Mr. brown has an interview coming up, and the employer has asked to meet at a Starbucks.
I know this is a new way of interviewing, and it’s being done more and more. The employer doesn’t look like they have a Silicon Valley office yet, though they’re a big deal in Houston. This might be the reason for the Starbucks setup, I don’t know.
My husband is not afraid of new ways of doing things, nor of technology, but he is 62 and this will be a first for him. He’s a sociable and gregarious kind of person and he likes restaurants and bars and chatting.
Do any of you edgy young social network-y kind of dopers have any pointers you can pass along for this sort of situation?
If the potential employer suggested meeting at Starbucks, then I suggest saying, “Yes, sir/ma’am, that sounds fine. Which one and at what time?” In other words, if Potential Employer brought it up then it’s probably his comfort zone.
If your husband doesn’t like coffee, they have decent tea options plus hot chocolate for that “kid at heart” vibe.
Otherwise, it’s fairly similar to an interview in a conference room: you each shake hands and introduce yourselves, plunk your butt in a chair across from each other, make good eye contact, and conduct the interview.
Tell him to go early and scope out the place. Find a spot that he’ll be most comfortable in and take it. Wait for it if necessary. Two big arm chairs with a table will more suitable than a tiny cafe table with high chairs.
Just get a regular coffee. Don’t get frappe/latte/mocha/frufru/whatever. It will be easier to drink and won’t look odd to the employer.
Bring a pad of paper for writing/diagraming. There won’t be any whiteboards.
Thank you for all of your suggestions. I passed them along and I believe he followed them.
He got the job. The offer came through the next morning, and he starts tomorrow morning. It’s through a engineering contractor, and he’ll be at one of the major big-name tech giants here in Silicon Valley. Thank goodness - it has been six months since they eliminated his direct position at a hospital and I was getting worried.
Heh. The interviewer from the Texas employer was probably staying at a hotel in downtown San Jose, and picked the nearest Starbucks for the interview. Unbeknownst to him this one was on one of the only bad blocks in the entire city, and they were solicited by the local panhandling contingent while there. I had warned my husband about it ahead of time so he was able to demonstrate his unruffled-ness in the face of this.
Glad he got the job, so, I’ll just pipe in with an observation and my own, cheap anecdote.
I recently interviewed in a similar situation, and the meeting was at a Starbucks. The person who interviewed me only chose the place because the company was moving into the city and wanting to get off to a fast start, so, they didn’t yet have a local HR/Admin office. (I went online, and found out that the staff/my contact/company was legitimate.
At any rate, the fact that it was at Starbucks was only incidental. She didn’t care if I drank a drink or went into dehydration; she was my host, and, since we were in a Starbucks, good manners dictated that she make an offer. It was only a place to talk business, and she didn’t want the meeting to be in the front seat of her car in front of the local 7-11. So, it was a Starbucks.
She just asked me “Can I get you anything to drink?” I said, “No,thanks” and we got on with the interview.
I got a job offer. So, whole point being, the fact that it was at a Starbucks was irrelevant; when/if the company expands in the area, the next interview with the next subject will occur in an office.
IMHO.
I hope she ordered something. Starbucks is not a public conference room, and it is only fair to give them business if you are taking up seats. I was in an organization which sometimes had board meetings (6 - 7 people) in a coffee shop, and it was understood that we all buy something. That’s on her, though, not you.
My thought about anyone having a future interview: Don’t finish the coffee or other drink- make a goal of drinking 1/2 of it. I had an old CEO say, “if you are out to dinner with a client and you eat all of your food, you aren’t talking enough.” Additionally, finishing your drink tends to signal the end of the event, even if only subconciously, and you lose the ability to pause for a moment by taking a sip (an empty cup sound is quite recognizable).
Yeah. Keep looking. IMHO, Rex Goliath’s Onion link is surprisingly accurate. There is just something utterly cheap and fly-by-night about conducting an interview at Starbucks. Even if they don’t have a local office, they can’t take you out for a working lunch?
I wouldn’t overthink it too much. I doubt the interviewer cares what you order.
Good news about him getting the job, but I seriously wonder what it is about Starbucks that makes it seem even vaguely appropriate to do this sort of thing. Starbucks is on the same exact level as a McDonald’s or whatever but you never hear about people going there to do business interviews. I honestly don’t think I’d ever agree to an interview at a Starbucks.
It’s a step above McDonalds and two steps above the front seat of a car in front of the local 7-11.
If you aren’t interviewing for a nanny position and the interviewer doesn’t want 50 candidates in their home, there is no legitimate job interview that should be conducted in a Starbucks.
Part of any selecting a job is making sure the company is a “going concern”. IOW, that it has enough cash flow that it will continue to be in business for the foreseeable future. A company that holds interviews in a Starbucks does not give me that image.
If I had to conduct one or more interviews in a city in which my company did not have an office, I would be inclined to use a meeting room at the hotel in which I was staying rather than a coffee shop. But I am 59 years old and probably a bit more stodgy than younger people in the tech industry. In the job-seeker’s position, I would do the usual research on the hiring firm and the hiring firm’s client, but the location of the interview would not be an issue.
Your researching strategy is just what we followed. The hiring firm is large and well-regarded, but they just don’t have a presence yet here in Silicon Valley. Their main area of staff placement is in the larger metropolitan areas of Texas.
The hiring firm’s client is a huge and well-recognized name, and also a well-regarded employer.
Yes, a better interviewing location would have been great, but my husband at age 62 and with no college degree is not in a position to pick and choose. He has applied for hundreds of positions in the last six months, all of which he is well qualified for, with barely a nibble. So meeting at a Starbucks was not a sticking point.
