Cocktail interview

Moderate your intake. As far as you're concerned, the alcohol isn't there so you can have a good time. It's there to make sure you can behave professionally in a setting with alcohol. Ideally you don't abstain entirely, but use the old wisdom of "always stay one drink behind your boss." Given this is during the interview phase, you may want to be even more conservative than that.

Otherwise, conversation shouldn't be all about business. Cocktails with a client is more about forming relationships than doing business. Treat this the same way - that's what they want to see from you.

Thank you :)

Regardless of the setting, you're in interview mode. If you're meeting them over cocktails, they are probably trying to gauge how you will handle yourself in social situations. I would suggest treading very lightly.

If you do drink, have one and make it last. Don't get a double jack and coke and have it knocked out it 10 minutes. That is seen much more than you would realize. I chose to get a rocks glass, ask for tonic water with lime while no one was around me, and got a small straw to make the drink look like a cocktail.

Perhaps this is overkill, but I've been in corporate America for a long time, and I could tell you some stories about employees, potential employees, board members even, who lost everything due to alcohol (drugs in one instance).

Just think about your future and remember that you are still being interviewed, even if it is in a more relaxed setting. Good luck

Stick with beer or wine, and like dm100 said, keep it to a minimum (2 max). There's a stigma that comes with cocktails for some reason where people will think you're drinking more than you actually are or are more intoxicated than you are. Be professional, you're not there to drink, they chose a cocktail party to create a more relaxed environment and test your social skills / see if you are a good fit.

As for interacting, be yourself and just don't be weird. Try to keep talks limited to 50% work-related topics and 50% conversational. Try and get to know them and find common ground. You're not going to prove you're a good fit by firing off a whole bunch of finance questions / comments -- they spend countless hours a week focused on that stuff, let them take a break from it for the most part. If you're able to find out who's going to be there, do some research on them and use that to your advantage.

People have a tendency to awkwardly crowd around 1 person to try and participate in the conversation at these things. Avoid that. Always try to get into 1-on-1 convos, even if it's not the most interesting person. They'll remember you that way rather than being a face in the crowd.

It's not a competition, don't ignore the other candidates. If I was running an event like that, I'd view the candidates who were outgoing and meeting others positively.

When you leave, make sure to say goodbye and thank you to everyone.

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