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Just had an interview with two managers. They were both very casual with me (both were females). I've had a casual interview before and I got the job at the bank. We would go on tangents discussing random things. I was surprised at how informal the interview felt. Are casual interviews okay?
In my experience, I've never found them to be "okay". You only have 30-60 minutes to discuss your qualifications and experience so it can't be good if the interviewers are "discussing random things".
That's what I was thinking. And when I say random, they were still somewhat related. We would just go off on tangents about it. My qualifications and credentials still were discussed the most. Just the side stories I got after mentioning a former place of employment was different.
If the interviewers were already satisfied about your credentials, they may have wanted to know how well your personality would fit in with the rest of the folks at work. Having someone fit in and get along with everyone else is just as important -almost more important - than their competence. You can train competence, attitude is much harder to change. A casual interview would be a better way to find out someone's personality than a more formal one, don't you think?
I once went on a very casual interview and got offered the job. They said they liked my qualifications and just wanted to casually discuss a few things things.
I sat in on many interviews as the technical questions guy and all of the interviews that were casual went very well. The applicants got along with all of us pretty easy and the questions and answers flowed instead of just a question and answer session.
Feel a bit better now. Really want this job. Pays a bit better than my current job and with better benefits. At least I know a little about my potential future managers. Part of it was myself too because I would ask questions when we would go off on tangents, and like females do, they just went on forever lol.
To me, the interviews that include both abilities and casual sidebars, are the best. They not only allow a hiring manager to see what the candidate can do, but determine whether or not they will be a good fit on the team.
Good luck - I hope you can report good news to us soon!
I prefer casual interviews from both sides of the table. People tend to be more relaxed, and tend to "talk" more. Make it too formal, they tend to be guarded and try harder to only tell you what they think you want to hear.
Does this mean you have the job? No. But it also doesn't mean you lost it. It's more of a company culture thing IMO.
It depends. As someone stated if they already have a good sense of qualifications through a prior phone interview or referal then a casual interview could mean the interview is a formality and you'll be offered the job. On the other hand if this was you first contact with the company and you're not referred in the it may mean that they're shooting the breeze and have already decided on hiring someone else or discriminated against you for one reason or another when you showed up and aren't taking the interview seriously
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