The Job Interview Over Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner

By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

When someone I am representing for a job with a client emailed to tell me he was scheduled for a dinner interview with three people on Monday, I was reminded that how to do a meal interview is a subject I have not addressed in my articles and books yet.

Lunch or dinner interviews are actually very easy. It is an interview. It is an opportunity to assess your knowledge and manner, just as they would in an “in the office” interview. The problem is that most job hunters succumb to the more casual setting to lower their guard and be sufficiently revealing as to make it easy for an employer to disqualify them from consideration.

There are obvious ways that this occurs — the person who drinks too much at the interview and acts like a fool. There is a more subtle way of ordering the

wrong dish that leaves food on their face and makes it hard for them to be taken seriously (never order a dish with lots of barbecue sauce).

Here are a few points to remember when having a meal interview: