Since many hiring managers work during normal business hours, you may need to interview during the workday. This means that if you currently have a job, you may need to figure out how to discretely leave during the day to go to your interview. Since it’s usually best to keep your job search efforts unknown to your current employer, you’re going to need to find a way to get out of work without sharing this information. In this article, we share tips for calling in sick for a job interview.
- I need a vacation day. …
- I am using a personal day. …
- I need to take off to take care of a few personal matters. …
- I’m using time off to attend to a few things at home. …
- I have to take off for an appointment. …
- My loved one is dying. …
- I have a family emergency. …
- I am incredibly sick.
CALLING IN “SICK” TO PLACES YOU DON’T WORK!
How to Take Time Off for a Job Interview
If you have a flexible work schedule, its relatively simple. Try to juggle your interviews around your time in the office or the time youre online working. Its not always that easy though, especially when youre working a set daily schedule with little flexibility.
Excuses for Taking Time Off to Interview
There are a lot of other excuses you can use for not going to work.
You can be vague or you can be specific, but its best to give a plausible reason that you feel comfortable with. Most importantly, use an excuse that will sound reasonable to your boss.
If you think it sounds like youre making it up, your manager will probably be thinking the exact same thing. Its always important to be as honest as possible.
Its best to be as brief as possible when you are calling in (or emailing) sick to work. No need to get bogged down in details. Here are some options:
Reasons for Being Late or Leaving Early
If youre interviewing early in the day, here are some excuses to use for being late to work. For afternoon interviews, there are good reasons to leave work early.
Provide as few details as possible
Instead of creating a detailed story, keep your excuses brief and vague. This prevents you from getting into a challenging situation.
Good excuses
Here are a few good excuses you can you when needing to miss work for an interview:
If you decide to go with this excuse, expect your coworkers to inquire about your day off. Instead of giving them all the details, you can just say that you needed a day away from the office. Most people will respect that answer, understanding that you need time off every so often.
The purpose of a personal day is that you can use it for whatever you want. There is no need to provide any more details, especially if your company has a policy that allows for personal time off.
When you use this excuse, your supervisor is unlikely to press you for more details. You have the right to take time off to attend to things in your personal life. Most people will just assume its family or health-related.
Since its unlikely that your interview will last all day, this excuse is technically the truth. If it makes you feel better, you can use the rest of the day to get chores done around the house. Likewise, you can spend this time applying to even more jobs from the comfort of your home.
An interview is a kind of appointment. This excuse is perfectly acceptable to tell your employer. Plus, its so vague that people are unlikely to suspect you are interviewing for a new job.
Tips for taking off time to go to a job interview
Use these tips when you need to take off time at work for a job interview:
Give yourself plenty of time
Interviews often take longer than you might expect. When taking off time from work, give yourself plenty of extra time to account for this. This way, you can focus on your interview rather than glancing at the clock.
But whether it’s your first or fifth interview, if the company reacts badly to your request to reschedule the meeting due to sickness, you can take that as a potential sign of a bad workplace. “Illness is unacceptable!” is not a response that bodes well for future employee-boss relations, to put it mildly.
If you’re really sick, call in sick. Apologize, acknowledge that rescheduling is a pain for everyone involved, and ask for a new date and time.
Confronted with this sort of biological conundrum, a job candidate might feel the need to demonstrate their determination by swallowing down as much cough syrup as possible and heading off to the interview, sneezing and coughing but otherwise upright.
If this is your second (or third) interview with a company, there’s an excellent chance that your primary contact (whether an internal recruiter or hiring manager) will understand your request to delay the interview a day or two. These things happen. Plus if you’ve already visited the firm a number of times, you’ve built up some equity with the people there.
Just remember that, if you do reschedule, there’s added pressure for you to perform your best when the interview rolls around. Make sure to review our tips and tricks for effective interviews, and, if you’re trying out for a position that involves a lot of technical work, get ready for a possible whiteboard challenge. But most of all, make sure you walk into the interview feeling healthy, energetic, and ready to do your best.
I got a call from a recruiter (“Sylvia”) last week. We had a long talk and I thought it went well but then I didnt hear from her.
I dont feel good about calling in sick to go to a job interview with another company.
She doesnt give a dang about you. To her, you are just another candidate she can sell to one of her clients for a commission.
She scheduled an interview for me tomorrow. The interview is scheduled for two p.m. I told her Im working full-time and I can only interview after working hours, early in the morning or during my lunch hour.
Lets review a few of the ways Sylvia disqualified herself from representing you in your job search:
Powering Through a Job Interview While Sick
Sometimes it seems like calling in sick for a job interview just isn’t an option. Maybe there’s a very narrow window for the employer you’re interviewing with and it has to be done in person.
While this is not likely to be the case, the key to powering through a job interview while sick is to be honest. You can call ahead to let the interviewer know that you do not feel well with the intent of rescheduling, and if it is not a possibility, at least you will have given them fair warning. After that, the key is to get as much rest as possible beforehand, and do your best to concentrate during the interview. Cold medicine can help with symptoms, but they can also make you drowsy and fuzzy-headed, so be careful. If you can, it’s best to take these medicines after the interview.
FAQ
What to do if you are sick and have a job interview?
Can I be fired for interviewing for another job?
