You land an interview with XYZ Inc. Part of your preparation might be to casually check with your associates to see what they know about the company.  Someone gives you a vague story about their customer service department screwing up every shipment.  Well, you can’t risk bringing your customers here, so you start to worry.  What if you bring on customers and then, because of this alleged uncaring import department, you lose the relationships you’ve worked so hard through the years to cultivate?  Maybe you should cancel the interview…

Whoa there!  You haven’t even given them half a chance!

There are always rumors out there about every company.  Most of the time, these are exaggerated and unfounded.  There are two sides to every story, and you owe it to yourself to give this interview a chance, with your own eyes and ears.  Besides, cancelling might just burn a bridge and any opportunities to work together in the future, here or elsewhere.

Remember when you were in elementary school, and at the end of the year, when you found out who your teacher would be for the next grade, invariably another student would proclaim, “She’s horrible!” or “He’s mean!”  And remember how nothing happened, the teacher was perfectly nice, and you lived to see yet another grade?  Don’t rely on hearsay; find out for yourself!