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Interviews and Coffee Chats

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Scheduled interviews and coffee chats are an excellent follow-ups to an information session or a career fair. Both interviews and coffee chats provide students opportunities to connect one-on-one with an employer.

  • Interviews are the more formal option for employers to select candidates and increase the likelihood of receiving applicants.
  • Coffee chats are less formal conversations for employers to network and share information about their organizations, industry insights, recruiting processes or any other professional topics.
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Guidelines for Interviews and Coffee Chats

  • Interviews and coffee chats are held Monday through Friday during the academic year in the Stanford Career Education building. We recommend you to schedule your interviews and coffee chats between 10:00am to 3:00pm in order to better accommodate students’ schedules. There are eight on-campus interview rooms.
  • Submit your reservation request through the Handshake Interview module.
  • There is no cost to reserve an interview room. Rooms are reserved on a first-come, first-served basis.
  • Please attach a job posting to your requests. Students can only see your schedule after applying for your positions.
  • Please request your interviews and coffee chats at least 2 weeks prior to your desired date, which gives CareerEd’s team enough time to promote the event.
  • Employers are responsible for scheduling interviews, contacting students and providing Zoom links for virtual events.

Mandatory Interview Registration Instructions

Step 1. Complete these step-by-step instructions to create interview schedules on Handshake.

Step 2. Email Cleopatra Dorsey, cdorsey5@stanford.edu, with the timeline of your interview and if it will be conducted on-campus or virtually. 

  • Please feel free to copy and paste the example below in your email and make any necessary changes. This timeline example is for an interview scheduled on October 25th, 2022.

APPLY START 
When students can begin applying; signup period cannot overlap apply period
Tuesday, September 13th, 2022, 12:00 am

APPLY END
When applications close; only now can you select which applicants you would like to attend your interview
Monday, October 17th, 2022, 11:55 pm

PRIMARY SIGNUP START
Your applicants can begin choosing interview slots; signup period cannot overlap apply period
Wednesday, October 19th, 2022, 5:00 pm

ALTERNATE SIGNUP START
When alternate applicants can begin choosing interview slots
Saturday, October 22nd, 2022, 8:00 am

SIGNUP END 
Interview slots close; your applicant packets will now be created
Sunday, October 23rd, 2022, 11:55 pm

INTERVIEW DATE
October 25th, 2022

Mandatory Coffee Chat Registration Instructions

Step 1. After completing steps one through seven of creating a schedule on Handshake, you’ll reach the Jobs tab.

Step 2. On the Jobs tab, select the blue “Create New Job” option. (Do not choose “copy job details” or “use existing job”.)

Create a job view in Handshake

Step 3. In the pop-up, select the following options for the Basic tab:

  1. Apply in Handshake
  2. Job Title (Copy and Paste Below)
    • Coffee Chat - [On-campus/Virtual] - [Your Company Name] - [Date of Coffee Chat]
  3. Experiential Learning
  4. Full-Time
  5. Permanent
  6. Work Study - No
  7. Are you open to speaking with interested candidates?
    • Select either Yes or No to be contacted by students
Create a job view in Handshake

Step 4. Complete the Details tab of the coffee chat job.

  1. Description:
    • Please apply for this posting in order to view and sign up for a coffee chat time slot to have a one-on-one conversation with a recruiter.
  2. How many students to you expect to hire - 1 
  3. Paid or Unpaid
  4. Job Location:
    • Stanford, California, United States
  5. Does this position require U.S. work authorization? - No
  6. No Required Documents Preferred (If needed, please see next step)
Create a job view in Handshake

Step 5. Optional Page: No need to select anything from this page, unless you have a targeted student group.

If your coffee chat requires selected documents, please contact cdorsey5@stanford.edu. Once completed, then click “Save.”

Create a job view in Handshake

Step 6. You will receive a confirmation email after we review your request with any industry conflicts, room availability, and required information considered.

Interview and Coffee Chat Cancellations

It is the employer's responsibility to honor scheduled interview or coffee chat times once students have been selected. If an emergency forces a last-minute cancellation or a need for rescheduling, it is the employer's responsibility to contact the affected students and cc/bcc recruiting@stanford.edu. To cancel your on-campus interviews or coffee chats, please contact Cleopatra Dorsey at cdorsey5@stanford.edu.

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 Architectural details of the sandstone arcades in the Main Quadrangle of Stanford University. Credit Linda A. Cicero / Stanford University News Service