Answering Reader Mail: I Got Really Sick Before An Interview & Still Went. Did I Make The Right Choice?

Dear New & Returning Readers,

Helloooooo, everyone!  Welcome back to my blog!  As you know I only blog when I feel inspired and hopefully feel that I have some wisdom or tips to impart.  I love helping people and that will never end.  Several people have encouraged me saying I should really charge for my services and insider knowledge. Seeing that I gained all this wisdom via experience or by reading, I can’t imagine why anyone would pay for what I consider free advice…  

In the future (like 20 years from now), I may send out a survey to see if there are services you feel aren’t fitting your needs as an executive assistant, admin person, job hunter, college graduate, young professional, business owner, executive, CEO, or anything else you can imagine to see what type of help people crave.  OR if you want to EMAIL me why you would PAY to hire someone like me, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Are you looking for networking advice, job hunting advice, resume services, interview prep, career navigation, LinkedIn self branding, or getting mentored about career/life? And what sort of online content you would pay for?

In the past I had been approached for various consulting gigs, which I’ve all turned down for one reason or another, despite how lucrative they were.  In the end, I know running a small business is a lot more work than people initially realize and my interests lie in helping CEOs/Owners run and maximize their business.  Being a business owner is not the path that I wanted to take and that’s okay!

So today I’m answering a reader’s question via my love of helping others! Today's reader asks the below.

"Today I had an interview and just as I arrived, I got really sick and wasn’t feeling well at all.  I don’t know if I ate something bad or just had some sort of reaction.  I seemed okay if you saw me.  However, I could definitely tell something was really wrong.  The interview went less than ideal, it may have been my worst interview ever.  This was not my #1 dream job if that helps.  During the interview the guy asked me if I was okay as I seemed to be in visible pain and extremely agitated.  I didn’t want to bring up something negative in case it sounded like an excuse so I gave profuse apologies that it wasn’t my intention at all.  I mentioned I was having a bad day and rarely react the way he described.  I didn’t want to go into a long explanation because it’s embarrassing.  So I minimized it so he would know this was a rare occurrence and the interview continued.  We both agreed the role was not a great fit for me because it wasn’t the right type of tasks and responsibilities so we concluded the meeting after about an hour.  Afterward, I sent a thank you card and explained my behavior. I sincerely apologized.  I wrote I felt really ill from a bad reaction while stating it would not happen again.  I explained I knew I could attend the meeting or reschedule.  However, I wanted to keep our commitment because it’s important to me to overcome obstacles and stick to a promise I made and to deliver. What you would have done if you were in my situation?" 

Dear Reader,

I hope you are doing much better and you were able to figure what caused you to feel so ill.  Please take care of yourself!  

Per usual, I will go ahead and answer your question in its entirety.  Some of what I write may not apply to you at all.  Much of what I write, you may already know.  However, since my readers are recent college graduates, those who have been in the industry for a long time, or new to being in a professional environment, I want to be as thorough as possible.  So, let’s begin.  

I really empathize with the situation you were in.  It’s very obvious that first impressions matter a lot.  And sometimes we are judged for things we can’t control or that we shouldn’t be judged on.  Yet, hiring managers are only human so they may have unconscious bias.  Showing up sick is also a touchy thing to admit because there are people who refuse meetings if someone is sick because they can’t afford to get sick if they are going on a big business trip or have babies at home.  It’s not fair to hold it against you that you got sick as you’re only human.  We also can understand why they don’t want to get sick. That is a fairly reasonable request.  So you were in a very difficult situation.  

You were basically in a situation where it seemed like having to pick the lesser of all the evils.  And because the reason was very personal in nature and also a health issue, in many cases it's illegal for them to ask you about your health.  So for you to willingly divulge any health information is also a hard choice to grapple with.  They could use that information against you in an unfair manner whether you knew that’s what really happened.  

In this scenario, because you didn’t really care about the job before you arrived and it was again confirmed after learning more about the role, these are some options to think about.

First, let’s start with what you chose to do.  

Go on the interview and try to explain it so it is very minimal.  

You wrote:

I mentioned I was having a bad day and rarely react the way he described.  Afterward, I sent a thank you card and explained my behavior. That I felt really ill from a bad reaction while stating it would not recur again.  

In the meeting you mentioned you were having a bad day.  So in that moment it could cause him to think it was stress related and that you might act like that if it was ever too busy at the office.  We’ll never know because we don’t know him and what his perspective was.  I think because you didn’t really want this job it was totally fine and everything worked out in the end for this specific scenario.  

For a job that you really wanted or for next time or for anyone new to interviewing, here are some other options and things to think about.  

1) Call from your car or the parking lot and say you had a personal/medical emergency and that you need to go address that.  At the same time ask to reschedule ASAP and mention you will email them once you take care of the emergency, hopefully later that night or first thing in the morning.

2) Or park your car, show up, check in with reception, and say you had a medical emergency and you need to leave.  You can tell the receptionist or see if the hiring manager is around for 30 seconds.  This demonstrates you made the effort to show up, were prepared, and were on time/early, but obviously you can’t help a personal/medical emergency.  Again ask to reschedule ASAP and mention you will email them once you take care of the emergency hopefully later that night or first thing in the morning.

I know it’s really important to job seekers to not do or say anything that will ruin their chances of landing a job.  And there are times when recruiters flake on you, ghost you, or never circle back with you. So when you find a good hiring manager that is responsive it's normal that you want to respect and work well with the ones that book you for an interview. Because they are so nice to you, you don’t want to be flaky or appear unreliable.  

Also realize that hiring managers are people too.  The good ones will ask on the phone when a phone interview starts if it is still a good time to talk.  If it’s not, you can say so and they usually will be happy to reschedule.  They understand that things come up, there might be loud construction going on outside your home or office, your kid is sick, you couldn't find an empty conference room, etc.  I know for an in-person meeting they won’t ask you if now is still a good time to meet.  Yet if you can’t interview at your best, sometimes it’s okay to explain briefly why you need to reschedule.  Because when you are not functioning at your peak performance for a legitimate reason you are shortchanging yourself.  Some may also view it as wasting two people’s time or having poor priority or judgment skills.  That’s subjective because everyone has different values.  Make the best decision for yourself based on your values and what you consider the lesser of all the evils.  You can’t totally control how someone perceives you or live your life seeking everyone’s approval.  In any relationship there are 2 people so there are two sets of values, principles, goals, opinions, and perspectives. Each view is valid from that individual's perspective. It might not be fair or something you agree with, but there are multiple factors in consideration. So make the decision where you will have the least amount of regret that works best for you.  

I hope this answer was helpful in some small way.  New and Returning Readers, would you have made the same choice or done something different?  Has a similar situation ever happened to you and how did it turn out?  Please weigh in with your comments.  

I hope everyone has a safe and fun Labor Day weekend!  

***New “rule” - when you ask me a question for anonymous advice and I answer it, could you write an anonymous comment so I know you're the one who ASKED and read the post?   :)  

As always, I usually tweet any new posts I have. And anyone can email me questions and I respond only via this blog, not to your personal address.

I also write over at Jobstr.com under Hollywood Executive Assistant.

http://jobstr.com/threads/show/4303-hollywood-executive-assistant