TL;DR: How would I cancel the on-site last minute (in a few hours) without burning a bridge? The last thing I want to do is meet these guys in the future after having seemed unprofessional. Do you think I’m overthinking? I figured I’d ask the community before going forward and just burning the bridge unintentionally. I’m interviewing with a startup and I’m not very excited about the role. I’m not in the mood to interview today, and they told me to bring my laptop and to make sure I have create-react-app on it. I already told them that I’m mostly a back-end engineer, so I don’t really know what to expect. I’m not looking forward to pairing on a React app. I barely like pairing in general. All of the employees are former FAANG employees, and after talking to them, I get a strong feeling they’re going to be sticklers. I’m grateful for the opportunity, but I’ve already been mulling over the bad vibes I got. Still, I don’t want to illogically approach companies that way—if the motivation isn’t objective, I need to reframe my outlook and avoid ‘vibes’ and all that magic. I’m afraid I’ll just end up doing the on-site out of respect.
First be sure it isn’t just cold feet, sounds like not but think about it. As someone interviewing the last thing I want to do is spend the time on someone not interested in the role, so I’d love a respectful cancellation ahead of time. Day off is a bit awkward but is still better than my wasting time talking to you if you really are not interested. Interested what others would think.
Send them this post
Just say that after giving it some thought, you don’t believe it’s the right role for you. You can say you like the company but that you want to respect their time and yours by not interviewing for a role that doesn’t align with your goals at this time. I think honesty is better than wasting people’s time with an interview that you’re not interested in doing.
Just go with it. They do the same with candidates. If you are a no hire in the first interview, you still go through the whole loop and everyone smiles
I would recommend not canceling. You’ll get some interview experience in the worst case. Who knows, you might like the role after talking to the team!
Ghost them?
I just told them I received an offer from the top company on my list but would still like to keep in touch in case I am interested in the future
This^^
I would much rather someone cancel than have me go through an interview loop and then turn down the offer.
“There are none, Senator. There are none.” Sorry, couldn’t help but remember Sessions here. 😂
Create a compelling excuse. Emergencies happen and know no limits with regards to interview plans.
But I don’t want to postpone, I want to completely cancel.
Tell them what you told us. It sounds from what I read the role might not overlap with what you want. At this point it’s a matter of not further wasting their time.