Making Candidates wait for Interview -Acceptable??

Talent Acquisition is an HR process that not only comprises of arranging and conducting interviews with the candidates, but involves a lot of steps. An end to end recruitment cycle sees the beginning from Manpower Planning for any particular department - preparing of JD and KRA - searching of relevant candidates thru various internal/external sources - talking to them - convincing them if any challenging position has been created or if the CTC is not as per Market Trend - understanding their skills - scheduling them (one of the most toughest part of the cycle as the time of the Interviewer and the candidate has to match as per their convenience)- Shooting interview mails to both the parties and making sure that the candidates reach the venue 5-10 min before the interview -----------------------------

And at the day of Interview..candidates reach at the scheduled time and venue..but when the recruiter informs the Interview Panel, to his/her surprise most of the panel members are in some very urgent and unplanned meeting..and others having least idea when shall the meeting get over.

What does a recruiter do ? Goes out and applogise the candidate and assures that it shall be done asap.

But least aware of the exact time, the recruiter only keeps running from pillar to post. I have faced this situation number of times in my previous Organisations. And like me many other recruiters must have faced. I have seen the meetings going on the entire day and the candidate sitting ideally throughout. Sometimes they leave without giving interview, sometimes they wait, if we had an outstation candidate, we always asked him to have an extra day in his hand. But is this really acceptable? A lot of effort goes in even calling a single candidate, because we see that candidate as a closure for the position. I respect the meetings and the discussions that are unplanned, but do not we as an Organisation should try to overcome such scenario. What impression does this leave on the candidate? Calling him/ her the second time becomes a herculion task. The recruiter is the face of the Organisation because the first interaction of the candidate started with him/her only. So the recruiter has to answer the candidate and also the HOD. It is such a tricky situation...if the candidate does not turn up for the interview ...the recruiter is responsible..and if the interview does not happen due to such unplanned and urgent meetings..then also the recruiter has to face the candidate.

I am never in the favour of making any candidate wait for an inetrview, especially when it is all planned. We only tend to loose the right talent. The time of the candidates needs to be respected and as an Organisation any delay in the Interview process should be avoided.