Disclaimer: This article applies only for candidates that are not desperate or for those who have a considerable level of professional development*.
Without insulting your intelligence, I would like to mention that time is important for all/most of us. And, I’m not sure about you, but I personally don’t like wasting it.
An interview is a waste of time for me, if as a candidate, I feel that it won’t end up with a hiring.
Let’s see first why a candidate is fully entitled for terminating in interview.
It’s natural, not okay though, for an interview to go messy. And yes, the reason for this could be the interviewer(s) or the hiring process. If I see that the discussion is not going into the right direction, or if I feel like they don’t like me, or I won’t accept the offer regardless of how good it will be, then I’ll have to drop it.
If an interview goes wrong, it’s not safe to put all the blame on the candidate: “he was unprepared, he is unqualified…”.
Were you — as an interviewer “prepared” and “qualified” for interviewing? Did you even bothered going through her/his resume before inviting the candidate AND before entering the meeting?
Did you asked stupid questions (here’s a detailed list), like where he lives or if does he know people from your company?
Did you had an inappropriate attitude for the interview? I.e. were you bored, tired, upset, angry?
Was it a fake interview? (I.e The position was already taken by a nephew — due to nepotism)
The list could go on and on, but in such cases I am terminating the interview. Here are the steps:
1. Think twice — it’s in fact a double-check
First, don’t give up at the first sign. Give it some more chances. Ask yourself if you should give up or not.
2. Take very short break of about 3–4 seconds
If after the first step you decided that you want to bail out, then prepare them. I am using a moment of silence. If an interviewer is talking then I use my body language to stop her/him, like making a specific gesture with my hand.
It’s a way of letting them know that something unexpected is about to happen.
3. Make eye contact or look at the interviewer(s)
Out of politeness and also to be taken seriously you should them look in the eyes. If nobody is looking at you due to their lack of manners, that’s their problem not yours. You keep it professional to the end!
4. Say your pattern of speech in a positive manner
Please note that there isn’t any realistic turning point after this step. It will be next to impossible to receive any offer — that you as a candidate, decided that you don’t want it anyway. You are no longer a valid option since your interest just went down.
I am using the term “bail out” because it’s the same as ejecting (yourself!) from a F18. The initial landing won’t go as expected and you will land somewhere else. Remember: you ejected, you were not rejected!
My speech pattern in the following:
“Look, thank you for your time taken so far, however I sense that this interview is not going into the right direction.
I was looking for [enter your expectation(s) here] and it seems that I am not going to find it/them here”.
5. Don’t loose your positive manner regardless of their outcome
I dealt with reactions like hysterical laughing, irony (“Oh, a wise man here …”) and only once the interviewer replied swiftly “Okay, bye!” without even raising his eyes from his Macbook.
And even if they would’ve be saying something like “We are sorry to hear that”, all it’s left to do is to give them a bit of a nod, get up, wish them best and walk away.
6. Try leaving a door open
Of course I’m speaking metaphorically/idiomatically. In case they will tell that you are wrong, reply them that you are entitled to your opinions and that you will think about it. In case you have higher expectations comparing to what you can possibly get, you will return.
You will remain in their evidence with comments. The interviews or the hiring process may change, but your record won’t. So it is not recommend becoming aggressive. Not to mention, that it’s not like they tricked you after hiring, they simply cannot fulfill your expectations.
There’s no room for frustrations, but if any, go to the next step.
7. (mandatory) Leave a proper review on all the appropriate websites that you know
This one is the most important. You can have it your way in terminating an interview or you can even always go to the end. But you ought always be contributing to the community. You are getting informed, you should inform others as well.
Glassdoor is an international website for reviews so hit that one first. Then every country should have one of it’s own; Romania has undelurcam.ro, Germany has kununu.com and so on and so forth.
One should read company reviews before applying. The reviews are analysed, so there is quite unlikely that people will lie. Here you can find a detailed article of why I insist on company reviews both on reading and writing.
Final tought
If you don’t terminate an interview when you feel so, frustrations may occur. That’s how I feel. Let me tell you a story of mine.
I had an interview with this recruiter. I was still a junior, so obviously nobody wanted me. She scheduled a phone call interview with me but she didn’t call. She called me later that day to say that something came up and that she would like to reschedule. Please note that the first appointment was already missed. Here I felt like saying “No”, but due to my (poor) situation back then, I accepted. She said that she is going to send me an email invite but she didn’t. Though I wrote down the necessary details myself, this was another sign of her lack of professionalism.
She called me, she walked me through the English test and everything for about an hour. At the end she told me that the position is already taken. And that got me frustrated. I should’ve terminated that interview immediately from the first appointment. If I was the one who would’ve been late, most likely they would’ve reject me immediately. I guess … I was the victim, I was the one to blame according to my own point of view presented here.
And I could come with other examples, but I think it’s time for me to thank you for reading this (long) article.
*For understanding of what I am referring to “considerable level of professional development” I will give an example of a software developer. She/he has this level when she/he has something more than just some years of experience, a diploma or some knowledge of the technologies the he worked on the daily basis. She/he is able to show some project of her/his own, or a nice contribution for the developer community like an active github or a stackoverflow profile.