How to confirm an invitation to a job interview

Your chosen company invites you for an interview - Congratulations! Getting to the personal interview is half the battle on the way to your dream job.

However, especially as a young professional with limited experience in the application process, you are now faced with the question of how to confirm the invitation to the interview. Even if at first glance it seems to be a mere formality, there are still a few stumbling blocks lurking on the way to the interview. In this article, we explain all the important points about your letter of response to the invitation to the job interview - including a sample.

What your invitation to the interview means

An invitation to an interview means:

• Your application documents, including your CV and cover letter, were convincing - you've passed the first milestone on the way to your new job.
• You are shortlisted for the advertised position. Companies usually invite only a very limited number of candidates for interview.
• The company now wants to get to know you personally and assess your strengths and weaknesses in a direct interview.

Confirming an appointment for an interview - the best time to do it

Have you been waiting for days to hear back from your dream company and are staring fixedly at your email inbox? When the liberating invitation to the interview finally arrives, you're bound to ask yourself when is the best time to reply. Should you answer directly or let the recruiter wait a little longer?

The answer to this question is simple: don't let too much time pass before you confirm the invitation to the interview. If you have a serious interest in the job advertised, you should confirm the appointment for the interview either the same day or the day after. This underlines not only your interest in the job, but also your reliability and conscientiousness in the job - a first plus point in the competition for the advertised position.

Confirm invitation to interview - email, phone or LinkedIn?

To avoid communicating on several channels at the same time, you should always confirm the invitation to the interview using the same channel in which you received it.

Usually, the company will contact you by email to suggest an appointment for an interview. You can then confirm this suggestion directly by email using the reply function of your email provider.

In some cases, recruiters will pick up the phone directly to arrange an interview with you. This avoids multiple email loops with mutual appointment proposals. You don't have a calendar at hand or are on the go? This is not a problem - just ask the contact person for their email address to confirm the appointment later. You can also use this opportunity to ask for the name of the contact person again if you were unable to remember it in the excitement at the beginning of the conversation.

Confirming the invitation to the interview - the structure

The interview confirmation email is a mere formality and should therefore be short and concise, but friendly. There is no need to mention your CV or your strengths in the email confirming the appointment - you will have plenty of time for that in the interview.

You can use the following structure as a guideline for the wording of your reply:

• Address: If possible, address the contact person directly by name and use the polite form of address "Dear Sir/Madam".
• Express thanks for the invitation: Thank the company for their interest and for inviting you to the interview.
• Appointment: Confirm the appointment by mentioning the date and time again or make a counter-proposal for an alternative appointment.
• Contact details: State your contact details again in case of last-minute changes. Tip: It looks professional if you create a signature and then simply refer to the contact details in the signature in the email. This is common in professional life anyway.
• Questions: If you still have specific questions about the framework of the interview, then you have the opportunity to ask them here. However, if possible, avoid questions like "Should I travel by train or by car? The company expects you, as a young professional, to be able to organise your own punctual arrival.
• Sign off: Say goodbye with a friendly greeting and express your anticipation of the interview.

Confirm an invitation to a job interview - sample

You can use this sample to confirm the invitation to the job interview succinctly:

Postpone the date of the interview - sample

You can use this sample letter to ask to postpone the proposed interview date:

Do you need to turn down an appointment for an interview?

Have you already signed a contract with another company or decided against the job at the inviting company for certain reasons? Then you should not leave the email unanswered, but politely decline the invitation. It is up to you whether you state the reason turning down the invitation in your reply or whether you decline without justification.

Here you can find a sample for turning down an invitation to an interview:

Be well prepared for your interview

There is still enough time until the interview; you should not let this time go to waste, but prepare intensively for the interview.

Your advantage: job interviews often follow a typical pattern and you can therefore prepare for them well. With our 10 tips you can prepare yourself perfectly for the big day:

• Research the company, industry and interviewer
• Carefully prepare how you present yourself
• Prepare a "cheat sheet" with the most important information
• Bring your application documents (CV, cover letter and references)
• Prepare your own questions
• Prepare answers to the typical questions
• Dress appropriately
• Prepare your salary request
• Plan your journey
• Don't get nervous