[Jugurtha]

I look at it from the other perspective (interviewer). We always have an "adjustment" period for the candidate to settle in. We smile with them, ask them how they're doing, bring them water, ask them if they have to freshen up [restroom, go wash]. Let them cool down a bit if it was hot, or get warm if it was cold outside. We'll ask them if they'd like a drink [coffee, coco] and may prepare one for them. They notice the view (directly facing the mediterranean) and we invite them to the balcony: it's soothing.

We'll ask them about logistics, if they need to be somewhere else, if they mention they came by car we'll confirm they're not parked somewhere where it will be towed. We try and put all conditions so the candidate feels free of other things. In some occasions, they came when we were having a birthday party and they were welcomed.

We try and bring the conversation towards something the candidate is comfortable with, a project they've done or a topic they've worked on. Something that anchors them. We'll ask questions on how they solved things, etc. Then we ease into other problems.

Our sessions feel like we're colleagues trying to tackle a problem together. A few minutes in, they're not stressed and they can actually do some thinking on the issue at hand and do their best.

That's our way to deal with it so we don't rely on the candidate's maturity or confidence levels for the interview to go well. We do that upstream.

[eecks]

Do you own the company or is your job recruitment? I can't see many engineers that are pulled into interviews making that much effort. Good job, sounds like a good experience.

[Jugurtha]

>Do you own the company or is your job recruitment?

My job is to make the company succeed.

>I can't see many engineers that are pulled into interviews making that much effort.

Most people do what other people do, whether that is a formal process or an ad-hoc one. It isn't that much effort in my opinion. If the engineers see someone doing that or, to ensure it works, are asked to think about how to improve this and invited to do that with candidates, that will be the way it's done.

This is what we do for each other as colleagues, and it would take more effort to be less hospitable than it would take just to do what we usually do.

We do the same for guests of the company, whether they be partners who visit us, people who came to install our telephone lines, etc. Candidates are also our guests.