I haven't had many interviewers open up with a ton of small-talk. Good interviewers generally set the tone, explain the format, possibly taking about themselves/firm for a bit, and then ask about resume/tell me about yourself. I don't think I've ever had to small talk for long. When I do, it was brought up by the interviewer.

 

I don't do networking calls where I call people up. I will respond to undergrads. I network socially through friends etc. I find that helps me a lot more, and I just don't like doing networking cold-calls. I've never had anything work out from one of those. This is not at all to say that networking cold calls don't have their place. They certainly do. 

 

I usually ask them how everything is going and when they ask the same, I drop a couple of interesting points/things I'm doing (E.g. NBA Finals, Driving Lessons, Cooked really good Dinner, Mention what I did the weekend). If they're interested, I go on and if not, they usually jump straight into the format of the interview 

 

I do it and like to see people I interview try. Helps me gauge social skills, ability to hold a conversation and weed out the weirdos.

I find it sets a more relaxed tone, let's more of the personality show. It's funny, but sometimes they get laid back to the point that they let red flags slip lol. One dude was happy to clarify wouldn't stay in banking more than 6 months, and not quite so when he didn't get the offer.

 

What topics do you like to bring up that are actually interesting

 

For interviews I've never had small talk to start it off. Usually the interviewer sets the tone and we just jump right in. I have had a couple of times where at the end of the interview it turned conversational and we talked about random stuff (sports, interests, etc).

For networking calls I feel like it's a bit easier bc it's already informal. Depending on if it's at the beginning or end of the week I'll ask either how their weekend was or if they have any plans, if they're not originally from the city they're working in I'll ask how they like it comparatively, just things like that. After one or two questions like that, it's pretty easy to tell if the person wants to talk about stuff outside of banking and be friendly or if they want to just keep it to their role/firm

 

Normally an interviewer starts with something like ... "Did you find our place ok?" or similar. This typically brings out the length of commute for a candidate, how they found the commute and whether there were any problems.
There are research studies that show candidates with a longer journey are less likely to take a job offered or are more likely to quit. It is not the main intention of the question, but it does show the intention of the candidate (eagerness, time management, other options, etc)

 

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