should I interview candidates who show up without an appointment?

by Alison Green on April 22, 2025

A reader asks:

My small business has had a recurring discussion regarding taking meetings with job seekers when we don’t have an open position. Someone will reach out, either by stopping by our office without an appointment or just sending an inquiry by email, and ask if they can meet with someone. In the past, we have taken these meetings as sort of informal interviews. From what I recall, we’ve never made a hire from these meetings when there’s no existing connection to our company or staff.

Over the last few years, I’ve discouraged these meetings. They just take up time for our team when we don’t have an opening, and I also feel they can be misleading if we’re not clear enough that we don’t have a position. I’m more inclined to take these meetings if (1) the person has a connection to a current employee who gives a positive recommendation, and (2) we do have an idea of a need on our team that the candidate could be a good fit for. Otherwise, I’d prefer to say thanks for their interest in our company, and we’ll reach out should we have an open position that might be a good fit.

I’ve had an inquiry recently from a woman who sent her resume and asked to meet even if we don’t have an opening to learn more about our company and how she can contribute. She’s sent a couple of emails and dropped by without an appointment. I told her we don’t have an opening and that I’d reach out if we do in the future. She followed up with a second email, again asking to meet. She does not have a connection to any of our existing staff, and it seems a bit presumptuous to ask a stranger to take time out of their workday essentially as a favor for some career advice. I’m really curious what your thoughts are on this topic.

I answer this question over at Inc. today, where I’m revisiting letters that have been buried in the archives here from years ago (and sometimes updating/expanding my answers to them). You can read it here.

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  1. duinath*

    imagine working with the kind of person who not only sends unsolicited emails repeatedly when you’re not even hiring, but actually shows up at the office uninvited.

    nightmare fuel.

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    2. tina turner*

      I can see “dropping off your resume” if you happen to be very close to their office, so you can see it. Maybe asking for an “informational interview” in the short cover letter you leave w/resume.
      Because someday this person could be a potential CLIENT. You don’t know. Or CO-WORKER. Or MGR.
      You can meet her when she’s on her way up and you’re on your way down. It happens sometimes.
      But walk-ins don’t get interviews, I’d think.

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      1. WillowSunstar*

        Yeah, I’d say especially for security reasons, don’t give them interviews. These days, there are a lot of people out there with bad intentions, and you just never know, sadly.

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        1. Rook*

          I wouldn’t interview them either, but unless your workplace has other risk factors at play this approach seems overly cautious to me. Like many, many other people I work someplace that opens its doors to the public every day and it’s fine.

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      2. amoeba*

        I can imagine that kind of thing in retail or similar jobs with high turnover, at least dropping off your resume in person/asking if they were hiring used to be kind of common in my country when I was young. Some shops even had application forms for interested people on site. Although I guess even there it’s mostly shifted to online?

        In my industry, it would be completely absurd, for sure. Even without the ultra-presumptuous behaviour that woman is showing. The only way to apply for jobs in 95% of companies is via the ORM for posted jobs. Sometimes there are “talent pool” postings when companies are keeping their eyes open for qualified candidates but aren’t hiring right now. But even an e-mail would be considered weird, and for showing up in person, well, good luck getting past reception!

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        1. Inkognyto*

          If you have an application you can ask them to fill it out and when a position is available if they fit the criteria they might be called along with the other dozens of applicants for an interview.

          Then circle file it when done.

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    4. FricketyFrack*

      Yeah, the idea of asking, “how can I contribute to your business,” is absolutely nuts and says this is the kind of person who is either taking terrible advice they found online and/or has no idea about professional norms. Like, you can’t contribute! You don’t work here! Nightmare fuel is right.

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      1. Might Be Spam*

        “How can I contribute to your business,” turned out to be someone who wanted to “monetize” my business. My business is already monetized, because it Is A Business. Fortunately that came out in a phone call so I only wasted a couple of minutes and never interviewed them.

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        1. Antilles*

          That’s what it felt like to me too, a sales opener that gets followed up with an acronym-laden explanation of how my business is missing the boat by not being down with the latest buzzwords.

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        2. Isabel Archer*

          Showing up and expecting an on-the-spot interview: Rude
          Offering to “monetize” someone else’s existing business: Priceless

          Thank you for the laugh!

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    5. Elizabeth West*

      A lot of people who show up to drop off a resume or keep applying to various jobs are doing it for unemployment.

      We had an older gentleman who came to ToxicOldJob (the manufacturer) every couple of months or so for quite a while to drop off a resume. It was standard for us to let people come in and fill out applications randomly, no big deal; small manufacturers can sometimes be fairly informal.

      He was really nice, and I felt bad for the guy, but no one was ever gonna call him. He wasn’t looking for a sales or shop job, and we had nothing else. I hope he found something that was a good fit for him.

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      1. HailRobonia*

        This might explain why ever since I got my current phone number (5+ years ago) I randomly get calls from various companies for some dude named John looking to schedule a job interview.

        When it first happened and I figured out this wasn’t a scam I started calling them back to let them know that this John guy must have a new number. But now that it’s been YEARS I wonder if he is purposely giving an old number so he can say “I applied at a bunch of places but never heard back.:

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      2. Yankees fans are awesome!!*

        A very practical, real, and kind take. Thank you for your reasonableness, Elizabeth West.

        Reply ↓
  2. A. Lab Rabbit*

    If someone is that presumptuous before you’ve even hired them, imagine what they will be like once you hire them.

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    1. Rev Bayes*

      My take, to be honest, is that the candidate experience nowadays is so difficult and miserable that I don’t really blame them for even quite egregious behaviour. It’s difficult to gauge appropriateness of interactions when nothing and no-one ever actually interacts. An email saying “no thank you” is often the most positive thing a job-seeker may have received.

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      1. Sam I Am*

        I’ve been on the candidate side multiple times and am very familiar with the misery, but this is still a terrible strategy. LW even says they’ve never made a hire from these impromptu interviews so it’s a waste of time for interviewer and interviewee, and makes the candidate look bad, too. There is no upside here.

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        1. Rev Bayes*

          But the applicant doesn’t know LW, anyone connected with LW, or anything to do with the organisation’s hiring practices. I’m not saying it is a good use of their time – it clearly isn’t – but they are trying.

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          1. Kay*

            Sometimes the professional norms we have are good ones, while change can sometimes be good, this is not one of those cases. In this case, the professional norm of -not hounding people to hire you because YOU need a job- needs to stand.

            This is not the time to suggest that the unemployed are allowed to take their pick of businesses and harass them. If a business wants to hire, we already have a well established system of how that can happen. Lets keep it that way.

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          2. Sam I Am*

            Yeah, I guess I just don’t see how “they’re trying” changes anything. Not all effort is positive. I could try to get a job by streaking across the field at a baseball game. But it’s not useful to me, and it disturbs others, so it’s bad trying.

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        2. Hannah Lee*

          It’s like pick up artists who proclaim they need to treat all women they come across in the world as objects owing them attention they will get by any means possible.

          Uh, no. That’s not how that works, and things being hard aren’t a justification to be a jerk, treat others poorly.

          Maybe just maybe you’d have a bit more success job hunting or dating if you put (makes circle with hands) ALL that energy and effort into building your credentials (job skills, experience or social skills, ability to relate and converse with others and for both personal hygiene) to make you a more attractive ‘candidate’ instead of seeing others that you need to manipulate or bully into giving you what you want.

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      2. Adam*

        But the company isn’t even hiring! It’s not like they’re showing up for an interview for a job listing without putting in an application first, they’re just showing up out of the blue.

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      3. OP*

        My letter was several years ago (pre-pandemic), and I agree the job-seeking climate is very different now. I’d say it’s always been very misguided, but maybe more understandable now in terms of grasping at straws.

        Then again, balance that with the fact that many industries are much more reliant on technology now then at the original time of my letter. An unannounced pop-in would be pretty out of touch with norms in many cases. On top of that, the company was very tech-heavy, so it felt particularly misguided with our organization.

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      4. Analytical Tree Hugger*

        Huh? There are widely accepted and known business norms (though they aren’t universal). Saying there’s no way to gauge the appropriateness of interactions is disingenuous at best.

        Unsolicited application? Fine, but a waste of time.

        Repeated unsolicited follow-ups? You’re getting into “never hire” territory.

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      5. Sola Lingua Bona Lingua Mortua Est*

        Likewise, and that experience warrants compassion, but not an impromptu interview where there’s no opening to be filled.

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        1. Hannah Lee*

          Yeah, I’m happy to give a drop in job applicant a business card they can use to report job hunting for unemployment. But anyone who tries to get more than 45 seconds of my time by dropping by unannounced is going to get a polite but flat turn down. “sorry, we don’t have any openings” “no, we don’t have any openings”

          I don’t care if you’re selling yourself or copiers or insurance (why are their still drop in copier and insurance sales people in 2025?) “no, we don’t have any openings/need for what your selling, goodbye”

          Also, somewhere along the line I got the sense that once you interview someone, you create a recordkeeping obligation for EEO hiring reporting. (could have been for larger companies) And for a while my state was doing test applicant runs where they sent job seekers or resumes with different demographic markers to companies to see if some were more welcomed on than others, based on protected categories (age, race, gender). It’s smart to have a blanket policy that treats all comers the same. In our case it’s you’re welcome to hand me a resume, we will keep it on file for x time in case there is an opening that matches and then toss after x time. No we don’t have openings, no we don’t do informational interviews.

          And TBH in 15 years here, there has been exactly 1 time where a walk-in had a resume that was even close to matching an opening we had within a year, and that person was such a hassle to try to schedule an interview with, and then no showed, that I don’t really have high hopes for it being something worth spending much time on.

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    2. Synaptically Unique*

      Yes. Had a candidate who was being very pushy even before we interviewed. I went into the interview expecting to dislike him. Panel interview went extremely well, decided my first impression was not accurate, and we recommended making an offer (to be fair, this was the hiring manager’s top choice anyway and was likely to get an offer no matter what the panel advised). He’s just as obnoxious IRL. Major PITA, very extra. Wish we would have gone with that first impression.

      Reply ↓
      1. Hannah Lee*

        I work in a small company, and happen to have the desk closest to the door, so I’m the most likely person to answer when someone pops up.

        Since I’m a woman, many visitors assume I’m “just” the receptionist* with no brain, observational skills, functional memory, or decision making power at the company. (they are wrong)

        It always amazes me how obnoxious people behave in front of someone they presume doesn’t matter. PITA or bully or self-important or bigoted … some people really show themselves. And I enjoy smiling, shutting the door behind them and then immediately making the executive decision to put them in the do not interview, hire or use as a vendor circular file.

        *I’m not dissing receptionists, I’ve worked that job. I’m mocking those who devalue them, and assume every woman is one and can be treated like she doesn’t matter, who are dead wrong on all fronts.

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  3. Bee*

    I did get my current job by cold emailing a company that had no job listing, but a) that was on a suggestion from a mutual connection who thought they might be open to hiring, and b) I was going to bring a list of clients with me so it was very easy for me to make my case and for them to see what I could offer, and we could both judge whether it was a good fit. So, pretty much the case where the OP is willing to take a meeting! I didn’t just show up and ask, I networked.

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    1. Butterfly Counter*

      I’m somewhat similar.

      I had moved with my spouse to a new area. My education is specialized and I had a fair amount of experience. So I just sent my CV around to places that might, at some point in the future, have an opening for someone like me to let them know I’m local.

      Just a few months later, I got an email asking for help because someone suddenly quit due to a life emergency and they were in a bind and needed a worker with my exact qualifications ASAP. I did a good job of filling in and 14 years later, I’m still employed there!

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      1. Greg*

        “I’m new to town” is a great excuse for being a little pushier when it comes to networking (also not bad for single people looking to find romantic partners). Obviously basic rules around decorum still apply, but cases like yours are a perfect example of where an unsolicited email might be deemed more acceptable than a similar message from a longtime resident of the area. The latter can come across as a little desperate, whereas people will be more forgiving of a new arrival

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    2. Annony*

      Reaching out once when there is no position posted makes sense. Plenty of places may be hiring but haven’t gotten around to posting (or don’t post positions in general). Repeatedly asking to meet despite being told they aren’t currently hiring is where it gets weird.

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    3. Elizabeth West*

      Quite a few companies have something on their careers page to the effect of “Don’t see something that looks like a fit? Drop us a general resume!” I did that every single time I found one when I was looking. Especially jobs that were listed in Boston — I included that I was planning a move (just not when, haha). I never got a bite, but you never know — if they were willing to take the resume and a cover letter stating what kind of job I was looking for, I made sure they got one.

      This was online, however. I haven’t *dropped off* a resume anywhere since the early 2000s.

      Reply ↓
  4. Just a Pile of Oranges*

    This sounds like the kind of terrible advice that was popular on LinkedIn a while back. Maybe it still is, I don’t know.

    It shouldn’t be humored, it should be shut down firmly.

    Reply ↓
    1. Middle Aged Lady*

      It’s the kind of advice my Depression-era dad used to give me. He liked to tell a story about his uncle just walking on to a WPA project, picking up a shovel, and declaring himself hired! And how ‘that’s the kind of gumption employers want to see!” It was ancient even before LinkedIn!

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      1. Selina Luna*

        That is how WPA projects worked, but even then, you couldn’t do that at a law firm, for example. WPA was a unique set of circumstances in which the US government decided that getting people back to work with some tasks that were essentially busy work, but mostly infrastructure improvement, was important. They were willing to pay a living wage to anyone willing to pick up a shovel and work. That’s not how hiring works elsewhere now, and it’s not even how hiring worked elsewhere then.

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        1. Middle Aged Lady*

          I didn’t realize it was that easy; thanks! Dad likes to exaggerate so I always assumed it was one of ‘his stories.’

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        2. Hannah Lee*

          Yeah that sounds like the WPA version of day labor, where people looking for work will sometimes hang out by big box home improvement stores or certain locations and contractors needing unskilled workers will come by and arrange for them to work for the day. (I don’t know how common that is these days, but it was a thing a while back)

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      2. Bast*

        My parents are the children of Depression era parents, and they gave me the same kind of (bad) advice. It “shows initiative” and “makes it harder to say no when they can put a face to the name.” While I may have tried that very early career before I knew better, it was never successful.

        Reply ↓
    2. Zona the Great*

      Was it, by chance, pushed by a person with the initials “Liz Ryan”? I’ve seen her still holding on to these ridiculous notions and I believe she only has LinkedIn as a forum.

      Reply ↓
      1. Just a Pile of Oranges*

        That was the name. I used to follow her because it was funny if you pretended it was all satire. Alas, it wasn’t, and after a while I couldn’t take it anymore.

        Reply ↓
      2. Anon in Canada*

        I’m not sure if Liz Ryan ever recommended showing up in person and asking for an interview. Her recommendation was to send a “pain letter” and “human-voice resume” by snail mail, even when there were no openings advertised, and to disregard the formal application process. This advice was totally ridiculous, but I don’t recall her recommending pushy in-person tactics.

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    3. Scott*

      I think this is generally coming from the over 60 demographic who probably haven’t had to look for a job in over 20 years and don’t understand how job searching works today. They are either doing this themselves or giving bad advice to their children or grandchildren who unfortunately don’t know any better.

      Reply ↓
      1. Georgia Carolyn Mason*

        This can be an age thing, but not always. Unfortunately, I see this on LinkedIn from younger folks who are like “you are a beautiful screaming eagle of a rockstar, but no one will know if you hide behind your screen!”

        Reply ↓
        1. Elizabeth West*

          Yeah, I’m about to drop over that threshold (ugh! how did that happen!) and I don’t do this. Of course, I read Ask A Manager, not LinkedIn. ;)

          Reply ↓
    4. fhqwhgads*

      It was reasonable advice about 200 years ago. Well…not the repeated follow ups. But the initial idea of showing up and asking.

      Reply ↓
  5. Chairman of the Bored*

    IMO there’s nothing inherently wrong with asking even if you have no connection and no jobs are posted, I got my longest-running job to date via exactly this method.

    But if the company isn’t interested you need to be able to accept that as the final answer and move on.

    Reply ↓
    1. Paint N Drip*

      I agree with this! It is a happy coincidence if it works out, but you can’t have the same expectations of applying to a listed job opportunity. It’s almost more of a sales mindset than a job application method, but when you get that ‘bite’ all the bait was worth it!

      Reply ↓
    2. Saturday*

      Yeah, I know someone who actually got a job this way. Cold calling and asking if they knew of open positions. Turned out someone was going to be leaving, and the position hadn’t been posted yet. They asked her to send her materials, and she ended up getting hired really quickly.

      I still think that’s very unusual, and it definitely helped that her experience was rather specialized, and something a lot of candidates wouldn’t have.

      And for goodness sake, if they say no thanks, it’s time to leave them alone.

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      1. MsM*

        Yeah, I think this stands a better chance of working if you’ve at least done enough research to suspect your skillset and experience might be attractive when an opening does pop up.

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      2. Terese Hale*

        Yes, that’s how I got the best job I ever had! I dropped in, asked a manager if there were any openings, and he said, “Sorry, we’ve hired everyone we need for the school year.” (It was a food service on a college campus) So, I thanked him and turned to leave. He added, “Well, unless you’re a baker. We need a baker.” I said that I was, indeed, a baker. Within fifteen minutes, I had a job that lasted for the next ten years. Of course, that was in 1998, and things were different then!

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      3. Hannah Lee*

        My sister got a job that way. She was about to accept a very specialized job located in Maine, and my other sister mentioned “but you hate the cold, why would you move to Maine?” and “you purposely decided to get credentialed, licensed in a completely different warmer state even though you’ve never lived there because you’ve always wanted to live there, why don’t you just call the major hospital in THAT place and just check if they have any openings?”

        She did and they happened to be just putting together a rec for someone with her exact skills and experience. She got the job, relocated, worked there for 10+ years. Also, bonus, she met her future husband at that job and all is good.

        But that was a once in a blue moon situation that her skills, active licensing just happened to match a rare opening.

        Reply ↓
  6. Orange Cat Energy*

    I’ve never had someone show up and ask for an interview, but I’ve definitely seen people drop off resumes, which I still think is weird when it’s unsolicited. This was a dozen years ago and I was working in visitor services at a museum. I was posted at the coat room and a young man (probably early 20s?) comes over and asks if her can leave his resume. My colleague takes it and tells me that sometimes our manager will look at them and call people for interviews (especially if we’re doing hiring). My jaw dropped because I didn’t think that was fair to other people who go through the company’s formal hiring process. I know I’ll get push back on that because people will say a lot of hiring processes are biased. Mostly, I didn’t like how it created a burden on us…what if he came back later to ask about the status of his application…

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    1. MigraineMonth*

      Creating an alternate secret hiring path that circumvents the formal one and depends on the jobseeker a) knowing about it, b) disregarding the stated rules, and c) revealing their visible demographic/disability markers before the resume is even reviewed is *not* the way to decrease bias in hiring.

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      1. SprawledOut*

        Exactly this. Hiring can still be pretty biased, but it definitely used to be a lot worse. We got to where we are with hiring for many reasons, and we can debate over which reasons had the greatest and most lasting impact, but reducing bias is at least somewhere on the list.

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        1. Anon in Canada*

          In my case, I think the “old” way would have allowed me to neutralize the bias against me much better than the “new” way does.

          For the first several years I lived here, the location of the jobs and schools on my resume was a dead giveaway that I’m ESL. There was nothing I could do about it, everything about my resume screamed “French”, and “his English most likely sucks”, as very, very few people who grew up in the locations where my jobs and schools were speak good English (many claim to be good, but most are terrible at self-assessing and are not fluent at all despite thinking they are).

          Putting “fluent in English/fluently bilingual” on a resume means nothing since people lie about this all the time (or are bad at self-assessing their language skills), and ESL people get their resumes professionally translated all the time.

          In the “old days”, applying in person would have allowed me to immediately showcase that my English is indeed great, and that I’m not exaggerating when I say I’m fluent. But that’s not a thing anymore (except for the small number of exceptions that others have mentioned).

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  7. ZSD*

    I looked and was surprised to see that this letter was originally posted in 2019, which wasn’t that long ago. So I guess people still do this!
    I thought this had been well snuffed out, but I guess not everyone has been reading AAM since 2011 like I have.

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    1. A Simple Narwhal*

      Yes I was wondering how old the original letter was, because surely, SURELY, showing up in person and demanding a meeting couldn’t be real advice in this day and age?

      2019 still seems wayyy too recent for this kind of thing, but life is a rich tapestry I suppose.

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      1. GreenApplePie*

        It’s still pretty common on LinkedIn. Though most of the influencers there are pushing the digital version of this (cold messaging people and then demanding to schedule an interview)

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    2. Pay no attention...*

      I think this would be far more common for small businesses, like the OP, and small towns. IME most large city, big businesses they wouldn’t even let her past the front door or security desk in the lobby, let alone take a walk-in interview.

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    3. OP*

      Our company has since gone completely remote, so this is no longer an issue for us.

      However, I’ve moved to a company with the same ownership in a retail-adjacent industry, and we also don’t get many pop-ins. When we do, we always point them to our application process, BUT I know that our location managers prioritize the candidates who have done this and made a very good impression.

      Very different fields (professional services vs. retail). In the one I wrote about, it made no sense for us to entertain these. In the retail space, I can’t say it holds much value, but it doesn’t come across quite so out of touch as it would in other industries.

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  8. Ella Minnow Pea*

    As a hardcore introvert who doesn’t even like spontaneous phone calls, the thought of interviewing a random candidate on the spot gives me hives.

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    1. Margaret Cavendish*

      A random candidate for a job that doesn’t even exist! How would that work exactly? The mind boggles.

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      1. MigraineMonth*

        “So, tell me about what skills you have that might relate in any way to chocolate, teapots, or chocolate teapots. Designing, molding, sourcing, painting, selling… or any support role.”

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  9. merida*

    I’m relieved Alison addressed a question like this. I saw something similar on Reddit recently – a young person asking for job seeking advice, and a commenter saying that stopping in-person unannounced for an application is a good idea to show initiative, and who knows, it might lead to an impromptu interview. That concept got a lot of likes and I was horrified that the young person asking was getting this bad advice. I’m sure it does depend on what industry we’re talking about, but in general I’m fairly certain a random walk-in being positively received would be an exception rather than a rule. That comment section had me feeling completely insane.

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    1. Chairman of the Bored*

      “I’m fairly certain a random walk-in being positively received would be an exception rather than a rule.”

      This is likely true, but if I’m job hunting I only need to find a single job.

      Any given approach doesn’t need to work every time, or even most of the time. It only needs to work once to be worthwhile.

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      2. PollyQ*

        This assumes no negatives to the attempt. First, you only have so much time and energy, and using it on low-odds strategies makes less sense than spending it on things like research, networking, crafting better cover letters, etc. Second, many companies won’t just be neutral about this behavior, they’ll actually reject someone for it who might have been a valid candidate if they’d applied the traditional/requested way.

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        1. merida*

          exactly this! In every job/industry I’ve been this behavior would actively hurt your chances… as in “hard pass, we will never consider you again” kind of hurt.

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      4. Kay*

        The thing is, it is likely to only work for the most dysfunctional of places (outside perhaps a few industries). The best companies to work for are not going to have hiring practices that resemble anything like this, and they are also going to be of the mindset that this is completely outside of professional norms – meaning you just told them NOT to hire you!

        The places that are going to hire a random person off the street probably have some other questionable workplace practices, so I would say this route is probably doing everyone a disservice.

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    2. A Simple Narwhal*

      If you want more proof that people still give horrible/insane advice, I saw a reddit post recently sharing a linkedin post where the writer talked about hiring someone to start on a Tuesday, and then when they showed up for their first day he told them it wasn’t going to work out and let them go. Because even though the agreed start date was a Tuesday, he wanted the new employee to show initiative and show up on Monday.

      Let me say that again: he hired someone, told them to start on a specific date, and then fired them for starting on the agreed upon start date because they didn’t magically deduce that he actually wanted them to start a day earlier. Absolutely bonkers.

      It seems like the fired new person dodged a major bullet by not having to work for a complete lunatic, but still. People in the reddit post absolutely skewered the linkedin person, I’m curious what the comments on the actual linkedin post were.

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      1. LifebeforeCorona*

        Show up a a day early? That’s a terrible test. If you arrive on the day and time that you’ve mutually agreed to, it shows that you can listen. Showing up a day early is major side eye. You can’t follow simple directions?

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      3. Nightengale*

        Admittedly my work experience has been atypical – several jobs at camps/summer programs, followed by a teaching job, followed by medical training programs that were also employment, followed by working in hospitals at a doctor. . .

        but in all of those cases my start date included either a specific meeting with a specific human at a specific time and location or a group orientation session at a specific time and location. If I had showed up the day before people would have been polite and confused, if people had been there at all. They wouldn’t have had a place to put me. They may not have had time to meet with me. My current job was an acquisition thing and I did drop by I think once ahead of time to bring over a few items but certainly not to actually start work. Also I wasn’t on payroll. . .

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    3. Not Your Sweetheart*

      So few places have physical applications these days. Everywhere I’ve worked in the last decade or 2 had on-line application processes. We didn’t have physical applications to give people, and resumes handed to the front line staff only sometimes made it to HR or the hiring manager. My last job, I made business cards with a link to the job postings & application process because I got sick of having to tell multiple people every week who just walked in the door.

      Reply ↓
    5. OP*

      I was writing from a different industry at the time. Tech-heavy professional services. It was bad advice for that industry, and I think would be in similar industries or more modern markets (e.g., metro vs. rural).

      I’m now in a retail-adjacent industry (same ownership), and it’s not quite so frowned upon. It still heavily depends on the impression the person makes, and we never offer on-the-spot meetings or interviews. I’ve seen our location managers look forward to a person’s forthcoming application if they stopped in and made a good impression (which for us means they probably showed potential for good customer service skills). They still go through the application process, but being able to put a face to the name from the start can help. Again, only if the impression was positive!

      Reply ↓
    6. COHikerGirl*

      When I see advice like that, I try to write out a good comment and direct people to AAM! Hopefully they’ll take a look. I tell them there is a ton of stuff on resumes and cover letters and all.

      I recently directed a 17 year old to AAM. She posted to a FB group and people were being seriously horrible to her. Like, do they not remember when they first entered the job market?! One guy, after learning she was 17, said “Maybe I wouldn’t have been so rude if I’d known you were 17.” Like…what?! He was one of the “it’s easy, go in” people, too.

      Reply ↓
  10. bamcheeks*

    There ARE lots of small companies who hire like this. I have listened to lots of small business owners who are invited to speak to graduates and job seekers on how to find work and all three of the ones I’ve heard in the last year and a half have given cringe advice like:

    “always include your hobbies! I love to know more about you as a person— I interviewed a guy last week because he had MMA on his CV and I thought that was cool!”

    “show gumption! The last person I hired just rocked up and impressed us!”

    “Just tell us thst you can do the job and you know the software we use— we don’t have time to train people, we need to know you can hit the ground running”

    “I don’t care about skills as much as attitude— I can train skills, I can’t train willingness to work and get stuck in” (these last two were honest to god the same guy, in the same twenty minutes— he completely contradicted himself.)

    They not “experts” at hiring and they don’t have a solid process for it, so they’ll give whatever random advice they feel like, based on whichever hiring event is at the forefront of their mind at any given time. So I wouldn’t hold it against anyone for trying this kind of thing: there are enough people who do get hired from stuff like this that isn’t is truly worth a try.

    That said, you don’t owe an applicant anything more than courtesy and honestly, and you can and should be direct about the hiring process that works for you. “We’ll keep your CV on file but we aren’t hiring right now” “we don’t have time for an open chat right now but thanks for your interest” and then blocking and deleting anyone who continues to push at a clearly closed door is conpletely fair. You aren’t doing anyone any favours by participating in a process that is not just unhelpful but actively irritating and time-wasting to you.

    Lastly, however, if you can find time to educate or mentor job seekers by working with any local colleges or job centres in a more structured way to education then about your business or your application processes, that is a very kind and pro-social thing to do. Nobody is born knowing this stuff!

    Reply ↓
    1. A. Lab Rabbit*

      Agreed.

      They’re not experts at hiring, or indeed at the vast majority of skills required in business. They usually run a small business because they are good at whatever service/product their service provides. I feel this is where a lot of the weirdness that I’ve experienced in working for small businesses comes from. (That last guy who contradicted himself in 20 minutes is not atypical in my experience. They say one thing now and then say its complete opposite a day or so later. They don’t have a plan; they’re flying without a net, and it’s not fun if you’re caught up in the mess that they create.)

      Reply ↓
      1. Another Kristin*

        That’s why small business are often horrible employers, because turns out all those annoying HR processes and procedures are there for a reason

        Reply ↓
        1. bamcheeks*

          The MMA one for me was horrifying because, whew, tell me you’re a brogliarchy without telling me. But you know, takes all sorts and it wasn’t my event!

          Reply ↓
        2. OP*

          Kristin, we have something in common, not the least of which is our name! I’m actually the Director of HR now, and definitely agree about the process/procedure.

          I’ve worked for a horrible small business, and a great small business. I’ve been with the same one now for 14 years (if you count moving companies within the same parent, and now it’s mid-size).

          Reply ↓
  11. Trudy's Blue Summer's Dress*

    Are these teenagers looking for summer jobs in a retail/food service environment? Thats about the only scenario i can see just walking into a place like that

    Reply ↓
    1. Former Retail Worker*

      Exactly. This is basically how I got my retail job, although we did schedule an interview. If retail says “come back for an interview at this time”, EVERYONE should.

      Reply ↓
    2. A Simple Narwhal*

      I last worked in retail about 15 years ago, even then the process was to have the person fill out an application and the manager would reach out to them later. Absolutely no one was getting an interview just walking up to the counter.

      I think the only time I can remember ever getting an interview just by walking in was at a restaurant when I was a teenager, and I think even then it was just a perfect storm of circumstances – it was right before they opened when no customers were around, the manager happened to be right there, and they were desperate for waitstaff. I think if I had had any experience at the time the manager would have handed me an apron.

      Reply ↓
      1. NotRealAnonForThis*

        *Maybe* twenty-five years ago (I did, but I walked into) if it were the perfect storm of events? The manager was there literally holding the apron of the keyholder who had stomped off and threw down her keys on the counter and quit.

        Reply ↓
    3. Bast*

      Fair enough. While most big box stores and chains have moved to online applications and will just tell you to go online, plenty of smaller mom and pop stores and restaurants are receptive to a person walking in and asking “Are you hiring?” Sometimes you will get told no, others, you would be told to fill out a form and the manager will call you if interested. I remember this is how we used to do it looking for summer jobs in high school (mid 2000s). This approach was not as well received outside of the retail/food service circuit though.

      Reply ↓
      1. Trudy's Blue Summer's Dress*

        I suppose it could work for other types of jobs where there is super high turnvoer and they’re always looking for people though I cant think of any beyond retail/food service..

        But yes, this would not go well at the typical white collar jobs we discuss here

        Reply ↓
    4. OP*

      Ironically, it was not with the company I was writing from, but I now hire teenagers looking for a retail-adjacent job. Agreed!

      They still must go through our application process, but a pop-in isn’t quite so frowned upon. Sometimes it’s helpful if you make a good impression.

      Reply ↓
      1. Trudy's Blue Summer's Dress*

        Yes, my daughter who is a teenager got a job by just popping into a bakery and asked if they were hiring. The person at the counter went back and got a manager who did a short interview right on the spot. Called her about a week later for a part time job

        But yes I can’t imagine doing that at my corp :)

        Reply ↓
  12. OP*

    Hi there! I’m OP from a few years ago. I’m no longer with that exact company, but still work for the same owner for a different company. I’m now the director of HR for that company, and oversee our recruiting at all of our locations.

    I’m happy to say that over time, the owner very much came around on this topic. We have a clear, required application process, and do not accept walk-in interview requests. The company I was working for at the time also went completely remote during COVID, so there is no route for walk-ins with them. We do, on occasion, receive cold email inquiries, but they’re rarely so persistent that it becomes a problem. The owner is great about replying but directing to the application process.

    I’d like to add that I strictly require clear communication with applicants throughout our application process with all of our hiring managers. They know when their application has been received, reviewed, accepted, or rejected. It’s not perfect (we don’t use AI so it’s all a human processing sometimes hundreds of applications), but I constantly reinforce the need to communicated with candidates.

    Reply ↓
    1. Hlao-roo*

      Thanks for this update and I’m glad to hear the owner came around to your point of view on this topic!

      Reply ↓
    2. MsM*

      Yay! (What happened with the pushy person who wanted a meeting, though? Did she finally just go away, or did you find the right language to dissuade her?)

      Reply ↓
      1. OP*

        I think a mix of finding the right language and her simply moving on. I kind of assume she must have found something, because I don’t think language was a huge sway to her.

        With the addition of now 6 more years of experience, there’s a lot to be said for a kind but firm “no”.

        Reply ↓
    3. Exme*

      Thanks for the update! Did it seem like the motive for wanting you to take the impromptu meetings was because the owner thought there would be likely good hires and not wanting to miss out, or something about hospitality/politeness of entertaining visitors rather than turning them away?

      Reply ↓
      1. OP*

        Truly, I think he was just old-school, combined with an appreciation of gumption. Common for small-business entrepreneurs, I think. There was always the chance that this would be a great addition to the team!

        He had also done a great job of assembling a strong team through networking. His business partner and key creative was his best friend from school, their eventual partner and creative was another mutual connection who he hired over beer, and several other networking hires. Many of them were very solid, and I think this gave him the sense that this is how you recruit top talent. It’s not that he was wrong necessarily (networking is certainly a great way to recruit talent), but a person off the street is so unlikely to be one of those hires. A few of those hires actually went wrong, so I think that might have corrected his impression.

        Reply ↓
    4. Just Thinkin' Here*

      This is great to hear! I was wondering what type of business this was. Cold calls and walk-in applications used to be typical in retail and restaurant businesses. In the past that was the only way to get a job in those industries. I think certain small businesses probably still work that way when there is a storefront.

      Sounds like this might be more of a blue/white collar situation. I don’t blame folks for trying, but persistence can demonstrate poor decision making.

      Reply ↓
      1. OP*

        Technology heavy professional services! Not the industry that welcomes a pop-in.

        I manage HR for a retail-adjacent mid-size company now (same ownership), and we do not mind a pop-in so much.

        Reply ↓
      1. OP*

        As an HR department of one, I appreciate your appreciation!!

        AI has it’s place, but it is not in recruiting, in my humble opinion.

        Reply ↓
  13. StressedButOkay*

    I can barely handle my calendar as it is right now with meetings I know about in advance (plus the occasional ‘this is on fire’ meeting). The idea of interviewing a random person who showed up for a job that doesn’t exist (yet or ever) makes me want to yeet myself out of a window.

    Reply ↓
  14. Working under my down comforter*

    I’m wondering if small businesses can put up a sign on their doors or something on their website explaining their resume submission process but also listing that walk-ins/solicitors are not permitted onsite.

    Reply ↓
    1. OP*

      It’s funny you mention this! I work in a different industry now (same ownership, though), and we have posters with a QR code!! There’s no need to change the signage because the QR code will show you if we have open positions. It’s a good system from our perspective.

      Reply ↓
        1. OP*

          Very very rarely do we have a senior guest with a flip phone and no email address, but they’re not interested in a position, just our product. We take care of them through guest services, and would do the same if they were an applicant.

          Reply ↓
  15. CubeFarmer*

    OMG, arriving for a job interview…checks notes…without an appointment? Absolutely not. Who told these people that would be a good idea??

    Reply ↓
    1. OP*

      I’ve seen some alarming posts online several times of someone saying they showed up for “their appointment” knowing there was no such appointment, and they were actually interviewed!! I suspect it might be one of those content-bait posts that is just going around, but it freaks me out whenever I see it.

      Reply ↓
      1. Georgia Carolyn Mason*

        If that works, it works because a manipulative asshat has successfully manipulated someone in the company (probably an admin or receptionist) into believing they screwed up and didn’t calendar something. It’s gross and a major red flag.

        Reply ↓
  16. MissM*

    Truly a fine moment for Betteridge’s law of headlines (aka if a headline is a question, the article ought to answer it with a No)!

    Reply ↓
  17. SoylentGreenIsPeople*

    I can’t necessarily fault the initial inquiry, but honestly the company should respond back to the applicant if they are interested, not that the applicant is requesting a meeting. You drop off your resume, you can call/email to follow up, but applicant should not be requesting a meeting! And then to be told no and to keep doing it? At that point I would tell them you are not what we are looking for and I would say why!

    Reply ↓
  18. Wednesday wishes*

    We have people drop in all the time- we employ a lot of manual laborers. Often they are sent by someone that already works for us. We finally made a folder of applications and put them on the front table. They can fill out an application right there and then we tell them we will contact them when/if a job opens up. I know this is different than a white collar job- no resumes required here. We do ask about their experience with the specifics of what we do. However everyone is told that they should leave their application and we will call them and no one gets any answers (or an interview) on the spot. Not even for the low/no skill jobs. I can’t imagine giving an interview that involves perusing a resume and fitting it to a job description to a walk-in!

    Reply ↓
  19. Just a city worker*

    What kind of office is this that so many people are desperate to get hired they’re just walking in off the street??? I mean I guess yeah sure call or email inquiring if they are or will be hiring soon. But even when I was a teenager in the late 90s and there was no such thing as online job postings, I asked before leaving my resume somewhere, and if they weren’t hiring, I didn’t bother.

    Reply ↓
    1. OP*

      Tech-heavy professional services in a small old-school town. We’re a relative rarity in our area, and the industry is competitive.

      Reply ↓
  20. It's Marie - Not Maria*

    Ah, GUMPTION! We never do interviews without them being prescheduled. We are respectful of the Hiring Manager’s time, knowing they have a lot of things on their plates.

    Being in HR, I am trying to think when the last time we had someone show up and expect an on the spot interview, outside of a Job Fair. I think it was pre-pandemic. Except for the guy who was trying to get rehired (he wasn’t eligible for rehire), and refused to take no for an answer. He showed up one day and lied about having a scheduled interview to gain access to our highly secured building. We ended up having to call law enforcement to get him out of the building, because he refused to leave until we rehired him.

    Reply ↓
    1. OP*

      Oh nooooooo! I JUST replied to someone else saying I had seen this tactic mentioned online several times and hoped it was content-bait. Oof.

      Reply ↓
      1. Georgia Carolyn Mason*

        I’m glad you had him put out, though, particularly because you’d already fired him! In any situation, this is a nasty trick. Anyone who tries to get a job by talking their way past the front desk — implying to front desk staff they screwed up and will get in trouble if they don’t let the “interviewee” in– is not someone you want on your team.

        Note: this is true even if he’s nice to you, hiring manager! It’s like the old dating rule: if he’s nice to you and rude to the waitress, that’s a nope.

        Reply ↓
  21. Cat Lady in the Mountains*

    I can’t imagine doing this in any office-based role, but in retail it seems to be way more common and accepted. My partner works in retail and has gotten his last four jobs this way. (To be fair, for the last two – we are in an area that was heavily impacted by a hurricane to the point that many businesses are still destroyed or inaccessible over six months later. The AI application systems of a number of large retailers he applied to directed him to interview at branches that had been destroyed. After many attempts to reach them on the phone saying “you don’t understand, this store literally does not exist anymore,” only to get nonsensical AI responses, he went in person and immediately got the jobs.)

    Reply ↓
    1. OP*

      I agree that this is often ok in other industries. I wrote from professional services industry, and now oversee HR for retail-adjacent. It’s not so frowned upon in the latter, though, a certain amount of persistence is a red flag. I’d say more than one follow up in a short period of time would be frowned upon.

      I hate to hear of AI being used in recruiting. We don’t use it because I don’t feel it’s at all effective. I’ve even accidentally made parameters too strict and changed the settings when I realized applicants not answering quite right was affecting them (I had put something about ability to commute and one or two people answered slightly off of what I required).

      Reply ↓
  22. Maz*

    Nope, no, absolutely not. My experience has been that when pop-ins occur, standard practice is for the receptionist to (1) explain the organisation doesn’t accept unsolicited CVs; (2) give them some bumf about the organisation; (3) advise them where job positions are usually advertised; (4) tell them they’re welcome to apply for any relevant positions being advertised *as per the instructions in the job ad.* Submitting unsolicited CVs and popping in without a genuine appointment are rarely successful.

    Reply ↓
  23. Anon for this*

    This is a timely discussion because a similar situation just happened to me.
    I work in HR at my employer, but not in staffing. I’ve noticed an uptick recently in people who DM me on LinkedIn to ask about their applications, etc. I usually just explain that I don’t work in staffing and someone will follow up if there is interest.
    However, today I received a Linked DM from a candidate who addressed it to “Mr. [name]” – not my name and I am a woman (I have she/her pronouns in my profile). The person said that they were scheduled for a phone interview and hadn’t gotten a phone call at the appointed time, so were following up to reschedule. I politely responded that I thought they contacted me in error and to go back to whoever had scheduled the phone interview with them. Then I got this message: “Hello Ms. [my last name] – I actually intentionally reached out as I was hoping to find a path forward to schedule an interview with someone for [position]. Could you assist me?”

    So, (a) I don’t work in staffing, which is clear from my profile, and (b) you lied about a phone interview that didn’t exist and didn’t even use the right name or title. No, I’m not assisting you, and whoever told you to use this tactic should step on a Lego in bare feet.

    Reply ↓
  24. RCB*

    On Threads lately there have been SO many people saying that just showing up to ask for an interview, or contacting the hiring manager directly (tracking them down on LinkedIn, finding their company email address and emailing them directly) after submitting your resume through the system is the only way to get a job anymore and I am just astounded that people think this is a thing. These are not old people either, they are always late 20s/early 30s people who insist that it worked for them or someone they know and I just absolutely refuse to believe this has become a thing again. I did hiring for 10 years and I would put that person on a never hire list if they tried to circumvent our hiring procedures, I absolutely cannot stand gumption.

    That said, I know that so many people are conflict averse and will never tell someone no, so they’d definitely go along with giving someone an interview to avoid having to turn them down and be awkward, but I still refuse to believe that this is more than a small handful of people. This just cannot be a thing that is happening, please do not let us backslide like this, we cannot encourage the disrespect more than people already do.

    Reply ↓
  25. Kelsey's grammar*

    There are some companies that will say–at least on their website– to send in your resume/CV even if there are no current job openings and maybe you might possibly one day hear from them if your skills and background align with a future job opening. But the key points are still:
    1–that message being on the company website (or otherwise posted BY the company) as opposed to like, candidates just assuming they can come in off the street to interrupt people
    2–that messaging not actually saying anything about just dropping by for an interview even if there are no job openings
    3–that setup is (hopefully) setting up expectations on the candidate’s end that they will only hear from the company if there is anything to hear about. That they shouldn’t be pestering the company otherwise about if a job has opened up, or dropping in for interviews, etc.

    Basically, the only time I would think it’s normal to do “cold call” interviews (at least nowadays) is for retail and hospitality jobs. And even then, you’ll typically see the company announcing that in some capacity–“help wanted: on-the-spot interviews conducted from 1 PM to 4 PM every Tuesday, if you have a pulse, we’ll hire you” blah blah blah.

    Reply ↓
  26. The Other Evil HR Lady*

    I’m late to this party, but someone asking to apply to a position that doesn’t exist can sometimes lead to unionization. Don’t ask me how because this is only hearsay and I don’t understand the mechanics well, but at one of my first jobs my boss (Director of HR) was adamant that we do not accept applications from anybody for positions that are not currently open. The reason I was given was because they almost had to allow a union to come in and talk to our people. How? I’m fuzzy on details as I wasn’t there when it happened.

    To be clear: I’m not against unions. I’m just relaying information given to me when I first started in HR.

    Reply ↓
    1. OP*

      Hmmm that’s interesting. I kind of wonder if your boss got spooked by a similar circumstance, but that “requirement” wasn’t actually one. Just seems like a very strange leap, but I’d for sure have to research to know for sure.

      Reply ↓
  27. Forrest Gumption*

    To be fair, walk-ins might have a chance at small retail food businesses and the like, but not in your average white-collar/corporate environment. My husband and I operate a small home-based food business and sell our products at farmers markets, and we have actually hired folks who walked up to us at the booth and asked if we had any jobs available. But if someone ever tried to do that in my office-based day job, it would never fly. You have to know your audience.

    Reply ↓
  28. WS*

    I work in a small business in a small town and we often get drop-ins in person or by email, but they’ve all wanted to drop in a resume or ask if we have a position open and, when we don’t, they drop in a resume. None of them have ever asked for a position or an interview on the spot! And some of them have later been hired when a position became available, but I would be very dubious about someone who kept on pushing.

    Reply ↓
  29. Andy*

    According to the Australian soap “Neighbours,” the correct way to apply for a job is to ambush the manager after hours in the local coffee shop or pub. You will be given a job on a “month’s trial” that is never mentioned again.
    Every. Single. Time.

    Reply ↓
  30. Water Dragon*

    Alison, I’m sorry, but what’s with the blah-blah-blah?

    There’s no procedure or discussion for this. It’s as simple as “sorry, if you don’t have an appointment, we can’t see you. Please check the website for openings and apply. If we think you fit our needs, we’ll contact you to arrange an appointment.”

    That’s it!

    Don’t reward these people with any further consideration.

    Reply ↓

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