Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Arriving 5-10 minutes before the interview was strongly recommended by our career services. Nothing wrong in being a bit early, just never report late. Its you who needs to sell yourself and impress. Arriving early helps you get comfortable and acclimatize a bit. Good luck, and best wishes .
Babysitting?? The applicants can't just sit down in the lobby/waiting area and quietly read a magazine? I don't see why it would stress the receptionist out.
Yes. Picture this:
Bustling lobby. Lots of people coming-and-going. There's a couple sets of badge-access doors leading off the lobby, but they have different lockdowns (i.e., employee John Smith, who is disclosed on Project T-Rex and works with Applications Engineering, has badge-access to get through the doors on the south side of the lobby but does not have access or permission to go through the doors on the north side.)
In addition to the different employees coming/going, and deliveries (FedEx, catering, maybe a florist), there's a bunch of other visitors: friends/family of employees, customers/vendors from 3rd party customers, and job applicants.
For each of these visitors, the receptionist has to log them into the security log, verify who they're here to see, set them up with a temporary visitor badge (which has their name, the name of their "host", and an expiration date/time), and call their host to come get them. Often they'll also offer water on a hot day.
Meanwhile, the phone is ringing, and our receptionist is also having to monitor her email and chat for work purposes. Maybe she just got a chat/email about a suspicious looking person who has been trying to gain access to the company buildings and needs to keep an eye out for him and be ready to call security.
And she has to call Marybeth in accounting again because the caterer has been waiting for 10 minutes to deliver box lunches for a lunch meeting but Marybeth is stuck in a meeting and can't escape, so the receptionist is now trying to reach any of Marybeth's teammates to see if one of them can come sign for and pick up the box lunches.
And employees will drop by with small packages and tell the receptionist "a courier will be by to pick this up in 20 minutes."
But she also needs to keep an eye on all of these visitors and make sure that no one tries to tailgate and slip through a badge-access door (perhaps in search of a bathroom) or prop a door open, and try to remember which visitor is here to see which employee, so that when John P. Host gets to the lobby to fetch the applicant, she can say "John, this is Jane Q. Applicant."
Bustling lobby. Lots of people coming-and-going. There's a couple sets of badge-access doors leading off the lobby, but they have different lockdowns (i.e., employee John Smith, who is disclosed on Project T-Rex and works with Applications Engineering, has badge-access to get through the doors on the south side of the lobby but does not have access or permission to go through the doors on the north side.)
In addition to the different employees coming/going, and deliveries (FedEx, catering, maybe a florist), there's a bunch of other visitors: friends/family of employees, customers/vendors from 3rd party customers, and job applicants.
For each of these visitors, the receptionist has to log them into the security log, verify who they're here to see, set them up with a temporary visitor badge (which has their name, the name of their "host", and an expiration date/time), and call their host to come get them. Often they'll also offer water on a hot day.
Meanwhile, the phone is ringing, and our receptionist is also having to monitor her email and chat for work purposes. Maybe she just got a chat/email about a suspicious looking person who has been trying to gain access to the company buildings and needs to keep an eye out for him and be ready to call security.
And she has to call Marybeth in accounting again because the caterer has been waiting for 10 minutes to deliver box lunches for a lunch meeting but Marybeth is stuck in a meeting and can't escape, so the receptionist is now trying to reach any of Marybeth's teammates to see if one of them can come sign for and pick up the box lunches.
And employees will drop by with small packages and tell the receptionist "a courier will be by to pick this up in 20 minutes."
But she also needs to keep an eye on all of these visitors and make sure that no one tries to tailgate and slip through a badge-access door (perhaps in search of a bathroom) or prop a door open, and try to remember which visitor is here to see which employee, so that when John P. Host gets to the lobby to fetch the applicant, she can say "John, this is Jane Q. Applicant."
I am going to get killed for this, but here goes the words of wisdom in such a case. Your choices are :
1) Hire more receptionists
2) Hire a team of engineers to build robots capable of human interaction .
Last edited by Adi from the Brunswicks; 08-20-2014 at 01:10 PM..
I am going to get killed for this, but here goes the word of wisdom in such a case:
Hire more receptionists .
My thoughts exactly! She sounds like she is stretching herself too thin if that is the case. I can't imagine someone with a confirmed interview is trying to sneak in any restricted access doors as they are probably waiting for their interviewer to come get them.
It is even more awkward in an organization that doesn't have a real receptionist. The pseudo-receptionish is typically an office manager/accounting person. They can't make idle chit chat, and the lobby, if even a lobby, has no magazines. You can stare at the wall awkwardly.
It sounds like OP hasn't been on an interview at a smaller tech company. Under about 100 employees and there is no receptionist. And perhaps not even a real waiting area! No visitors come to the office other than UPS and interviewees.
I like being early but I can't deal with being too early. My nerves will get to me. 15 mins sounds like forever to me. It used to be what I lived by, not so much now.
I plan on arriving in the general vicinity really early. Like an hour. Just to make absolutely sure I won't be late. I hang out in the area and go into the building of my interview 5-7 minutes before it is scheduled to start.
It's annoying when a candidate is sitting there waiting for u when they're 15 mins early. Arriving 3 to 5 mins early is enough...
WHY is it annoying? It's 15 freaking minutes. Let them sit a few minutes in the lobby and gets their thoughts together and call them in at their scheduled interview time. What difference does it make if they sit there 15 mins or 5 mins?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
.
