When you can't attend an interview, you should...

Honestly, everyone knows the answer to tis. Sometimes I'm really not sure whether what I'm facing is basically and purely a Malaysian problem. Now why do I say that?

It must be a coincident but last weekend, I was supposed to have some plumbing work done at my house. This guy came the week before and had quoted the price. I said let's get the work done on the coming Saturday. He said he will start work early in the morning. I said fine but lets confirmed again on Friday. Mr Plumber did not call on Friday. Instead, I called on Saturday morning when I did not see any sign of him. He said he can only come at 11am. Ok, fine. I'll wait. 11am came and gone. I gave half an hour allowance, still no show, no call. I called again. He said 12 pm this time. 12 pm came and passed. Called again. His answer: On my way. 12:45pm. Still no sign. What kind of a person is this plumber? Yes, like every sane person, I was totally infuriated and because I do not tolerate such behavior since I'm paying, I called the whole thing off. I rather suffered a leaking pipe than having to bow down to a person who has no respect and consideration for others at all.

But ya know what, I am more ready to tolerate such misgivings because I know I am not dealing with a professional. But in my profession, I am dealing with professionals, who has certain amount of education and most would even have accumulated some years of working experience. And why on earth when they cannot attend an interview, they had chosen to park their brains somewhere and lost the wisdom of doing what is right?

How can we call ourselves professionals if we do not even understand such basic courtesy?

It has become so common nowadays that employers are numb to it. I sometimes get numbed too...when candidates promised to turn up for an appointment at a certain time - no show, no call. And when I made the call - almost guaranteed into the voice mail. But I don't care less about this when I was the only one affected. But it's a different case when the interview is arranged between the employer and the applicant and the fact that the employer has honored his part of the deal. I mentioned in an earlier article that this is the part of the job that I dreaded the most - having to apologize profusely to my client over a matter that was beyond my control. Of course, it also bruised my ego having to acknowledge my misjudgment of the candidate.

I'm afraid this problem is not gonna go away any time soon. It's like telling people to throw rubbish at dedicated bins and not wherever they fancy, how long does it take to see changes? Years and we are still not there yet.

So, does that means a good habit takes time to cultivate?

Virtues - where are they? And believe me, being responsible is such a rare virtue nowadays.

Want to know more about job hunting ethics? Read here.