It's good to be early, but not too early

There’s an old saying that the early bird catches the worm. But what about the early human? What does the early human catch?

- Melvin Durai

The early human catches flak.

If you don’t believe me, just look at what happened to the man who recently interviewed to be an office administrator at a gutter-cleaning company in the US city of Atlanta. According to a post on LinkedIn, this candidate arrived 25 minutes early for his interview, which was a “major factor” in why the company’s owner, Matthew Prewett, didn’t hire him.

“Showing up early is good,” Prewett wrote. “Showing up extremely early can suggest someone isn’t good with time or expects to be accommodated. It also made me feel rushed.”

Prewett believes that its proper interview etiquette to arrive five to 15 minutes earlier requires that you wait outside somewhere, not enter the office and disturb the schedule of the interviewer.