and Mr Z for 10 o’clock.

I recently spoke to someone from Ostrava who had been invited to Prague for an 8 a.m. interview and, when he tried to put it off to a later time, the secretary kindly informed him that it would not be possible because the managing director had told her to do it this way.

This mistake is often caused by the fact that companies have the impression that it is an honour to work for them, and any refusal of their conditions represents an insult to their dignity. A simple misunderstanding is then perceived as proof of the candidate’s incompetence.