Taking time off work for interviews

Hi folks, I've been in my job for almost six years and the time has come for me to move on. I haven't done an interview in that time, and I was wondering what excuses/reasons people give for taking time off for interviews... I'm rarely sick and think that if I start developing headaches or tummy bugs, people will be suspicious. If anyone can offer some suggestions I'd appreciate it. Ta!

dentist...

women's problems (no-one ever questions that) period pains

Tell your boss you are getting some work done on your house and you may have to be there to let the window guy or the plumber or the tiler in the odd morning but you will try to give as much notice as possible. Worked for me once.

If you're meeting with recruitment agents try to make appointments outside office hours, they will accomodate you and then you haven't wasted valuable excuses. I managed to get 8 and 8.30am interviews so I was 'delayed' in traffic! I also used the wedding, and got 3 long lunches out of meeting priests for copies of certs and letters of freedom etc. Workmen are also a great excuse, plus they might not turn up and you'll have to wait for them a second time! Gas boiler service, phoneline problems, or Ntl are all brilliant excuses and everyone has a story to tell on how they were let down waiting for them! Best of luck with the interviews

Why make any excuses? Just simply ask for some time off e.g. "I need to take next Weds afternoon off as annual leave if that's okay?" They can't refuse you annual leave (provided you give enough notice) and they do not need to know what you are doing with your afternoon off. Calling in sick, and faking reasons for the time off is just dishonest - this is personal stuff that needs to be addressed in your own personal time and not in the company's time.

[quote:2nzni8ad]Calling in sick, and faking reasons for the time off is just dishonest - this is personal stuff that needs to be addressed in your own personal time and not in the company's time.[/quote:2nzni8ad] Sounds like a HR person's viewpoint- or am I wrong? Seriously you can't possibly take annual leave for every interview you need to attend. If you are going for a relatively senior or specialised role you may need to go to up to 4 interviews with just one company,and if you are serious about leaving your current job, you will most likely have to apply to several companies. That's way too many half days and way too suspicious looking. The other suggestion is to try to arrange interviews during lunch times and early evening so you can take a long lunch or leave early without having to take time off. Best of luck and let us know how it goes!

:arrow:

Yep, I work in HR, but I'm also just a plain ol' employee as well when it comes to doing interviews. I recently changed jobs, and as a couple of jobs that I was shortlisted for went on hold, and then with second interviews etc it warranted taking about 5 half days off over the period of a few months before securing my new job ... I had to look my manager in the eye and ask for annual leave each time, and even though I was cringing inside and thinking "gosh, she'll guess I'm doing interviews", so what, she could guess all she wanted, but there was nothing she could do about it. So what if it's "suspicious looking"... we're all perfectly entitled to take time off for whatever we want to do with it. Anyway, it was cringemaking, and embarrassing, but it had to be done. I was interviewing in a different city, but if the interviews were local, I would certainly try to preserve my annual leave as much as possible and arrange them for late in the afternoon or early morning, and then ask for the time off but offer to come in early/stay back late and make up the time... this can often work for both employee and manager. Alternatively, if you're interviewing in a number of companies, why not try to arrange two interviews in the one afternoon?

there's loads of excuses you can use, sky man coming to fit the box, a plumber problem so you have to stay for him, deliveries, doctors appointment, etc... it depends on how many interviews you have really. i've had to do it and to be honest i would never use holiday days for interviews! but i've been lucky because my last job i only had to do 3 interviews with different companies before i found it. i guess it depends how many interviews you have. good luck in your search