Hello - I am looking for suggestions of indoor space to take interview calls in midtown. Office conference rooms are not available. I am afraid to bump into colleagues if I use lobbies close by. Streets are noisy and cold.
Any suggestions? Highly appreciate it.
i would use break out rooms or smaller meeting rooms on different floors so your colleagues don't recognize you. otherwise, handicap washrooms are fine too.
Hotel lobbies are a gift. Find one that's spacious and has enough nooks where you'll have some semblance of privacy (or at least be able to look in the direction people would be walking up to you), then schedule your interview calls at a time of day where you've confirmed that the hotel isn't packed. The best used to be the Waldorf (all those benches scattered everywhere on the Park side). The good ones now would be the Four Seasons (avoid the proper bar area, stand at the area slightly lower than it but still above the main atrium) and the Palace (it has four 'working stations' that are each walled off and semi-private on the upper level of the main lobby next to the men's room).
I second the recommendation for Breather. e.g. If this interview is serious (an off-cycle process for an immediate start for your dream type of role), or if you simply have no objection to spending money, you can pay anywhere from $30-50 per hour for a 2-4 person meeting space. You'll get dedicated wifi and in some cases even a desk line, both of which boost your interview performance (you can have a laptop open in front of you to find anything you're blanking on online and also guarantee no cell service issues).
"No man is a failure who has friends." Unless you're a complete social outcast, you probably have classmates, kids you interned with, etc. who all work in offices near yours. They all know the exact situation you're facing. Ask them if they can block a meeting with you for an hour in a room on their floor. If they are somehow spineless and ask how they'll get away with it, tell them to tell their secretary or admin that you two are discussing a project that he may be able to share with his MD and wanted to do it together instead of over the phone.
Good luck.