[grahamplace]

I'm not sure the exact rules here (and you might not be in the US), but you might want to avoid asking candidates "about where they are from"

> Any questions that reveal your age, race, national origin, gender, religion, marital status and sexual orientation are off-limits.

> "State and federal laws make discrimination based on certain protected categories, such as national origin, citizenship, age, marital status, disabilities, arrest and conviction record, military discharge status, race, gender, or pregnancy status, illegal.

> Any question that asks a candidate to reveal information about such topics without the question having a job related basis will violate the various state and federal discrimination laws," Lori Adelson, a labor and employment attorney and partner with law firm Arnstein & Lehr, tells Business Insider.

https://www.businessinsider.com/11-illegal-interview-questio...

[happyopossum]

Err, not relevant here. GP specifically said the interviewee “was from a town somewhat close to a city I used to live in”, so this is information that was already disclosed.

If you’re interviewing for a US position, making small talk about where the interviewee lives is absolutely not out of bounds.