I've been recently invited for an interview with a small boutique consultancy. The day before the interview, company PA sent me an e-mail asking if it would be OK to reschedule to a later hour - I said fine, but never got acknowledgment e-mail confirming this new time. Anyway, I went for it, and it all seemed very unorganized - partner didn't know I was coming, so it seemed, he made me wait for almost 20 min, came in unprepared, had no idea who I was, he was rushing to another meeting, he tried to get someone else to talk to me, but everyone was gone so we wrapped it up after ten minutes. Ten minutes interview. He was very apologetic about it and seemed somewhat uncomfortable and even embarrassed by this entire situation, at least that is the impression that I got. None of it looked very professional, and to an extent even insulting, but I don't care - I like the company, the work they do and quality of people that work there. What I don't know is what to do next - do you think that they should contact me first and sort of "apologize" for this "mess" of an interview, should I just wait, or should I contact them and ask if I am going to be given another opportunity for a proper interview. Or, is this the last I've seen of them?!?! I hope not! :)

Grasp the nettle.If you wait for them there is a good chance they will either never get round to organising something, or assume that they made such a bad impression that it is not worth chasing you.If I was you I’d write an e-mail directly to the partner and say something along the lines of – “great to meet you the other day and sorry that there was clearly some logistics mix-up that meant we had so little time together. From my perspective I just wanted to say that these things happen – recruitment being a poor third place to billable work and winning new clients! I’ve long had an interest in your firm from the outside, so if there is still merit in meeting up again, I’d be very keen to do so”.You’ve little to lose with this approach and everything to gain. Remember, firms don’t want wallflowers. They want people who show initiative.

I do a lot of recruiting for the team I manage at a Big 4 firm, and I have to say that it's not just the small boutiques who have this kind of recruitment/interview snafu. We kept one high-quality applicant waiting in the lobby for an hour and a quarter recently because of some internal communication c*ck-ups (we apologised profusely - fortunately he was very good-humoured and grown-up about it).I think Mr Cool's advice above is more or less spot on. Take the initiative and make it clear that you're still interested.

Thanks guys - I guess I will send them an e-mail. I really like this company and would hate to waste an opportunity due to this ill-fitted interview slot. However, I have only been exchanging e-mails with the PA so far, and not with the partner in charge - should I now send an e-mail to the PA or get partner's e-mail from their web site and e-mail him - would this be too intrusive?? Thanks

I would e-mail the partner directly. Keep it short, though - no more than 3-4 lines.

Agree – go direct to the partner. Show the same polite tenacity that they would expect you to show if you were following up on a £1 million sale on their behalf.

Copy the PA in my e-mail?? :)Thanks

wouldn't bother - keep it personal

Might be worth copying PA: there IS a risk she will be blaming YOU for the c*ck up.