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How late is too late to cancel a callback interview with a firm? Is it better to attend an interview knowing you will already be accepting another offer, or cancel at the last minute (the day of) despite the short notice?

i think you should just cancel and save them time/give someone else a chance. obviously its better to cancel a few days ahead but i bet recruiters see this all the time.

Anonymous User wrote:Is it better to attend an interview knowing you will already be accepting another offer, or cancel at the last minute (the day of) despite the short notice?

How the hell would that be better?

D. H2Oman wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Is it better to attend an interview knowing you will already be accepting another offer, or cancel at the last minute (the day of) despite the short notice?

How the hell would that be better?

+1

If you're uninterested and you know it, just cancel.

SBL wrote:

D. H2Oman wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Is it better to attend an interview knowing you will already be accepting another offer, or cancel at the last minute (the day of) despite the short notice?

How the hell would that be better?

+1

If you're uninterested and you know it, just cancel.

That's my inclination. I don't want to waste my time or theirs. I just received the offer today after business hours though and didn't know if it was against protocol to cancel the day of.

Thank you.

would this negatively impact future opportunities if you ever wanted to lateral?

In general canceling is never a problem, but the day of is absolutely more of an issue...

disco_barred wrote:In general canceling is never a problem, but the day of is absolutely more of an issue...

I would think if you received the offer the night before and couldn't contact them till the next day that might be an exception to cancelling the day of, or no?

bk187 wrote:

disco_barred wrote:In general canceling is never a problem, but the day of is absolutely more of an issue...

I would think if you received the offer the night before and couldn't contact them till the next day that might be an exception to cancelling the day of, or no?

I hope so. I don't think it's in anyone's best interest to interview in this case. I just don't want to disrespect a firm like this, especially being one that I still think very highly of.

There are a lot of really good people from really great schools still scrambling for jobs. Do them a favor and cancel as soon as you know you aren't interested in a place, even if you find out the night before.

And, the firm will thank you, too. At all the callback's I've done, I've met with at least four people for at least a half-hour each. In firm time, talking to me cost them at least $2,000. They'll be happy to save the time and money.

Canceling the day of might be a bit rude, but these peoples' time is worth a lot of money. I feel like it's worse to waste several hours having them do a callback you know you won't pursue.

Let's take it to the polls

Have you already accepted this other offer? Are you 100% positive that you won't fall in love with this firm tomorrow and consider an offer from them if extended? Just sayin...

know someone who cancelled the day before for an a.m. interview, FWIW

A little off topic, but what should you do if you are offered the job at the end of the callback and still have another one to do the next day and you're not sure which firm you'd like to work for???

Anonymous User wrote:A little off topic, but what should you do if you are offered the job at the end of the callback and still have another one to do the next day and you're not sure which firm you'd like to work for???

Well, you have 28 days to respond, so the answer seems obvious.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:A little off topic, but what should you do if you are offered the job at the end of the callback and still have another one to do the next day and you're not sure which firm you'd like to work for???

Well, you have 28 days to respond, so the answer seems obvious.

I know about the 28 days, but how would you respond to the hiring partner on the spot?

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:A little off topic, but what should you do if you are offered the job at the end of the callback and still have another one to do the next day and you're not sure which firm you'd like to work for???

Well, you have 28 days to respond, so the answer seems obvious.

I know about the 28 days, but how would you respond to the hiring partner on the spot?

No reason not to be completely honest, IMO. Say that you are really thankful for the offer, but you have another callback the next day and want to see how things play out with that frim, you want to sleep on it, etc. I am not sure why they would want you to make such an important decision on the spot. They would not hold it against you in the future. The hiring partner should expect a kind of awkard response if he/she is looking for an immediate "yes."

I think its also relevant if its a local callback. If theres any travel involved, cancelling the day of basically means the costs are sunk anyway.

Might as well go - who knows what could happen?

There's no downside to going, especially since you have accepted. If the hiring partner offered you on the spot you just say you want to explore all your options. Anyways, the firms all made an effort to see all candidates before coming to a conclusion on who is best, you should take the time to see what's best for you. Who knows, maybe this place is totally awesome.

I canceled a callback about 90 minutes before it was scheduled. I had just gotten an offer from a firm that I was 100% sure I would accept, so the whole exercise seemed pointless. I thought it might come off as rude, but at the same time, what purpose could I serve by wasting everyone's time? On balance, I thought it was more disrespectful to blatantly waste their time then to cancel. The callback was 6-8 pm, so I'm sure they were happy they got to go home a bit earlier.

I also canceled one a few hours before because of an offer. The recruiter told me "thank you, that's definitely something we would like to know."

I'm curious as to how people are handling pre-paid travel arrangements when they cancel callbacks. I know firms are willing to split the costs, and you generally get one night in a hotel per callback interview. So for instance, I'm going to be in NYC next week for four nights, and I'm going on five callbacks. If I were to cancel two of those callbacks during the week, how does that affect the cost-splitting and/or my ability to stay at the hotel through the week?