Employee Interviews - Hilton Garden Inn

I received several job applications from the different websites that I submitted jobs postings too.    most of the applicants were quick to reply,   I requested an 'introduction video' so I could evaluate their interest and English Communication skills.
Once I found the people I wanted to interview,  I tentatively scheduled the day for interviews and identified the morning or afternoon.  It seems that more notice is better for employees that already have a job.  
When I showed up in Hanoi at the Garden Inn Hilton,  I evaluated the facilities that they could offer for having an interview.    The only options were some nice offices which required that they had to walk through the eating area,  or a $400 for the afternoon.   I opted for the offices in the back of the room since they were offered complimentary.

The space was nice,  and the staff had water, pens and paper.   It was nice that I had a female helping me interview with the room being tucked into the back of the hotel as I am sure it helped he be more at ease.  When answering questions,  she often felt more comfortable making eye contact with my female associate.

The interviews went very well in that all applicants spoke english well enough that I was could understand them,   they all had (what sounded to me like) a similar Vietnamese accent,  and I was able to understand better after conversing with Vietnamese more (I describe this,  because I imagine an interview will go better,  if the interviewer gains more experience conversing with Vietnamese first)

Driving in Hanoi.   Driving and Traffic are horrendous and I dont know how I would ever be on time.  In one case (one of my best applicants) was 15 minutes late.  I know that she had to take the afternoon off of her normal job to come to the interview,  however she did not mention it,  and I was unsure of how it would flavor the interview if I were to bring it up at the beginning of the interview.  The position I was asking about was for the office manager,  so I asked her about how she would deal with a tardy employee and she said that she would follow the procedure and policy,  which would most likely be to write up the employee.  So it seemed she feels punctuality is important but she was just unable to be punctual.  A way that I should have / could have set an expectation of how important it would be to be right on time.

Another issue that could have been related to traffic,  was that several employees showed up early (one employee 20 minutes early)  In these cases,  the front desk at the hilton,  graciously asked them to wait (the hotel has a comfortable waiting room) and then even showed them up to restaurant floor when needed.

Overall,  the interview location worked out,  however if I had a better understanding of the city and possibly what executive suites were available.  I likely would have tried to find a space such as a more executive board room that may have had a more professional entrance and a bit warmer office.



Some notes about Vietnamese culture,   they are very focused on team and process.  It seems reasonable that if one individual steps of line,   They should bet back into line if they are simply reminded about how it affects the team.