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I was supposed to have a phone interview yesterday with a high-level manager, and I had given my interviewer a list of times that were OK with me (he told me to do that.. but looking back, I should have just said "call anytime").

We scheduled a time at the end of the day, but he called at midday. I was exercising and did not take the call; he left a voice message.

He said he may call today, But I'm afraid he wrote me off. I emailed saying sorry for the missed call, and that I am open to calls today 8am - 4pm and 5:00pm onward (because I'm expecting a another phone interview at 4PM today)

Did I mess up about some phone interview-rule? Should I compensate by offering to meet him in person at his convenience? Again he's a high-level manager so I want to be safe.

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'but looking back, I should have just said "call anytime"' - No. You shouldn't. Call anytime says you've got nothing better to do. Say, "I can free up [half an] hour in any of these periods -- please give me as much warning as you can, so I can arrange the rest of my day around it." – pdr May 18 '12 at 16:20
@pdr -- Hmm that's true, thanks – Adam Hollinger May 18 '12 at 16:27
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Could this have been a time zone issue? If he booked the appointment at 6:30 while in one time zone and then moved to another timezone, you could easily end up with your appointments out of sync. – Mark Booth May 21 '12 at 12:00

1 Answer

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It sounds like the first call was not very well scheduled - it was one of many possible times. That could make it difficult for you to be available at all of those times - what if you need to use the washroom at some point? I'd be a little surprised if he'd completely written you off (especially if the vague scheduling was his idea).

In the future, I'd suggest scheduling more specific times to have these calls at so there's less risk of missing it while doing other chores.

Also, for this second call - you really can be 100% available from 8 AM to 4 PM? You don't need to eat? Use the washroom? Take out the garbage? And what do you do if the 4 PM call runs longer than an hour and the first caller tries to call you at 5 PM?

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Good point, thanks! Actually he used outlook to schedule it initially at 6:30 PM but he called 1:15pm instead. Hmm I am maybe being ... nudged away by them. – Adam Hollinger May 18 '12 at 15:50
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@AdamHollinger: I would not think well of someone who made an appointment in Outlook to call me at 6:30 and then decided to call me 5 hours earlier without any warning. Of course you missed the call because you had no idea he would call at that time. This could be the shape of things to come if you get that job, so be careful... (or maybe not. I've been wrong before ;) – FrustratedWithFormsDesigner May 18 '12 at 15:52

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