I had to make a very tough call the other day. I had an interview scheduled for the evening of the 30th for a job that I have been waiting to move forward on for a long time. That morning, I woke up with a tremendous head cold. My sinuses were filled, ripe with pressure, and my head was pounding.
I had a tough decision to make. Should I keep my interview and show up sick or try and reschedule?
Both options have their pros and cons and it seems like an even worse position to be in because of the economic climate.
If I kept my appointment I would have shown up sick, hurting and barely able to form complete sentences. But I could have put forth the perception that I can over come small obstacles like sickness and “buck up;” that I can do whatever to get the job done.
If I rescheduled my appointment I could have looked weak in the eyes of the interviewers; that I can’t power through. On the flip side I could have saved myself from looking unprofessional by showing up sick and infectious and being an over all mess.
As my head continued to pound, I decided to take my chances with rescheduling. I left a rambling message explaining my situation and it took me several trys to get a coherent email with proper sentence structure out the door. I could only imagine how unimpressive I would have looked and sounded in front of a group of interviewers when answering their questions about my successes and failures.
Time will only tell if I ultimately made the right decision. I know that if I get in front of them, I’ll have a chance. And right now, that is the tricky part.