Virtual articling interviews - Where do people usually take them?

[ndjdjdjdj]

I've booked a couple of interviews for the articling recruit in Toronto, but some of them are in person and some of them are virtual. If it's the case where I'm in Toronto and have no clear place to take the interview in, where do people usually go? I just want to avoid going to a random coffee shop or something where it may be loud to have a zoom interview. I know that sometimes I can ask the firm if they can reserve a room at their office, but for some of the ones I've scheduled, it may not be possible (location wise they're pretty far apart). 

If one of the firms is in a bigger office building is there any way to see if there is an empty and quiet place that I can have the interview in? 

[CleanHands]

If you're in Toronto and don't have a quiet space there for a virtual interview, I would just book an hourly/daily office space rental. Where are you staying where you're there? Doing it from a residence or hotel room would be fine as well.

I'm open to correction, but I've never heard of anyone asking a firm to use space in their office for a virtual interview, and my gut tells me that that request would be perceived as weird. For whatever reason, they have chosen to interview people virtually instead of in person. You're essentially saying "well, I want to go there in person anyways (despite this being something you made a deliberate choice not to do) and I want you to arrange a room for me (to awkwardly be on a computer speaking to some people on a computer in a different room in the same building)."

[ndjdjdjdj]

That's helpful, thank you so much! I live in the GTA so I was planning on commuting to Toronto for the days I have in person interviews. I will definitely look into hotels or maybe even apartments, usually don't they have office spaces to use?

My career office told me that I could ask the firm to provide a room to take the interview in. I hope that's not too weird or out there for firms. I would have thought that some people may still be working from home or something but then again, maybe they are in the same office building haha. 

How much time would you say is necessary for buffer time in between virtual interviews? And is telling interviewers that you have another place to be received extremely poorly? Are employers a little more understanding if you're like 1-2 mins late or is it unacceptable? Usually I would try to be at least 5 mins early, but I've scheduled some virtual interviews on the second day back to back. 

[sarcasticlemon]

So I live in the GTA and wasn’t sure how it would work out with virtual and in person interviews back to back. Luckily I have enough time to do the commute back to my home in Mississauga.
 

But at the time I was thinking of renting a study pod at the Toronto Reference library. The plus to that is free and somewhat local to where your other interviews may be. 
 

best of luck!

[LMP]

On 7/22/2023 at 9:36 PM, ndjdjdjdj said:

That's helpful, thank you so much! I live in the GTA so I was planning on commuting to Toronto for the days I have in person interviews. I will definitely look into hotels or maybe even apartments, usually don't they have office spaces to use?

My career office told me that I could ask the firm to provide a room to take the interview in. I hope that's not too weird or out there for firms. I would have thought that some people may still be working from home or something but then again, maybe they are in the same office building haha. 

How much time would you say is necessary for buffer time in between virtual interviews? And is telling interviewers that you have another place to be received extremely poorly? Are employers a little more understanding if you're like 1-2 mins late or is it unacceptable? Usually I would try to be at least 5 mins early, but I've scheduled some virtual interviews on the second day back to back. 

Totally normal to tell them that you need to leave promptly or that you have other interviews. 

But I wouldn't ask to use a room for another interview. I can't speak for every firm, but I know some candidates who were cut from contention for less. 

Renting a space is the way to go, personally when I was doing the recruit I got a hotel and it worked well. Minimizing stress is a big part of it.

[Psychometronic]

It's weird to me that firms are still doing virtual articling interviews. I don't think they consider how logistically inconvenient it is to have a mix of virtual and in-person interviews during the recruit. I'd also suggest renting a hotel room in the downtown area. Asking any firm to borrow their space is very weird.