I've been invited to Maryland to interview for a job (the job is here in GA, but they're expanding and haven't opened the office yet, so I have to interview up there). The HR person suggests that they'd have me flyup in the morning, do the interview, and then fly back home that evening.
Having never had to fly anywhere for an interview before, I have a couple of questions:
1. What should I tell my current employer when asking for the day off? I have unified PTO (no separate sick and vacation time) and I've never had trouble getting it approved when I need it, but nevertheless a week is a little bit short notice for "vacationish" PTO but I wouldn't want to wait until the day of and then claim to be sick either. I also don't want to straight up tell them I'm thinking of leaving, but don't like lying to them.
2. Instead of flying home the same day, should I ask to (for example) do the interview on a Friday and then not fly home until Sunday? The interview is in Columbia, MD, so I could take the weekend to visit either that city or Baltimore or DC. The question is, would it be appropriate to make such a request? And would the "mini-vacation" itself be worth the cost (hotel for several nights, rental car, food), given that my wife almost certainly wouldn't be able to come?