As a jobseeker, interviews are one of the most important parts of any job hunt. The HR manager wants to meet you face-to-face, which gives you the opportunity to connect with them and convey all the things that you couldn’t fit into a two-page resumé or one-page cover letter. However, regardless of how well you prepare for an interview, sometimes things go wrong — your bus breaks down or someone on a passing bus spits betel nut juice on you — and you find yourselves late for the interview. Although your first instinct might be to panic and run away, don’t. You still have an interview to get through, and believe it or not, if you follow these steps there’s still a chance to walk out of there having left a great impression.

Take a moment to gather yourself.

Look, you’re already late, so taking a few seconds to catch your breath and gather your thoughts before you enter the office isn’t going to make a huge difference. Don’t just barge in through the door, panting and rambling off a poor excuse. Take a few deep breaths, straighten out your clothes, and walk in calmly but with a sense of urgency. Yeah, being late is bad, but being late and frazzled is much worse.

Don’t make any excuses.

While it might be tempting to blame your tardiness on the horrible Yangon traffic, “Sorry, I didn’t know traffic would be this bad” is not a valid excuse. Neither is “My alarm didn’t wake me up” or “It took me an hour to find my car keys.” Unless you’re late because of a personal emergency, your interviewer doesn’t care about why you didn’t show up on time. Take full responsibility for your actions (e.g. “Sorry I’m late, I should’ve left my house earlier and accounted for how bad the traffic would be”). This way, the interviewer will at least know that you’re not the type of person to shift the blame onto something or someone else as soon as things go wrong.

Don’t let it affect your performance during the rest of the interview.

Don’t let your tardiness make you tense or flustered during the actual interview. Sure, you might not have gotten to the best start, but if you prove yourself to be an excellent candidate during the interview, then the interviewer will probably let you off. Don’t spend the entire time worrying about how bad of an impression you’ve already made, and instead focus on the conversation at hand. Remember the notes you prepared and engage with the interviewer so as to remind them that they wanted to interview you because you’re a great candidate for the role. You still have a chance to salvage this.

Try not to over-apologize.

Of course you have to apologize for being late, but try not to overdo it. Say you’re sorry at the beginning and end of the interview, but not in the middle of a conversation. When writing a thank you follow-up email after the interview, include something along the lines of “Again, I’m so sorry for being late, and thank you for your understanding.” Recognize that you messed up, but constantly apologizing for the same thing over and over again will actually make you come across as unprofessional. It will also repeatedly remind your interviewer that you were late and distract them from how good the rest of the interview might be. Professionals recognize that they’ve make a mistake, apologize accordingly, and move on.