S/O - WWYD about a snow interview?

spockforprez

I have an interview today at 12pm and have to drive across one of the bridge tunnels in my area to get there. The weather forecast calls for snow accumulation late this morning. I'd be getting home about 1-1:30pm from the interview, which makes me really nervous about the driving conditions. The tunnels are notorious for bad traffic even in ideal conditions. I would like to call and reschedule the interview.

The area where I am driving to won't see as much accumulation (if any) as the place I am coming from... so I'm a little nervous about how it will come off. I really love the company I am interviewing for (I am a customer) and would be driving to this branch as my workplace, so I hate to create the impression (before they even meet me!) of weather issues preventing me from getting to work. 

I am hoping that maybe their branch will close as a precaution since I am pretty sure their city's school system is closing early or closed today... but since they are not forecast to get much, that may not happen.

What would you do? 

kvruns

I'd reach out to my interview contact and ask what they think. It could be that this person doesn't want to be there either and would gladly reschedule. I would just say something like "I know this big predicted storm is coming around the time of the interview so I wanted to see if we were ok to have it or if you would rather reschedule it just to be safe"

AddieCake

yeah, that's what I would do, too. When bad weather hits here, pretty much everything shuts down, so even if they are open, they are likely to be understanding, especially since you're new to the area and unfamiliar with the area.

JoanE2012

If it's not going to be more than a few inches or so, I'd go, but I'd leave extra early to allow me plenty of time for any kind of slow, bad traffic.  And I'd take my time getting home.

You do what's comfortable for YOU though.  

thefanciestbeckler

Agree with @kvruns. I know where I live the entire city shuts down for like 1 inch of snow, so it could be that the person you're interviewing with wouldn't feel safe being out in it either.

thisismynickname2

In addition to the above, you don't say what type of job it is. Maybe you could offer to interview by phone or Hangout. Hangout would still provide the face to face element and maybe you'd get brownie points for being creative. If telecommuting isn't an option with job anyway then it may be pointless but who knows. Just a thought! 

lyndausvi

It depends on the job.  

I use to work at a place that was open 24 hours a day.    I didn't hire someone under similar situation.  Why?   Well we need you at work regardless of the weather, so if you not willing to make the interview,  how am I to know you won't call out if it snows again?

I think calling to reconfirm the interview is a good idea.

spockforprez

Had an orthodontist appt, sorry for the delay but thanks for the replies!

It's a bank teller job. I didn't have a recruiter in this case, the branch manager reached out directly.

It hasn't started snowing yet so I'm going to go ahead and go. Just hoping for safe travel on the way back!

thisismynickname2

lyndausvi said:

It depends on the job.  

I use to work at a place that was open 24 hours a day.    I didn't hire someone under similar situation.  Why?   Well we need you at work regardless of the weather, so if you not willing to make the interview,  how am I to know you won't call out if it snows again?

I think calling to reconfirm the interview is a good idea.

I was actually thinking this too. But, it appears you're in Virginia so your employment culture may be quite different. I'm in the Midwest and it's currently snowing, and I have a lot of disdain for people who are wimpy about cold and snow. Get your long Johns on, get your tall snow boats, get your long puffy coat and a thick scarf, get on the train and get your butt to work. People who are wimpy about weather end up using their PTO if they have to stay home due to car trouble or looking after their kid on a snow day. BUT like I said, this is the Midwest where bad weather is expected and perfectly normal. 

ETA are you in the line of fire for this huge snowstorm that shut down DC, or is this just bad weather in general? 

littlemushroom

Where I am from, calling to reschedule would not go over well at all. We get storms here all the time in the winter, and while schools may close nothing else does unless it is Armageddon levels of ice and snow. Saying you can't make it to the interview because of snow would tell them you were not going to show up to work a lot during 3-4 months out of the year. For example, a couple years ago we had a huge storm on a Sunday night. I drove 20-25 mph on the highway that hadn't been plowed since the storm for over 2 hours to get to work because we were open and so was everything else in town. That is just the expectation here when we get ice storms and snow every few days.

Apparently this is different in other parts of the country. But I still think it will not go over well if the place where the interview will be is not expecting any accumulation. Based on your characterization of it just calling for snow accumulation (you didn't use the word storm in your post at all), I think you should just go. You will need to get used to driving to work in inclement weather if you are hired there. But again, I come from a place where even though we got 8 inches of snow overnight doesn't mean anything but schools are closed (and maybe not even them if the wind chill isn't too bad). Everyone else still has to go to work.

spockforprez

We are on one of the outer rings of Snowmaggedeon. It's supposed to snowstorm all weekend. I did go (and it went really well!) but if the snow had started earlier in the morning I would have called. In this area of VA we usually only get 1-2 big snows per year so definitely not the "put on your snow tires" type culture here. I've been driving to work in this same area for 2+ years and only missed a couple times when we had bad snows and my building either closed or put us into "essential personnel only" mode.

spockforprez

So glad I went despite the traffic issues. 2nd interview Wednesday! 

sunflower0592

Good luck with the 2nd interview! I do not miss the headache of the HRBT and MMBT

thefanciestbeckler

That is great news, @spockforprez!!! You'll have to give us an update!

short+sassy

Congrats and good luck on the 2nd interview!  In the plus column, I'm sure they were impressed you persevered on a really bad weather day.

I had weather affect a job interview I had a few years ago.  I live and the job was in NOLA.  But I had a phone interview scheduled first with the HR office in Philly.  In between the setting of the interview and when the interview was supposed to happen...Hurricane Sandy hit.  It affected a lot of their offices and I got an e-mail from my interviewer that they needed to postpone my interview to another date TBA.  I replied back with a friendly acknowledgement.

After a month, I hadn't heard back.  So I sent another e-mail expressing my hope that things had calmed down and that I was still interested in interviewing for the position.  I did hear back...but over a YEAR later, lol.  I had already had a job by then and, fortunately, they were up front about the salary (way less than what I made).  So it was mutually decided it was not the right fit without either of us wasting time on an interview.