aibu- to expected to be offered a drink at an interview?

[scrummummy]

am I? I'm not talking about anything alcoholic or a fancy coffee but a glass of water or plain coffee?
I'm currently looking for a new job and have had about 8 interviews in the last 3 weeks. only 1 place offered me anything to drink. I always thought this was just common courtesy. so Aibu? obviously I need to worry more about not getting a job but still

I've just been chatting about this with my colleagues flowery, and we said the exact same thing. Interviews here would last about an hour. You'd offer a supplier coming in for a meeting a drink if you were talking for that amount of time.

YANBU to expect water - it's common courtesy and if you are talking a lot you can need a drink (and as some have mentioned it doesn't look great to swig from a bottle when you are there). I think it reflects badly on the company if they don't offer you anything - we always do when interviewing.

I was always taught to refuse if offered a drink at an interview. I have no idea why.

But yy to water present in formal presentation.
I once gave a talk at a conference and there was no water.
I had to break off and ask a woman in the audience with a bottle if I could have some.

I've run loads of interviews for a large blue chip and we always, always supply water as a minimum. If someone's struggling to come up with an answer, or has lost their train of thought, it's a great crutch. A friendly 'have a sip of water/would you like some water' gives the interviewee time to gather their thoughts IMO - but without having to lose face.

YANBU

No, I wouldn't. There's just something inherently cosy about having a cuppa; you're not there to while away a spare hour having a gossip, you're trying to present yourself as being the best candidate for the job.
Why treat it like anything else?

YANBU - I've always been offered water at interviews; apart from anything else don't most people get dry mouths when they're nervous?!

Never mind being offered a drink - I once had an interview for a position as Dioscean Architect which took up the whole day, including lunch and morning coffee / afternoon tea. As well as formal interviews with various members of the clergy and management there was a walk round the cathedral where I had to cmment on the architecture and condition of the fabric!

There were 8 of us being interviewed - for the single job - and during the lunch and other breaks we were all thrown together, mingling with the dean and archbishop and members of the disocean board and cathedral staff.

This turned out to be a very important part of the assessment - to establish how we handled cutlery, didn't talk with out mouths full and could offer interesting and intelligent conversation I suppose!

I was lucky in that a friend had forewarned me that the real pitfalls would be in the social sessions where I would relax and be off my guard, not necessarily in the interviews or walk round.

So maybe being offered a drink is actually a secret test of good manners? :)

YANBU. I've never not been offered a drink at an interview, nor done one without offering a drink. When folks get nervous their throats often dry up, so water is pretty much essential.

I always accept a drink at interview (and so do the vast majority of my interviewees) and have been offered many professional jobs in my time.

The last interview I had (which admittedly was 23 years ago) I was offered tea and biscuits. I politely refused, not wanting to spray crumbs, and the (lovely) guy interviewing came on all Mrs Doyle - "ah, go ON, have a biscuit, they're jam rings, look!'

I had one. I got the job :)

I've had interviews where we've been put in a room in between checking in and doing the interview and there's been tea and coffee to help ourselves to, but never had a drink during the actual interview. Most of the job interviews I've had have involved moving from panel to panel though.
Seeing as in my last interview I had to organise myself and my handbag and my portfolio out of one room and into another whilst wearing smart but precarious shoes, whilst saying a polite goodbye to one panel then a polite hello with handshakes to the next, at all times suffering the sheer terror that this was the only chance I had to do the only job I want to do, a cup of coffee added to the mix would have probably been disastrous!

Yabvu it's an interview not a coffee morning!

We always have a glass of water on the table and indicate to the candidate that it is fresh water for their use.

We always have a glass of water on the table and indicate to the candidate that it is fresh water for their use.

We always have a glass of water on the table and indicate to the candidate that it is fresh water for their use.

We always have a glass of water on the table and indicate to the candidate that it is fresh water for their use.

Yanbu. I always have water available for people I'm interviewing. It's just manners

We always have a jug of water and glasses on the table and I've always been offered water in an interview.

YABU. It's nice to be offered, but I certainly wouldn't expect it from a place.

At my last interview I was so nervous I simply could not speak. They got me water and I always made sure that water was available once I got the job. For all day I used to set candidates up in a room with tea/coffee/water and biccies. I would never accept a cuppa in an interview though - too rattly and possibly nowhere to put it afterwards

Where I work we always make sure we have cups and a jug of water and offer this at the start. We find it helps with the settling in, and is also just common courtesy. YANBU.

Without being snippy, the idea that drinking a cup of coffee whilst you talk to people is 'unprofessional' comes (IMO) from people who think professionalism consists in wearing a suit and looking important.

If you are an intelligent person with a good head on, that comes across. Whether or not you happen to consume a cup of tea during the morning of your interview will really not affect that.

Also, in quite a lot of places, 'fit with the team' is an important part of the interview. Frankly, where I work, if someone was so up themselves that they wouldn't have a cup of tea during the breaks, that would be a bit of a red flag. We might spend 20 years having day-long meetings and away days with this person.

And surely interviews are quite long, mostly? At least, I am an academic and interviews are minimum 6ish hours long, IME, and sometimes over 2 days. I have been flown to a foreign country for 3 days for an interview once; also another time, had to go out for dinner with the panel the night before the interview. Having lunch as a group is quite normal, also tea and coffee--as the interview will normally consist of multiple presentations/ interviews/ etc. It would be inhuman not to offer refreshments during that!

I would expect there to be a glass of water or jug/glasses of water .

When we do informal interviews where I work (basically a chat about what we're looking for to give the potential applicants an idea of whether its what they are looking for etc and if they want to proceed with application) we always offer tea, coffee or water but not all accept.

For the formal interview involving my manager and HR manager they always have a jug of water and glasses on the table (and tissues but I've not known anyone cry yet )