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Northern Illinois University

Career Services

Cancelling Interviews

The Campus Recruiting staff is dedicated to its mission of administering a process that fully supports your job search in a comfortable, professional environment. In return, we expect that you will show your respect for this effort by accepting responsibility for the commitments that you make as part of the Campus Recruiting program.  Translation:  if you sign up for an interview, you are expected to attend.

If you must cancel:

Call Career Services if you are unable to attend your scheduled interview time.

The deadline to cancel your interview without penalty is 9:00 am two business days before your interview. For example, if your interview is on Friday at 3:00pm, you need to call by Wednesday at 9:00am to cancel.

Late cancellations or missed interviews require that you write a professional apology letter explaining your absence to the employer and send a copy of the letter to NIU Campus Recruiting (campusrecruiting@niu.edu).

An example of a professional letter can be found here(http://www.niu.edu/CareerServices/handouts/apologyletter.pdf).

Unwarranted, repeated cancellations, or failure to write apology letters will result in loss of Campus Recruiting privileges.

What if....

  • I'm sick! 
    Call the Campus Recruiting Office when you are too ill to make it to an interview. Allow the staff as much time as possible to call an alternate or adjust the schedule.
  • I have a second interview with another company! 
    Though an encouraging sign, a second interview is no guarantee of employment. Unless it is absolutely necessary, don't sacrifice a campus interview to do a second interview off campus.

    When an employer calls and wants you to schedule a second interview at a time that conflicts with a campus interview, you only need to state that you need to interview at a different time or on a different date because of a previous commitment. If no other time is acceptable to the employer (and this will be extremely rare) and you really want that second interview, call or come to the Campus Recruiting office immediately. Try to reschedule the conflicting campus interview, cancelling only as a last resort.
  • I don't want to interview with them! I'm too busy!  I scheduled too many interviews this week!
    • Plan ahead.
    • Don't ask for interviews that you don't want.
    • Read the job description CAREFULLY before applying.
    • If you ask for an interview and are scheduled to interview, you are obligated to be there - failure to do so may result in your losing your interviewing privileges.

Look at it this way: Even if you change your mind about wanting to interview with an employer, use that interview as an opportunity to develop your interview skills or learn more about the job market - it can't hurt you, and you'll probably learn something!