Coffee shops and interviews

Coffee shops are now being used as locations for interviews. The interviews are fine if they are done correctly but it should mean that the table or tables are only used if the people have also purchased a coffee or something from the location.

At one coffee shop we walked in and were looking for a table and there were five tables taken up with people just sitting without having purchased anything. If they had been only sitting for a few minutes that would have been one thing but it ended up that they were sitting there for at least half an hour taking up seats that paying customers wanted. Finally the person doing the interview showed up and got all of them around one table freeing up the rest of the tables.

Yes, coffee shops are a wonderful place to do interviews if they are done correctly. What they shouldn’t be used for is a free meeting stop and taking the tables from the actual customers. If you are going to be using a coffee shop for any type of meeting or work space ensure that you are also purchasing something from the store. If you are going to be sitting for a couple of hours also make sure that you spend money and maybe even buy that second cup of coffee to show that you appreciate the time you are using the table.

What is really interesting is sitting and watching interviews take place. In one case there were three people applying for the position or positions and they were all sitting together filling out the applications. As each of them finished filling out the application the hiring person starting asking them the interview questions. This can also be a distraction for the rest of the people filling out the applications.

If you are the person conducting the interviews you should insure that you are on time because that also doesn’t look good for the candidates. As the hiring person you have just shown the potential staff that you don’t respect their time. I know that in one case I actually heard one of the potential candidates phone the hiring person to see what had happened and if they were still going to show up for conducting the interview. This shows that they were actually late and hadn’t even tried to contact the potential candidates to let them know they were running late.

If you are going to conduct interviews make sure that you are not taking up the space from paying customers especially if no one has purchased anything from the store.