But seriously - in the grown-up world, if you have to do business travel, you’re “inconvenienced.” In 2010, I got stuck at the Philadelphia Airport Marriott for 4 days during the snowstorm that shut down I-95, Amtrak, airports. Almost exactly a year ago, I was stranded in NYC and had to take a 24-hour train back to Chicago since the airports were closed. I’m obviously twice the age of this young person, and I take 6 am flights (requiring me to wake at 4 am) frequently, and if I travel internationally, I’m obviously on all kinds of wacky schedules. I do conference calls with my clients at odd hours - sometimes 1 am if I’m trying to accommodate multiple time zones. This is just part of life. If you’re seriously worried about her safety in driving - which I do understand - then rent the airport hotel room (I’d do it on the back end, not the front), but the world of work isn’t just 9 - 5, at least not if you want to get anywhere.
sorghum,
I would love this type of training being used in american k -12, kids are rotten spoiled, not ready for real life, unless parents actually push them into some type of brutality, bullying situation. Well, at least sports participation is popular, it is taking care of being exposed to some brutality and great degree of bullying by coaches. I love your post!
The martial arts sound ideal for that.
It is fairly common to pay for travel for on site interview, and it includes interns. I used to recruit quite a bit and I would want the candidate to come in the night before so they could be well rested for a whole day interview. If it was possible I would have asked the travel coordinator, which a lot of time is a third party, to change the flight. Most travel coordinators would ask the candidate for their preference. But if they are not flexible then just suck it up. BTW - I wouldn’t have been thrilled to have to get up at 3 am to catch a flight, work or no work.
LOL, I didn’t know we were discussing a medical intern. I was so amazed that a coffee-fetching, undergrad summer intern was getting flown across the country…
I don’t think it hurts to ask them: if it does NOT cost more, could they possibly modify one of the flight times.
Yes, UG summer interns are getting flown across the country regularly. It is a common practice.
For the job, yes. But for just the interview? Wow…
This is not a question about an interview for a medical internship. lol about that. This is for a summer IT internship at a Fortune 25 company.
Wow, the things i learn…
I would have asked to fly in the night before, if only to be sure that she gets there on time. For business travel I like to do it all in one day because I like to sleep in my own bed, but when going for an interview I like to stay the night before just so I’m not anxious the whole day. I’ve often gotten to interviews and the people I’m meeting with are surprised that I’ve just flown in. It is the travel department that is scheduling the marathon,and those are people who often don’t travel! They have no idea that if you live 40 miles from the airport that will add an hour on each end of the flight, that you need to be there 2 hours early. They see that the interview is 10-4, and that certain flights work.
Don’t be afraid to ask for what works better for you. Those interviewing will probably never know.
They are looking for go-getters–not weenies. Tell her to suck it up and not complain. People who travel for biz do such things all the time. My boss regularly would take a red-eye back across country and put in a full day at work.
Silicon Valley has more money than they know what to do with. If I remember correctly my kid got flown out to a couple of in person interviews for internships. And they don’t spend their summer making coffee either.
Unless you only want to hire locally, you are going to provide transportation and lodging to see those candidates face to face. Many of those internships do turn into full time jobs after graduation, so employers want to be very certain before making an offer.
It is not about being a weenie or not. If I have an important business meeting, which I would think a job interview is, I would want to make absolutely certain that I would be there. With all the flight delays, flying in on the same day is cutting it close. If I’ve left the travel arrangement to the candidate (reimburse later), he then made the travel on the same day and then be late for his interviews, I would have thought it was bad planning. It would be a ding against him.
We had one candidate who took a super early train to come in for an interview instead of getting in the night before, he yawned at most of his interviews. At our briefing meeting later, many interviewers commented on that. They all agreed it was a bad planning on his part.
Not so. Many recruiters from different companies would fly to my school to interview and select summer interns. Then they flew us across country to work the internship job.
In the future, she should check flights and travel logistics beforehand, so that she can suggest times that work better for her before the tickets are bought. There are often multiple similar price itineraries, but the company will not know which is better for the candidate if the candidate does not indicate a preference.
Companies would often send alums to recruit on campus, they want to bring recruits onsite to get a wider insight. Many senior people also do not have the time to travel to so many campuses. To bring those recruits onsite is also a good way for them to get to know the company culture better and an opportunity to wine and dine some of the top candidates.
oldfort–in this case the co made the travel. Maybe it is part of the test. If you are 21 and dont have the energy/drive to get up early once you have bigger issues. Reminds me of interviews when we ask–when can you start. Oh, I want to take a month off after school so–July. Next.
It doesn’t sound like a test to me- it sounds like a coordinator on the recruiting team was told, “Here are the kids coming in for internship interviews. Work with them to make their travel arrangements”. The coordinator saw that one can go in and out of Atlanta on the same day- and figuring this student didn’t want to miss two days of classes, booked the “in and out”.
Nobody can book a third party flight nowadays without the full legal name (which will appear on the driver’s license or other ID necessary to get through security) so there was obviously some back and forth between the recruiting coordinator (or whomever booked the flights) and the student. The back and forth is a good time to discuss the logistics. The company doesn’t want a candidate showing up on no sleep.
At this point, I’d tell my kid to book a room at the airport Holiday Inn and get a good nights sleep after the interview, then drive back to campus the next morning. But lesson learned for next time. The company does not want the liability of having kids driving back to campus on no sleep— and I’m sure the person who made the arrangements (who was focused on what time the candidate needed to get to the airport, NOT on what time the flight got her home) meant no harm, was not testing the candidate’s stamina, etc.
Agreed. Maybe there are some businesses out there who prefer their interview candidates to be groggy or something, but chances are this is a logistical thing and not a test for ‘weenies’ or any of that other nonsense. I don’t fully understand why someone wouldn’t choose to work around the constraint of the flight times and get a full night’s sleep before driving home. I mean, I like to sleep in my own bed too but I really, really like not being a [url=http://www.cdc.gov/Features/dsDrowsyDriving/]statistic[/url]. To me, drowsy driving is almost as bad as drink-driving and I can’t believe that anyone would do it unless they had no other option.
“They are looking for go-getters–not weenies.”
- no go-getters in IT, they are looking for the smarty pants. But I would not ask for anything. Just show that you can handle any challenges, and while big ones will not be up to intern to fix, still a character is a character. From one IT professional to another who is almot there!