Getting to your interview

A little forward-planning is essential if you’re going to arrive fresh as a daisy and ready to wow interviewers. Follow our advice on how to plan ahead for a stress-free journey.

You’ve got an interview. You feel prepared, confident and even a little lucky. Then before your very eyes it all turns pear-shaped: your alarm doesn’t go off, and you wake up ten minutes before your train. You arrive at the station dishevelled and out of breath only to discover the train’s been cancelled.

Think it’ll never happen to you? If freak events are ever going to conspire against you, they’re guaranteed to pick the day of your interview. Being late creates a bad impression, even if it’s due to circumstances beyond your control. A little preparation and forward planning will help things run smoothly so you have a stress-free journey to your interview:

A few days before your interview, work out how to get there. Plan your route and find out how long the journey will take. If you’re taking public transport, you might want to buy tickets so you won’t have to queue on the day.
Aim to arrive about 15 minutes early, and leave extra time in case things go wrong. Waiting may not ease your nerves, but watching the minutes tick past as you’re stuck in traffic is far worse. And if you’re early, employers will notice that you’re well prepared and have met the ‘deadline’ of your interview with time to spare.
Check the news and traffic reports to find out if there are traffic jams, accidents or major delays on the trains.
If you want to smell as fresh as you look on arrival, don't smoke in your car.

If it comes to the worst and there’s just no way you’re going to be on time, do some damage limitation. Call the organisation and explain what’s happened. Traffic jams delay everyone, so they should be sympathetic. It may be possible to postpone the interview by an hour or so, or to reschedule for another day if things are really bad. It’s possible that you won’t get a second chance, but it’s worth a try. Nothing is worse than keeping your interviewer waiting in the dark, or just not showing up.