The answer to the above is “it depends”.
Firstly, you must assess whether you have a mild, moderate or severe cold and whether the symptoms will hinder your interview performance. If you have a mild cold with mild symptoms (the odd sneeze), drink plenty of hot liquids, take some over the counter non-drowsy medicines (after consulting with your friendly pharmacist), get plenty of rest, bring tissues and attend your interview.
If it is a moderate cold but you still have good energy levels combined with very few visible symbols (i.e. you don’t look sickly), follow the same steps as above and proceed with your interview as cancelling interviews last minute is generally frowned upon.
However, if you are drained of energy, constantly coughing, sneezing and spluttering, you will have no other option but to reschedule. Rescheduling on this occasion is a much better option than arriving into your interview, looking sickly and drained of energy. Some interviewers may interpret this as desperation that you arrive to an interview in such a state.
On the other hand, arriving in with a mild cold, where you must excuse the odd sneeze exemplifies resilience and toughness of character. Just mention that you feel slightly under the weather but did not feel bad enough to cancel this important interview. This may be explained before the offer to shake hands as your interview may not appreciate your lack of consideration in spreading germs through handshakes. Other interviewers will still shake your hands but will appreciate that you were concerned for their wellbeing by forewarning them.
In conclusion, assess your symptoms, the side effects of your medication, your clearness of thought and the general level of severity of you cold before you make the important decision to attend or reschedule your interview.
