When to schedule an interview?

There are good times to interview and bad times to interview.

Typically, H.R. works with a hiring manager to set the series of short-list candidate interviews within a contained time frame, usually two weeks at the most.

Determining the best times to schedule your job interview requires understanding the psychology of hiring managers.

Because their #1 priority as a manager is “Getting work done through others,” making the right hiring decisions is a matter of professional survival.

On these days interviewing becomes the manager’s focus, and interviews can start as early as 7AM and go as late as 5PM.

Hiring managers tend to be technically competent, highly analytical and forward thinking, and because they are always pressed for time, tend to have excellent time management and organization skills. All these considerations play into your choosing the best days and times to interview.

When the opportunity of an interview comes up, one of the first questions you ask is about the time span for interviewing all the short list candidates. To do that, say something like this —

“We are pretty jammed with a deadline right now in my current job, so any flexibility you can give me will be appreciated. What is the time frame for interviewing everyone?”

Once you know, for example, that all the interviews will happen between the 1st and 10th of the month, you want to shoot for the 10th.

If you go in first, their memory of you dims with every other candidate who is interviewed. And, the interviewer has ten days to forget or confuse you with another candidate.

On the other hand, if you are one of the last to be interviewed, their memory of you will be freshest. Additionally, over those ten days, the interviewer has had time to refine his or her needs.

If your answers are followed by questions that demonstrate your real engagement with the guts of the job, your stock soars.

More: How to Reschedule a Job Interview

Sometimes an interviewer will say “please list 2-3 dates and time ranges that you could do an interview” – how should you respond?

Monday morning is hell on wheels for everyone so never, ever interview on Monday morning.

I, like you and most smart professionals, try to keep meetings to a minimum on Monday so I can get a good start on the week’s top priorities. So whenever possible avoid Mondays entirely as it is everyone’s busiest day of the week.

Avoid Mondays! Scheduling on Monday maximizes the chance of your interview being disrupted and the interviewer’s recall of the interview being more fractured.

Almost as bad as Monday morning is Friday afternoons, because that is when everyone is trying their damnedest to get out of Dodge and have a life. This basically leaves us with Tuesday through Friday at lunch time.

Are there other considerations for time of day? You betcha…

Managers tend to be highly efficient, which means they have developed good time management and organization skills. This means that mornings and into early afternoons, a hiring manger is likely deep into their #1 priorities. They could be either distracted or the meeting interrupted by questions from staff or direct reports.

But, come 2 PM whatever is happening that day is already in flow, the pressure is less, and therefore the interviewer will be more psychologically ready to give you his or her full attention.

Now, the good time management and organization skills that make multitasking possible, require that the last 30 to 60 minutes of the day be devoted to the Plan-Do-Review Cycle. This is basically a personal performance review and planning exercise:

So assuming the workday ends at 5PM, you want to make interview appointments starting between 2 and 3 PM, whenever possible.

If an interview for an experienced professional goes well, it can go longer than an hour. Most interviewers prefer a break between candidates, so when you hit the 2-3PM slot you’ll likely be the last candidate interviews that day.

Aim for 2-3PM interview start times on Tuesdays through Thursdays, and as close to the end of the selection time schedule as possible.

If it has to be Friday, avoid the afternoons, I’d suggest 11AM, because if things go well there is a greater chance it may result in an invitation to carry on the meeting over lunch.

If your job involves entertaining vendors or customers, then you can expect one of those interviews to include a lunch or dinner to examine how you engage professionally in social settings. You aren’t going to represent a multi-national if you use your knife like a dagger or talk with your mouth full of food.

Another reason to make this, where possible, on Friday lunchtime, is that you want to get out of Dodge and get on with your weekend too.

About the author…

Successful careers don’t happen by accident. Professional resume writing expert Martin Yate CPC is a New York Times best-seller and the author of 17 Knock Em Dead career management books. As Dun & Bradstreet says, “He’s about the best in the business.” For FREE resume-building advice and to view Martin’s resume samples, visit the Knock Em Dead website. Join Martin on Twitter at @KnockEmDead. More about this author…

As a candidate, you want to perform to the best of your ability when invited to an interview. As the employment market becomes more buoyant you may find yourself involved in a number of interviews in a short space of time. Naturally, you’ll want to ensure you are the preferred candidate on each occasion but what exactly is the optimum timing to achieve this?

We know the typical weekly schedules of hiring managers, being the Minneapolis and Chicago executive recruiters that we are, and we are here with some advice for you to help you choose the best time to schedule a job interview.

Here are some suggestions based on latest research:

To ensure you have the hiring manager’s full attention avoid attending interviews on a Monday or Friday. We all know what it feels like in first thing on a Monday morning, trying to plan the week ahead, or resolve issues that were left unattended before the weekend. By the time Friday comes along, your interviewer will be equally stressed; as they attempt to complete their scheduled tasks for the week, you’ll be unlikely to get their full attention.

Experts believe that there are two optimum time spans for scheduling an interview from the candidate’s viewpoint, based on a typical 9 to 5 working day. Firstly, avoid “early morning” appointments. Aim for between 10am and 11am. The pre- or post-lunch slots may mean a distracted or lethargic hiring manager. Play it safe with afternoon interviews between 2pm and 4pm. If the employer’s working day ends at 5pm and the interviewer has evening activities planned, their attention will be elsewhere after 4pm.

To complicate matters further, the National Academy of Science carried out a study of 1,100 judges that revealed they were more likely to respond favorably to applications for parole during the morning. The assumption here is that they experience a type of “decision fatigue” later in the day, veering towards caution as their critical faculties may not be working as effectively. Using similar principles, researchers suggest that a morning interview might give you the edge against the other candidates.

More support for early interviews comes from a survey by the Wharton Business School into MBA assessments. This revealed that if three candidates had already been recommended on any single day, the assessors were unlikely to recommend a fourth on that day.

Does it really matter what time of day a candidate attends an interview?

To ensure you stand the best possible opportunity of securing a job offer, every opportunity to maximize your chances should be taken, but this advice comes with three caveats:

• Avoid scheduling an interview early in the morning.
• Schedule the interview in the middle of the week.
• Try to schedule interviews away from lunchtime.
• Compromise with the most convenient times.
• Avoid scheduling interviews just before and after holidays and weekends.

If you’re wondering when the best time to schedule a job interview is, this article is for you. As a former recruiter, I’m going to share:

The best time to schedule an interview is mid-morning or early afternoon. 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. are great times to have an interview. If you’re not a morning person or cannot attend a morning interview, then 1 p.m., 2 p.m., and 3 p.m. are great interview times.

Hiring managers tend to address important tasks in the early morning and may not have time for job candidates. So if you interview early in the morning, you may be left waiting or even have to reschedule if something unexpected lands on the hiring manager’s desk. You should aim to avoid interviewing first thing in the morning for this reason. Whereas, by mid-morning, the hiring manager is more likely to have handled any unexpected or last-minute/overnight issues that came up, and will be ready to attend their regularly-scheduled meetings, including your interview.

Similarly, if your interview is the last thing on a hiring manager’s schedule for the day, you run the risk that they’ll need to leave early or decide to postpone the interview. They may also be tired and mentally checked out even if they’re able to attend the job interview. So they may be less enthusiastic about you as a job candidate even if you perform well in the job interview. This is a minor/slight difference but could still be a factor. Whereas, if you schedule interviews for mid-morning or early afternoon, hiring managers will be 100% work-focused and in the mood to talk about the job.

This is why it’s best to schedule your interview for the middle of the day: late morning or early-to-mid afternoon. That’s the optimal interview arrangement if your job search schedule allows for it.

If you’re interviewing when you already have a job, it’s acceptable to ask for an early morning interview, or an interview at the end of the workday, such as 5 p.m. Companies will often adjust their interview process to accommodate you if they know you’re currently employed and if they’re excited about you as a candidate. Or, you can ask the employer if they can condense their interview process so that you can take a single day off from work and meet with multiple people. As long as you ask for this a few days or a week ahead, many companies can accommodate.

The best days to schedule your interview are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The middle of the week is the optimal time to interview since your interviewers will be more engaged and entirely focused on their work.

Avoid scheduling interviews on Monday mornings and Friday afternoons especially. For many HR professionals, Monday is spent working out plans for the coming week, catching up on emails, and attending to other pending work from over the weekend. Monday mornings are especially busy and hectic in the world of HR and recruitment. For this reason, Monday is not an optimal time to interview. Scheduling an interview mid-week is your best bet. Also, avoid Friday in the late afternoon, if possible, since employees tend to be less focused and less engaged in their work compared to the middle of the week. If you have to take a Friday interview, it’s not the end of the world; just interview earlier in the day, such as in the morning or early afternoon. That way, you’re more likely to have a deeper conversation and find your interviewers to be more engaged listeners.

There’s no single “perfect” time to schedule an interview, and accepting an interview outside of the times listed above won’t necessarily cost you the job. Don’t panic or assume your interview is going to go poorly simply because of the time it’s scheduled. And if an employer only has job interviews available in the early morning, late afternoon, etc., take it! Don’t wait weeks for the “perfect” interview slot if the employer can schedule you much sooner at a different time. You should make scheduling as easy as possible for the employer, and attend the interview relatively quickly after receiving the interview request. Don’t overthink the interview time. The goal is to get to the job interview and impress the employer. That’s it.

You may also have individual preferences to consider, such as whether you’re a morning person or night person. And if you’re attending the first interview with a recruiter or an HR person, the timing becomes less important because more of their job revolves around conducting interviews. A recruiter should be able to attend an interview early, late, or midday.

I recommend following the suggestions above if you can, and scheduling interviews toward the middle of the day, but don’t worry if your situation or the company’s situation requires different interview scheduling.

It’s better to interview last rather than first. Employers interview many candidates for each role, and so it’s best to be later in the process, after the hiring manager has met with a few candidates. As a recruiter, I’ve seen a candidate perform well in an interview, but because they were one of the first candidates, the hiring manager still wanted to talk to other job applicants. That’s the risk you run if you interview first. And if you’re one of the last candidates, the conversation may be fresher in the hiring manager’s mind when they go to make a decision. Interviewers try to remember each candidate equally, but they’re only human. Some interviewers will remember slightly more about a potential employee who was interviewed last.

However, don’t overthink this, especially since you often won’t even know how many other candidates have had an interview, or when the interviewer conducts their interviews. The interview time/order is a minor factor overall, and these general “rules” aren’t even true in all companies. For example, some hiring managers may speak to a great candidate and cancel the rest of the interviews because they want to hire this person. If you were the final candidate they had scheduled to interview, perhaps next week, then you could miss out on the role! So don’t overthink this when considering the best time to interview. And don’t ever delay your interviews solely to try to be the last candidate. That’s an awful idea that will not pay off in your job search. Focus on picking optimal times for your professional schedule, and times when you’re most alert and effective at communicating.

Go into each interview with a focus on showing them that you can help them by performing well in the role, and building relationships with the team. Do this and you’ll get job offers no matter when you schedule your interviews.

Job candidates should also avoid scheduling interviews immediately before or after other commitments. Interviewing can be stressful, and you’ll be even more stressed if you’re worried about another appointment running over its allotted time, or being late to your next scheduled meeting. So pick a time slot that provides you ample time to arrive a bit early and to decompress after the interview (or stay late if the employer asks if you can stay and meet additional people… which is always a sign that your interview is going well).

The best time to interview is late morning or early afternoon, when the interviewer has finished their morning routines, is focused entirely on work, and is not about to leave the office in the late afternoon.

The best days of the week to interview are the middle of the week: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Times to avoid: Monday morning, Friday afternoon/evening, and lunch breaks.

Remember to use the advice above as a general guideline, though, and also choose interview times that fit your preferences and life. If you’re a night owl, don’t schedule an interview at 9 a.m. and fight through rush hour just to arrive tired and stressed. Instead, interview at 11 a.m., 2 p.m., etc. Choosing an optimal time is not as important as preparing well for your interview, knowing details about the job and company, and asking unique questions to show interest in the position and company.

Don’t spend too much time obsessing over scheduling an interview, and don’t give yourself decision fatigue by overanalyzing the recommendations above. There are better areas to focus on in your job search.

If you do your best to schedule interviews at times that work well for you and get to the interview relatively soon after being invited (days, not weeks, ideally) then you’ve succeeded in optimally scheduling an interview.

There are good times to interview and bad times to interview.

Typically, H.R. works with a hiring manager to set the series of short-list candidate interviews within a contained time frame, usually two weeks at the most.

Determining the best times to schedule your job interview requires understanding the psychology of hiring managers.

Because their #1 priority as a manager is “Getting work done through others,” making the right hiring decisions is a matter of professional survival.

On these days interviewing becomes the manager’s focus, and interviews can start as early as 7AM and go as late as 5PM.

Hiring managers tend to be technically competent, highly analytical and forward thinking, and because they are always pressed for time, tend to have excellent time management and organization skills. All these considerations play into your choosing the best days and times to interview.

When the opportunity of an interview comes up, one of the first questions you ask is about the time span for interviewing all the short list candidates. To do that, say something like this —

“We are pretty jammed with a deadline right now in my current job, so any flexibility you can give me will be appreciated. What is the time frame for interviewing everyone?”

Once you know, for example, that all the interviews will happen between the 1st and 10th of the month, you want to shoot for the 10th.

If you go in first, their memory of you dims with every other candidate who is interviewed. And, the interviewer has ten days to forget or confuse you with another candidate.

On the other hand, if you are one of the last to be interviewed, their memory of you will be freshest. Additionally, over those ten days, the interviewer has had time to refine his or her needs.

If your answers are followed by questions that demonstrate your real engagement with the guts of the job, your stock soars.

More: How to Reschedule a Job Interview

Sometimes an interviewer will say “please list 2-3 dates and time ranges that you could do an interview” – how should you respond?

Monday morning is hell on wheels for everyone so never, ever interview on Monday morning.

I, like you and most smart professionals, try to keep meetings to a minimum on Monday so I can get a good start on the week’s top priorities. So whenever possible avoid Mondays entirely as it is everyone’s busiest day of the week.

Avoid Mondays! Scheduling on Monday maximizes the chance of your interview being disrupted and the interviewer’s recall of the interview being more fractured.

Almost as bad as Monday morning is Friday afternoons, because that is when everyone is trying their damnedest to get out of Dodge and have a life. This basically leaves us with Tuesday through Friday at lunch time.

Are there other considerations for time of day? You betcha…

Managers tend to be highly efficient, which means they have developed good time management and organization skills. This means that mornings and into early afternoons, a hiring manger is likely deep into their #1 priorities. They could be either distracted or the meeting interrupted by questions from staff or direct reports.

But, come 2 PM whatever is happening that day is already in flow, the pressure is less, and therefore the interviewer will be more psychologically ready to give you his or her full attention.

Now, the good time management and organization skills that make multitasking possible, require that the last 30 to 60 minutes of the day be devoted to the Plan-Do-Review Cycle. This is basically a personal performance review and planning exercise:

So assuming the workday ends at 5PM, you want to make interview appointments starting between 2 and 3 PM, whenever possible.

If an interview for an experienced professional goes well, it can go longer than an hour. Most interviewers prefer a break between candidates, so when you hit the 2-3PM slot you’ll likely be the last candidate interviews that day.

Aim for 2-3PM interview start times on Tuesdays through Thursdays, and as close to the end of the selection time schedule as possible.

If it has to be Friday, avoid the afternoons, I’d suggest 11AM, because if things go well there is a greater chance it may result in an invitation to carry on the meeting over lunch.

If your job involves entertaining vendors or customers, then you can expect one of those interviews to include a lunch or dinner to examine how you engage professionally in social settings. You aren’t going to represent a multi-national if you use your knife like a dagger or talk with your mouth full of food.

Another reason to make this, where possible, on Friday lunchtime, is that you want to get out of Dodge and get on with your weekend too.