How to Cancel a Job Interview

If you have an interview with a prospective employer scheduled, but you have a time conflict (or an interview with a more attractive employer), you may be in a tough situation. Don't worry, here is a surefire way to cancel without creating a problem with the interviewer. This is very important, as you may want the interview at some point down the road.

Steps

Call the interviewer the day before, no earlier or later. Make sure you talk to them live, do not cancel via message.
Tell them that

Skipping an interview for a fondue convention?
you are very interested in the job, but that you have a "conflict" and need to reschedule. Nine out of ten times they won't ask you what the conflict is. Especially an HR person who would be afraid of getting a personal reason as an answer.
If you have to give a specific excuse, be as vague as possible. The more detail you give a lie, the harder it is to remember and the more "lie-ish" it sounds.
Unless you have officially accepted another offer, reschedule the interview, hopefully for a week later or more to give yourself time to settle things with the job you want.
Once you finalize everything with the job you want, call the interviewer and tell them you got a new gig.

Tips

A few excuse ideas:
- A "household incident"--they'll think your sink exploded water all over your floor.
- A "family crisis"--they'll think something bad happened to a family member. Beware of giving too much info, however; you don't want them to get the impression that you'd be late for a job every other week.
- A "scheduling conflict"--Be (semi)honest, and tell them you accidentally scheduled something else for that particular time. It doesn't need to be another job interview; let them believe you're taking a sickly aunt to a doctor appointment or coaching your sister through childbirth.

Warnings

If you do reschedule the interview, your interviewer may ask how your sink/sickly aunt/sister is doing. Be prepared to lie, lie, lie.
One lie creates thousands. Can you really work at a job where they will always believe you have a sister?...Especially if you don't.