Waaaah!!! Interview request for Thursday - need to come up with an excuse to have time off!

I've only ever booked a day off as annual leave for an interview - can you not do that? TBH I've never conisdered anything else...

I read it as Mrs Smith wants to book the day off but doesn't want to say why she wants it and is trying to think of a good excuse to why she should have the morning/day off at short notice. I had an employer who wouldn't give a day off with less than two weeks notice and have had to tell a few fibs to do so before.

Oh I see. I didn't read it like that, I thought she was looking for a skive! Sorry.

Not sure why they would ask why you wanted a day off? It's none of their business how you use your leave!

Mrs S Smith, sounds like a plan! Good luck for the interview ?

The last time I had a job interview, I took annual leave, and no-one batted an eyelid.

Unfortunately, the Monday interview was followed by a second interview 48 hours later, so I had to bunk off work and turn up two hours late feigning a plumbing excuse. ?

And I was offered the job the following evening, which meant I had to tell my boss 48 hours after the "plumbing incident", and I imagine he put two and two together immediately. But by then it didn't really matter.

Sorry guys, had to scoot off for a bit (well, to watch BGT actually ? )

But basically, my employers are VERY funny about people booking annual leave altogether (one girl last year had about 15 days left at the end of the year so didn't wor at all in December!! ? ) and although I can take it as a/l and I have plenty of days remaining til the end of the year, I'm just trying to cover all bases really, and in case they then say "Why do you need it such short notice?!" I can then say "well, funny you should ask..." ?

Anyway, I digress..

I've come up with another one as well- walk in tomorrow and tell managers that tonight when I got home, the Hot Water Boiler had begun leaking (oh the horror!!) so I'm having to book Thursday off to get the plumber round, and as Mr S hasn't got many days remaining anyway...? ?

Just really really REALLY can't feck this one up!!

Thanks all ?

xxx

Can you just say it's personal? Or that you'd rather not say? I'd rather do that than lie - especially as they'll know when you get the job that you lied to them. This is the least I'd be worried about - worry about preparing for the interview so you can get the hell out of there ?

I wouldn't lie - what if you need a reference at any point in the future? It will be obvious what has happened. I would ask for annual leave for a personal matter and say that I didn't want to go into any further detail at the moment.

Hmmm, I see your point(s)

It's a bit difficult using the "Personal" line atm as my managers ALWAYS want to know what's going on, etc. But I'll take it on board, and use it tomorrow. If they try and question me, and question and question again, I'll say about the plumbing?

It's like when I was signed off sick.. Every day when I called in (was off 7 working days in total) all three managers asked me what I had, again and again. I can't help but think that they wanted to catch me out, somehow.. They're not very nice employers, as you can imagine ? which is althemore a reason why I need to get this other job!!

? all

If they asked me what it was for, I'd widen my eyes and say "Erm, it's personal", and leave it at that. Surely no-one would ask further, would they?!

I tried something rather radical a fortnight ago - I actually told my boss upfront that I'd applied for another job!

But this was because the world I move in is approximately the size of a small pea, and I reckoned the chances of him hearing rumours that I'd applied for another job were sufficiently high for me to think that making the first move was probably a good idea.

He was totally cool about it, as it turned out - and genuinely grateful that I'd given him enough notice so that he could at least start thinking about how to go about replacing me, even if he doesn't actually have to go through with it. (I've been shortlisted, but no more than that for now).

OK well this industry works very differently to yours Mr JK it would seem - as I'm in recruitment (I'm the admin, I have to add!) it's a case of "complain, and you're out"

All the consultants have been placed on performance management; since I started 2 years ago, I think I've seen over 15 people come and go, and now I have 3 teams to look after as well..

I WISH my company was as good as yours ?

Say it's personal... and if probed say that you've been called back to the doctor's following a recent test. Surely they wouldn't dare question this!

I'm lucky that I can work *very* flexibly, but my OH needed to give at least a week's notice for even an hour off work, despite the fact that it wasn't the sort of job where cover would need to be arranged.

The best of luck with your interview - at least you know you'll want to take it, should you be offered it!

Yes, our staff turnover is nothing like that - in our team, I think we've had to replace two people in seven years, and create a third position from scratch. Which is actually why I'm itching for a change - it's all very well being totally stable, but it's also possible to be boringly stable.

But getting back to your situation, I think annual leave is almost certainly the best route to go down - and if you're contractually entitled to it I'm gobsmacked that they would think it's any of their business what you got up to. But making up a plumbing excuse might be a sensible contingency if they're likely to jump to conclusions otherwise - after all, they're presumably not going to check, are they?

Thanks again Mr JK; I'd LOVE to work for a company like that!

As it happens, I've put my wheels in motion now for the "plumbing excuse" and 2 of my managers are out of the office today (one in training, one a/l, ironically booked last night! ? )

They're very funny about me even going for lunch as they're concerned about phone coverage etc etc. But I'm not gonna go into that, I'm going to concentrate on explaining the situation to manager 3 ("nicer" of the 3) and just GO!

<aside> When I told my managers yesterday about the bad news we had in the family over the weekend, and about the fact I might have to fly to Sweden next week, they sighed, huffed and puffed about that as well </aside>