Doing an interview with a leg brace/cast

sob1467

I have an interview this week with a big company on the continent. I have however gotten injured in the past few days playing football and have to wear a leg brace around my leg for the next week. The brace is removable, however it is necessary to wear to prevent pain in my leg. When I wear it I cannot bend my knee.

What should I do. Should I ring HR of the company and explain the situation first, to make them aware of the injury? I do not want it to be overemphasise the injury, because it is only temporary. Or should I say nothing and perhaps say during the interview that I got it whilst playing football and it is temporary. Or should I ask the company to rearrange my interview (This is my least preferred option as I have taken a day off and paid over €250 in order to get to and from the interview and accommodation)

I am not in much pain as the brace takes a lot of the pain away. I can however not bend my knee so when I am doing the interview one leg will have to be outstrectched because I cannot bend my knee.

Other than wearing the leg brace over the suit trousers, I am completely healthy. To those of you who usually interview people would it be normal to meet people in casts or braces, or would it be viewed in a negative light?

jimmii

If it were me I would have no problem with this. If they are a decent company you should ring and let them know that allows them to move the interview to a more convenient location for you in case they had planned to hold it upstairs or something. A lot of employers like employees to be fairly active outside of work which means that injuries like that are going to crop up every now and then. Travelling that way with that sort of injury looks good from a work commitment point of view as well.

Good luck with the interview!

Irish_Elect_Eng

There is only one issue that I would see, If EHS policies in their workplace preclude attending work in casts for safety reasons.

mapaca

Phone the HR dept and let them know about the leg brace, so they can make suitable arrangements, eg. holding the interview in a ground floor room, providing an extra chair to rest your leg on, etc. if needed. The interviewers will probably ask you about the injury first thing when you come into the room as it's so visible. Once all that's out of the way, you can concentrate on doing a good interview. Best of luck!

skallywag

sob1467 wrote: »

...To those of you who usually interview people would it be normal to meet people in casts or braces, or would it be viewed in a negative light?...

Nothing at all negative assuming that the job is not somehow relying on your physical fitness.

FAILSAFE 00

No probs,

In fact, it's a great way to break the Ice at an interview.

They'll of course be curious to know what happend you and you'll get a minute or 2 to tell them about yourself and how you got injured in a heroic game of football

Plus you'll be memorable. (e.g) "Hey, remember the nice guy in the leg brace, he's a great candidate"

It's the human factor, can't beat curiosity.