How to make interviewee comfortable interviewing in lounge chairs

Question

In the next couple of months, I am planning to have to conduct several interviews with candidates for full-time and intern/co-op positions. I work at a very large company that is well known in the industry.

The problem is that sometimes we don't have enough conference rooms in the facility, so we wind up conducting interviews in "hangout" rooms around the campus. These rooms don't necessarily have desks in them, and generally feature lounge chairs or couches. While this is fine for coworkers who know each other or when the door to the room is open, this often feels like a hotel room interview I had years ago when the door is closed and relative strangers are interacting (see the AEA and AHA ending hotel room interviews for context).

As a mid-20s white male, I think I would be absolutely fine sitting in a lounge chair or sofa while being interviewed, but I could very easily see how others would be far less comfortable (I work in "industry" so most management are men as well, this could be very weird where two or three men 25-50 are interviewing a single college-age person, gender identity/assigned sex regardless).

I could see keeping the door to these rooms open being a possible mitigating factor, but I don't think that goes far enough, and interviews are generally preferred to be private. Additionally there are relatively few women or non-cis-presenting or identifying males that can be present for these interviews.I have thought of asking people who may not have any direct contact with a potential hire to be in the room, but this takes away from work that could be done otherwise, and would require a justification to management.

I have thought of bringing these interview practices up to management as potential reasons that our recruitment rate is so low, but my sense is that our facilities staff is stretched too thin as it is, and I don't know that my observations would be acted on.

TL;DR: how can I make potential new hires feel more comfortable during interviews in an extremely relaxed/comfort-oriented and potentially private environment?

Answer 1

I would ensure that a meeting room is available for these interviews. Perhaps bump people out of meeting rooms as they could rearrange/or use the lounge.

I would do this also because an interviewee is also deciding if they want to work for you. It looks very unprofessional to have a meeting in essentially a break room.

Answer 2

facilities staff is stretched too thin

Does your company not have a room booking solution? If so, just print out a piece of paper with text "Room blocked from time X to Y on date Z for interviews". And paste it outside a decent meeting room in advance. When you need the room, just ask the people to vacate.

I work at a very large company that is well known in the industry.

Flag it to the HR that by not providing proper meeting rooms for the interview, you are giving a bad candidate experience.

Interviews are 2 way street, and its not just you judging the candidate, but also the candidate assessing whether this is a workplace they would like to work at.

If I was one of the candidates interviewing at a larger employer, and if I got a small overcrowded room, I would definitely pass. Because what large corp/ HR can not find a room when the interviews are scheduled at least days, if not weeks in advance?

Answer 3

There is a difference between intimate and casual. It sounds like what you have are too many casual spaces.

My current employer has combinations of "huddle" and "team" rooms. I would never conduct an interview in a "huddle" room, which is often some chairs and maybe a table, and none of the furniture is "office furniture". The "team" rooms are small conference rooms, typically seating 4 to 8 people, but with normal "office furniture". Those spaces aren't particularly intimate because intimate is more than "doesn't seat a lot of people". Intimate spaces tend to have nothing which creates space between the interviewer and interviewee, and are more for 1-on-1 meetings between people, or where a small number of people might be using a speakerphone.

All that said, and the real reason I'm answering, is your question sounds as though you have little or no experience conducting interviews or setting up spaces to conduct interviews. The best way to ruin an interview is to not know how to conduct an interview. I've interviewed at "hipster" companies and their HR staff had the good sense to schedule the interviews in proper meeting rooms with tables for me to put my notepad or iPad so I could take notes, and the interviewer could have my resume and other materials handy. None of the interviews were conducted anywhere near a Foosball or ping-pong table, a smoothie bar, espresso machine, or anything else which created an overly casual atmosphere.

Answer 4

I work at a very large company that is well known in the industry.

The problem is that sometimes we don't have enough conference rooms in the facility

These two statements don't play well together. It sounds like there's a bigger problem to solve here: either your company does not have sufficient facilities for its needs, or your co-workers are misusing conference rooms, for example as working spaces.

For your current situation, the best thing is if you can get some general consensus that interviews are a high-priority use of space, and should bump other meetings. If this is not possible or if you have trouble getting it implemented consistently, I would suggest you ask to be allocated funds to hire a suitable room, for example at a co-working facility.

There is a useful lesson in managing up here. It is quite plausible that if presented with the three options, "have a meeting in a hangout space", "give interviews priority for conference rooms", or "hold interviews offsite" they will choose option 2 and take steps. If option 3 is not part of the package, they will choose option 2 and not take the necessary steps. This is why I recommend including option 3 - not because I think it's a good option, but because including it will force action.

Answer 5

I think you’re overthinking this.

Personally I would much prefer to hold an interview in a relaxed informal space with sofas. This would help break through the “Job Interview” discomfort, and give you a far better idea of who you’re meeting than sitting stiffly around a table in a meeting room and asking questions like “What is your greatest weakness”.

Answer 6

This could also discourage candidates with "invisible disabilities" -- nothing that would interfere with the job if they can work in a normal chair, but a bad knee could be a sports problem, and many people have problems with their back, knees, and hips as they age.

I am picturing these "lounge chairs" as being lower to the ground and softer than normal office chairs. These can be awkward for people with the above issues to sit in and get out of gracefully. Depending on how low they are, corporate skirts may sit awkwardly on their legs, and the candidate may feel uncomfortably exposed.

Please have meetings in a meeting room.

Answer 7

If you are concerned about such things, how about having a couple folding chairs and a (maybe also folding) table that you can take into any room for the interview time? Upright postures and a table between you (also for papers/ coffee if any needed during interview) would add some sense of a work environment vs leisure.

Answer 8

A relatively small expenditure should allow and adequate level of venue presentation.

Get HR to buy a presentable desk and chairs that can be placed in required rooms when needed. The table or desk could be collapsible without appearing so and without looking cheap and shoddy. Chairs could be suitable standard chairs.

Answer 9

This really depends a bit on:

1. the concrete layout and what you understand about an intimate room
2. the type of interview you want to conduct
3. the company culture

1) How intimate is it, really?

If people need to share a couch with the interviewer, that will feel way too intimate for many people and might make them close up or feel insecure. It might indeed also come over as inappropriate or even insensitive to sexual harassment problems (i.e. candidates might think you chose that room particularly for their interview to get close to that good looking guy/girl). On the other hand, if you can sit in two lounge chairs and have a relaxed conversation, that can be totally fine for most people (you are looking for). This then isn't an issue of being physically close anymore, just one of what room style fits the interview (2)) and represents the general culture of the company.

2) Does it match the interview style

If you want to ask technical questions that might require the candidate to use a whiteboard or write something down, a conference room with a table and/or whiteboard has obvious advantages. If you try to conduct such an interview in a cosy chill room, that might limit the candidates options to present themselves. And they will likely get the impression that you are either lacking proper rooms (are underfinanced) or have no clue how to hold interviews. If however, your interview style is mainly an open discussion about the candidates past, desires, abilities, interests and preferences etc on a not-so technical level, this can fit well.

3) Company Culture

Using a casual room for interviews will give the impression of a generally quite relaxed atmosphere. This will likely attract people who like to work in such a relaxed environment and dissuade candidates with a more "serious business" attitude. Both types can be professional at what they do, this is more a question about the culture they live and prefer. Depending on the industry you are in, such a casual style might match more or less candidates from the overall pool.

Suggestion on how to go ahead

If you are short on rooms and your casual rooms are just casual not intimate (no couch sharing, just relaxed style) consider to split your interviews in two parts: Do the more technical part in a conference room. Give a tour through the building and do the more superficial part regarding the candidates CV, what he expects from the company etc in one of your casual rooms. That way, he sees both, knows your company has a bit of both cultures, can properly present and you don't overuse your limited conference room resources. The order and concrete split up is obviously up to you and depends on your interview style. However, it is helpful if the first meeting is in a non-casual or at least open setting, such that the candidate can get used to the interviewers at least to a certain degree.

If you only have casual rooms where one practically needs to sit on the lap of each other (or where always empty pizza boxes lie around in the open), really try to insist on getting a conference room. Schedule interviews accordingly and, if need be, tell your manager that the shortage of conference rooms is a problem to your hiring process.

Answer 10

As a makeshift measure (that is to say, not ideal and temporary) you can increase the level of formality by adding ritual to the interviews:

• ensure the room is clean and cleared in advance, then put a notice on the door ("claimed for X" or similar)
• that also means no radio playing
• if the room is even a little dark go to IKEA and buy standing and/or desk lamps, no quicker way to signal "bad work environment" than by receiving potential hires in a dark, damp, dusty cave
• printed materials with technical job information ("this is how we tell ourselves we work", e.g. team structure, coding standards, HR policy) to be touched upon when references are needed and/or a "work sample" ("this is how we actually work") so the new hire gets a clear picture of the company in words, aided by the interviewer ("painting by the numbers")
• (such a bundle of information is a good thing to have around and to give to new hires anyway, a "new employee starter kit")
• means to take notes/sketch, at least two pencils or pens and notepad
• begin with greetings "what do you want to drink", have a container of coffee prepared and if you have to leave the room, direct the applicant to the printed material

The model being roughly, "meeting a professional acquaintance at a coffee shop that's quieter than Starbucks (and that hopefully has better coffee)".

Please don't feed moldy, over-heated coffee to any employee, if people drink it every day the quality should be higher, not lower. A local coffee roaster will always provide you with the best coffee, have them come over to adjust the coffee (roast choice and granularity) to the machine you have available, it's well worth it.

Answer 11

I mostly agree with @Ed Heal, you should absolutely avoid doing interviews in break rooms. Being interviewed in a break room would give me the impression of a workplace that is both seriously overcrowded and assigning a very low priority to interviews - both are red flags, at least for me.

I once worked for a company that had pretty much the same problem, it was solved by outfitting the rooms of the responsible HR-persons for interviews. It's not that expensive to put some meeting chairs and table in a reasonably sized office and it looks much more professional then a casual break room.