Back to back interview question OCI Forum

[Anonymous User]

I have quite a few back to back interviews -- how to employers view this? I'm sure you just notify them at the beginning of the interview, and than apologize for being late to the next -- but does that make you look uninterested or something? Does it give them a bad impression, or make you look like you have a lot of options, before you even start. Or will most firms get it.

[UVA2B]

It's OCI. Firms know the deal and have been doing this a long time. There should be enough time between interviews if you stay on point/punctual with each interview. You don't need to mention your other interviews and you'd be wise not to mention them. Be engaged in the current interview, and when the 20-30 minutes is up, thank them for their time and move on to the next one.

[acr]

I have quite a few back to back interviews -- how to employers view this? I'm sure you just notify them at the beginning of the interview, and than apologize for being late to the next -- but does that make you look uninterested or something? Does it give them a bad impression, or make you look like you have a lot of options, before you even start. Or will most firms get it.

Your CSO will let the firm know. That's what mine did at least. No need to act super apologetic; they understand.

[cbbinnyc]

It seems odd that your school would allow for this to happen. However, if back-to-back interviews are allowed and common, then, in theory, firms should understand that this is a logistical scheduling problem as opposed to a punctuality problem and should be at least a bit understanding about you being late. If this is not common, I would look into rescheduling (if possible) to avoid back to back slots - showing up late to an interview is one of the few ways to almost ensure not getting a callback. This is, admittedly, probably not super helpful advice, though - I would talk to somebody at your school about this.

[acr]

It seems odd that your school would allow for this to happen. However, if back-to-back interviews are allowed and common, then, in theory, firms should understand that this is a logistical scheduling problem as opposed to a punctuality problem and should be at least a bit understanding about you being late. If this is not common, I would look into rescheduling (if possible) to avoid back to back slots - showing up late to an interview is one of the few ways to almost ensure not getting a callback. This is, admittedly, probably not super helpful advice, though - I would talk to somebody at your school about this.

dude, there are like 200 students with 10-20 interviews with dozens of different firms. back-to-back interviews are inevitable; CSO would have no way of preventing it. and OCI is chaos: alternate spots open up, people pull out of the program due to offers, sickness, etc.

[SmokeytheBear]

people pull out of the program due to offers, sickness, shark week etc.

[cbbinnyc]

It seems odd that your school would allow for this to happen. However, if back-to-back interviews are allowed and common, then, in theory, firms should understand that this is a logistical scheduling problem as opposed to a punctuality problem and should be at least a bit understanding about you being late. If this is not common, I would look into rescheduling (if possible) to avoid back to back slots - showing up late to an interview is one of the few ways to almost ensure not getting a callback. This is, admittedly, probably not super helpful advice, though - I would talk to somebody at your school about this.

dude, there are like 200 students with 10-20 interviews with dozens of different firms. back-to-back interviews are inevitable; CSO would have no way of preventing it. and OCI is chaos: alternate spots open up, people pull out of the program due to offers, sickness, etc.

Eh, NYU has well over 300 students doing about 20-23 interviews and manages to avoid/prohibit back-to-back interviews, so I wouldn't say it's "inevitable" ... in any case, my point was that either OP's school has taken measures to avoid people constantly running later to interviews (by putting gaps in between interviews) or back-to-back interviews are common enough that the school will notify firms of this and they will be understanding. In other words, I doubt that the school would put students in a position where they would look bad out of no fault of their own, purely as a result of the way things shake out logistically