Why 10 minutes early is the best time to show up for your interview

This probably seems a bit odd to you keeners out there who want to show up 30 minutes before an interview to show how eager you are. Conversely, showing up 10 minutes early may seem like a real burden to all of you chronically late people, who think that punctuality is for nerds and that showing up just on time is fine. Here’s why 10 minutes beforehand is the ideal time to show up:

If you show up 10 minutes ahead of time, you’re demonstrating that you’re punctual and it’s more than enough time to settle in, get a glass of water from the receptionist and get mentally prepared for your interview. Also, organized companies and interviewers will book at least a 15-minute gap between their interviews; so they can debrief on the last candidate, prepare for the next candidate, and ensure that candidates don’t accidentally run into each other in the hallway, which can make them uncomfortable.
 
If you show up 30 minutes ahead of time you may not only awkwardly bump into another candidate, but some offices are small and they don’t even have a waiting area. So it looks a bit weird if you show up way early and hang around for a long period of time in the hallway. Don’t be that guy.
 
If you do arrive well ahead of time (I do this sometimes because I’m paranoid I won’t get parking, or I get lost trying to find the office), just go get a coffee somewhere, or go for a walk until it’s 10 minutes before the interview.
 
Ten minutes early works great because interviewers expect that you’re going to show up a bit early and they’re already accommodating for this in their schedule. By the way 10 minutes early is the new ‘on time’ for interviews. So if you’re one of those ‘show up just on time’ people, understand that your perspective of time doesn’t matter in this situation. Your interviewers will already consider you late. Not a great way to start off your job interview.