[Anonymous]

I work full time and am currently applying for jobs. I am wondering how do people find time to do interviews while working full time as most employers interview during business hours? How do you guys manage to take time off from work to attend interviews?

[Anonymous]

I had a lot of “doctors appointments.” I also tried to schedule multiple interviews in the same day so I could just take the whole day off. I would try to schedule interviews on days my boss was out of the office so he wouldn't know I was gone. If you want a new job you just got to make it work. It's not easy but you make it work.

[Anonymous]

Charmed hit the nail on the head.

Use dentist and dermatologist appointments as an excuse. Everybody knows you have to make those appointments or they can't see you for another six months.

[Anonymous]

Or just “I have an appointment Friday”. “Appointment” is a word that people may assume means medical, but doesn't specify. If your workplace doesn't officially require a reason, then if they ask for one, I might say something along the lines of “It's personal”. I've been lucky with most of my jobs to have had some easy way to get out of it (like for one, I had the day off to take AUD; got called the night before AUD for an interview later in the week, asked if I could do it the next day while I was off, and thus didn't have to make any excuses). The one that I had to do the “have an appointment”, I emailed rather than talking in person to reduce the likelihood of chit-chat questions, and didn't have to explain further.

Another option, though, is after-hours. I recently scheduled interviews for a position and out of 7 interviewees, 2 requested something to work around their schedule, and we were OK with that. I've never been bold enough to ask the interviewers to go outside of work hours, but it is acceptable to ask if your current job isn't flexible. Of course, 11 pm after public accounting lets out is a bit too late to ask, but 5:30 or maybe even a Saturday is accetable to ask about. I'd probably pose it as “Due to my current job's schedule, it's hard for me to get out of the office during standard business hours – would you be open to something outside of hours?” rather than “Saturday at 9am would work better”. Don't want them to feel like you're dictating the schedule, just asking if they can accomodate.

[How many letters do you need]

Good points Lilla. It can definitely be tricky especially if you have a particularly paranoid and/or micromanaging boss like my last one. It gets particularly tricky if you don't get or cant make the first job you interview for happen. After a few appointments most will get suspicious especially so if you at all appear to be unhappy or less motovated. I had the best luck with the 7am interview. Of course it doesn't leave room for multiple interviews but if you are dealing with a “1 interview and wait” type of company the 7ams are awesome. One hour to interview and a half hour to travel/change you are in by 8:30 and since for some ungodly reason finance/accounting people are usually early risers (not me though), the 7am interview is usually the least invasive to their schedule.

MBA,CMA,CPA, CFF?, ABV?

[Anonymous]

Try to do a day full of interviews. I had three interviews in one day and just took the whole day off. I don't know if I would completely recommend it because by my third interview I was exhausted. Talking about yourself is tiring, especially if you are meeting with multiple people at each company.

Another strategy is to schedule interviews either really early or really late. I had a company that let me come in at 7am. I was at work by 9. I also would try to do “lunch” time interviews if the place was close to my office. Granted, I was pushing it with a few two + hour lunch breaks, but if no one is watching the clock on you, it's a good strategy.

[Author]

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