Should You Arrive Early to an Interview

Very few things in your professional life are as nerve wracking as a job interview. No matter how many times you’ve gone on them, they are always causes for stress.

There are quite a lot of things you can do to prep for an interview. I’ve discussed them elsewhere, so I won’t go into detail here. A brief primer is to always:

• Read up on the company
• Dress Well
• Make sure you look presentable

But what we will discuss in this article is the importance of being on time. In particular, showing up early for that job interview. Because, showing up early for a job interview can actually be a huge bonus point in the interviewer’s eye.

Not always, of course. Sometimes it won’t help and you’ll just be sitting around. But sometimes arriving early can be the little bit that helps you win over your interviewer and get the job.

Let’s move forward now and look at some specific questions regarding interviews and arriving early.

In Person Interview vs Online Interviews: Etiquette Difference

First let’s differentiate between an online interview and an in person interview. These are two very different things. But in many ways they are still very similar.

What we are discussing in this article are in person interviews. Showing up early to a Zoom or Skype interview is fine, but it’s not as essential as arriving early to an in person interview.

The focus here is on in-person meetings where someone has scheduled time for you to come in and meet with them.

Before we jump into the next section, I will advise you to always be early for online interviews as well. You don’t want to log on 10 or 20 minutes early for a Zoom call, but 3 or 5 minutes early is fine. It will help you make sure that the Zoom link is working and you don’t run into any technical problems that need to be addressed with your recruiter or the interviewing manager.

How Early Should You Arrive?

A good rule of thumb is to arrive around 5 to 10 minutes early. There are a few reasons for this, and as we will see, you could even stretch it out to 15 minutes early.

First, you don’t want to be late. If you’re late to an interview, that creates a terrible impression.

By planning on arriving a few minutes early, you are hedging against traffic, a late elevator, or some other circumstance where you might get caught and end up late.

So, as a general plan I would always suggest arriving to an interview between 10-5 minutes early. If you happen to get to the building or office park earlier than that, you can always wait outside before going in.

As we’ll see in a later section, showing up too early is not always a good idea either.

Is 5 Minutes Too Early?

No, 5 minutes is not too early to arrive to an interview. In fact, it’s the sweet spot. If you can arrange to arrive exactly 5 minutes early then you’re hitting the goal.

I suggest ten minutes to 5 minutes in order to provide a buffer. That buffer is important because it helps to prevent you from arriving late. As we mentioned, a busy elevator where you have to make multiple stops on each floor can add time and make you late.

And besides making you look bad and creating a bad impression, being late will also make most people nervous. If you are running late, you will need to reach out and let them know ahead of time and they might ask to reschedule the interview.

You simply cannot come into a interview more nervous than need be. Most people will get nervous if they are running late, so just avoid this problem and plan ahead to arrive a minimum of 5 minutes early for an interview.

Is It Ever Bad To Arrive Early for an Interview?

No, it’s never bad to arrive early for an interview. You always want to avoid arriving late, and also give a good impression to the hiring manager. Remember, interviews aren’t a waste of time…they are an important part of the hiring process.

If you arrive 5 to 10 minutes early, then the worst thing that can happen is that you’ll have to wait to see the person you are there to meet.

You can arrive too early, which we’ll discuss below, but it’s never bad to arrive a bit early for an interview.

Remember, by planning on arriving a few minutes early for an interview you are doing a few things:

Hedging against being late: traffic, packed elevators, getting lost…

Making a good impression

There’s no downside to arriving early for an interview. If there was a downside, recruiters would not ask people to arrive early for an interview and most recruiters have this as a standard operating procedure for their agency email invites.

How Early is Too Early to Arrive for an Interview?

Alight, now we come to the tricky bit. Sometimes you can arrive too early for an interview and it’s a bad look.

If you show up an hour before your interview, then you’re going to leave a bad impression. It’s that simple. It means either that you’re someone who doesn’t read interview confirmations and thinks that they should be at the location at a different time, or that you don’t respect the interviewer’s time.

Many people think that by showing up early you are being a “go getter”. The truth is that if you show up too early to an interview (say, 45 minutes early) you will be seen as someone who is socially awkward.

The interviewer might think that you decided to show up early of your own accord because you have other things to do later and unilaterally decided to change times. That can create a terrible impression.

Or, they might think that you forgot the real time and were confused. Again, a terrible outcome.

Finally, they might think that you’re just not someone who understands proper business etiquette and thinks that you can arrive whenever you see fit.

Showing up incredibly early is just as inappropriate as showing up incredibly late. It signals that you are someone who is unable to behave in a professional setting and is not someone who they should seriously consider hiring.

The Perfect Rule: Do This to Crush Interviews

Here’s my suggestion to all people who are planning on having an in person interview:

Step 1: Plan out your travel time and route.

This is important. You need to know how to get there. Are you driving? Taking a subway or bus? Make sure you know exactly how to get there. If the location is close enough to you, then it might be prudent to do a dry run ahead of time.

Step 2: Determine Route time then Add on Extra Time (5-15 minutes).

Honestly, five minutes in some cases isn’t enough of a buffer. I would always suggest adding a buffer of more time so that you don’t arrive late. However, it’s important to look at your departure and arrival time (you can use something like Google Maps) to determine when you should leave based upon your desired arrival time.

Step 3: Make Sure You Have Pre-Planned For the Interview

This step involves making sure that you have done your due diligence regarding the company and the individuals who will interview you.

That’s a topic for a separate article, but it’s worth mentioning that you need to be an active participant in the interview, not someone who sits back and doesn’t speak. Ask good questions and be a engaging person.

Step 4: Dress For Success (cliched but true)

You need to dress professionally. Don’t dress to impress, whatever that means. You don’t want to show up to an interview in eveningwear. But you also can’t show up to an interview in jeans and a t-shirt. Business casual is fine. Slacks and a sports coat for men or a suit if it’s an executive level interview. Dress or business suit for ladies.