The company I've been talking to informed me that our next interview will be at a nearby bar where we can all sit back and relax. The manager also mentioned that this time he and his group will have some specific questions. In the first interview I heard more than I said. Are there good and wrong things to ask for? Can you say what to do and what not to do for a “relaxed” interview at a bar? There is some very intelligent conventional wisdom about interviewing over a meal or drink.
All of this assumes that such a meeting is a clever ruse in which the employer monitors your manners, your eating habits and tries to get you drunk so that they can find out what you really are like. Don't try to figure out how you should behave. Behave as you would in any business environment. A long time ago, someone taught me to take others at face value and to always assume the best. If it turns out that someone is playing with you, that should be enough to tell you what kind of people they are and that you probably don't want anything to do with that person.
As long as you are honest and sincere in your words and actions, the responsibility to act the same way lies with the other person. I have found that this personal policy works very well. If someone “cheats” on me after giving them the benefit of the doubt, I will never deal with that person again. Life is too short to deal with idiots. Don't get caught up in the meaning of the interview location.
Do what you would normally do in a job interview and deal with the bar as you normally would. If you want to have a beer at a bar, order a beer if you want. If you don't feel comfortable in bars, say so and ask for a change of venue. If you meet a group of interviewers at a bar where you feel unsafe, use your judgment and trust your instincts. Order what you want to eat, but don't spend too much money—no more than you would if you were on a date.
Use common sense and be polite. If the boss asks for wine but you don't drink wine, don't ask for wine. If you want carbonated water, ask for carbonated water. Trying to unravel this so that you can “do what they expect” will sink you even if you have a firm suspicion that the location is a test. The primary purpose of an informal meeting is to be informal.
If they have another (misleading) agenda, then that's their problem. Because if you accept a deceptive agenda, you'll have to live with a deceptive agenda and shrewd people after accepting the job. Smart interview tips often come from self-proclaimed experts trying to be smart. For example: “Don't ask for anything exotic or they'll think you're strange.
Respect yourself and respect the employer. Talk about any topic they want to discuss, as long as you're comfortable with it. Hopefully they want to talk about your business and how you can make it more successful. Provide any information that you think will help them see how you will do the job in a profitable way for the company and how you will adapt to their social environment.
If you and them don't fit together, now's the time to find out. If the meeting gets weird, order takeout. What unusual places for interviews have you been to? Do you think a bar is a legitimate place for a job interview? What kind of surprises have you found yourself in unusual places for interviews? These unusual interview locations seem incredibly annoying to me. It looks like a game to me. I would have doubts about an organization that does this.
At the end of the day, you should be yourself, never pretending to be something that doesn't please a potential employer or anyone else. One thing you shouldn't do when you have an interview in a public place is to talk about sensitive information. This includes information about you or related to work. As for food, avoid anything that's too messy. Eating lightly will help keep your head clear.
If you don't drink, be very clear and firm about it. If you get stuck about it, consider ending the interview early. It's unlikely to happen, but it might happen. As in the debate about wage confidentiality, you can always mention that you're concerned about talking about sensitive information in a public place. Although I suppose you could make such a canteen if you have one.
You can't make this up about Shinola. If you're being interviewed at a bar, order carbonated water with lime, it's my favorite drink. It has the sophistication of a non-alcoholic cocktail. You have to keep your head clear anyway.
The Stack Exchange network is comprised of 183 question and answer communities, including Stack Overflow, the largest and most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge and develop their careers. Connect and share knowledge in a single, structured, easy-to-search location. A long interview included lunch at a restaurant with one of the managers who had been interviewing me. The company I was interviewing with offers management consulting and other services to its clients.
Something I didn't realize at the time is that the company is known for entertaining, even drinking, its customers. When ordering lunch, the interviewer said that he would have a glass of wine with the meal and said that I could have it or a beer if I wanted to. Although I am not a teetotee and would have liked to have a drink, I was afraid that the alcohol intake during the interview could be misinterpreted, so I refused and asked for a soda. If your interviewer ordered an alcoholic beverage, it's a pretty clear sign that it's acceptable at this company to enjoy an alcoholic beverage during lunch.
In this case, he even told you. It could be, but it's fucking unlikely. I've heard of rituals of hiring strangers and other absurd tests, so it can't be ruled out, but I can say that no well-managed company will or allow such a practice. It's always OK to refuse an offer of alcohol, in any context.
Most interviewers are used to candidates refusing alcohol, usually because they don't want to reduce their concentration. Only the rudest and most uneducated people will despise you for having decided not to drink alcohol. There are some obvious exceptions to this rule, but you'll know if you're in that situation. For example, there is still a strong culture of drinking after work in Japan.
I met a brewing conglomerate that had a brewery instead of a coffee lady coming to the office every afternoon. The company maintained that practice well into the 21st century, but I wouldn't say they are a good model to follow. It was good that you said yes and that you said no. You said no, which is fine.
It wasn't right for you to say yes, or it wasn't right for you to say no. In this case, quite frankly, you were being set up to fail and that's a big reason not to want to work there. If that turned out to be the deciding factor for you not getting the job, you just dodged a bullet. While having a glass of wine or beer would probably have been fine, you chose to take a cautious approach, and that will almost certainly be fine. It's probably also the path you would have chosen. In interviews, I prefer not to eat unless circumstances make it necessary, and I prefer not to drink.
In an interview, you should have your wits as sharp as possible. You don't want to be sleepy. And, above all, you don't want to be buzzed, not even a a little bit. Everyone has a different tolerance for alcohol, and virtually every interviewer will understand and not criticize you if you choose a soda.
Even if you were reproached for it, would you really like to work for someone who would consider it negative that you decided not to drink an alcoholic beverage? What would happen if the interviewer had the habit of eating three martinis and usually returned to work enthusiastically? Is that the kind of place you'd like to fit in? I have worked for companies that expected their salespeople to get their customers drunk under certain circumstances. Even in those cases, I know effective salespeople who didn't drink themselves. They were able to kindly manage the purchase of beverages for their customers, while still consuming soft drinks or water. These types of signals are very subtle.
From what you describe, I wouldn't be surprised if some people ended up thinking that this guy isn't much fun or that he seems a little stiff. I'm not sure he would relax with customers. Any doubts could have turned the pendulum of one way or another. A job shouldn't depend on having a drink.
How about a religious person who is against their religion? What about a person who is taking medication? How about an alcoholic? Can't they work for this company? All the drunkards I know think they're great at handling alcohol. Therefore, just asking the question can mean that you end up hiring quite a few people who can't stand alcohol and can embarrass your company. For this reason, I think it's important to make sure that candidates for a position of this type are not those who get drunk with one or two drinks, they are able to remain professionals and to stop drinking before they get drunk.
