The question of whether to take CEO finalist candidates out for a meal comes up now and then during search committee discussions. It seems like a reasonable thing to do. The candidate is likely spending the day, or at least several hours, at your organization. Inviting them to lunch or dinner feels sociable, collegial, and welcoming. You may want to interact with them in a more casual environment to get a better sense of “culture fit” (more on that imperfect idea below).

But the reality is, there is nothing casual about interviewing. Even with the best intentions, you could end up making judgments that have little to do with the candidate’s ability to lead. While we acknowledge the social benefits of having a meal together, there are a few risks you should be aware of before making this part of your hiring process.

Unstructured Settings Skew Your Hiring Data

The most effective hiring processes are methodical and structured. A meal outside of your work setting is anything but. Without realizing it, seemingly harmless observations over lunch can cloud your opinion of a candidate’s ability to do the job, potentially overriding the job-relevant data you’ve carefully collected so far.

It’s hard enough as a hiring manager to avoid making snap judgments about candidates during formal interviews. Over lunch, you’ll register their conversational style, responses to your attempts at small talk, and overall “energy.” Later these can surface as gut feelings about the candidate—feelings that seem objective but are actually based on less relevant social interactions.

The human brain doesn’t come with an evaluation “off” switch. In hiring, every interaction is an assessment of some kind. Even if you’re just having lunch.

Liking Isn’t Alignment

Many organizations say they want someone who “feels right,” yet few can articulate what that means in measurable terms. What most people call “culture fit” is actually likability, and humans tend to like people who are similar to themselves.

We agree that soft skills and working style are vitally important parts of work culture. But you can’t actually assess those over lunch or dinner.

Let’s say that collaboration is a core element of your organization’s culture and you’ve defined that as creating shared goals, communicating transparently, and being accountable. Bonding over appetizers won’t reveal any of that. Social ease and cultural alignment are not the same thing.

Table Manners Don’t Predict Job Success

A meal out during the interview process creates a pseudo-social environment, where the candidate is expected to project authenticity and appear relaxed, while also being aware that they are still being evaluated. And the scope of what they are being evaluated for has now expanded beyond what’s required for the role.

For example, in a SHRM article, the authors advise, “If your interview is over lunch, exhibit excellent table manners.” But “excellent table manners” can be highly dependent on the cultural context you come from. Can you honestly say you won’t notice if a candidate exhibits norms that are different from your own?

Take it a step further. Consider candidates who have food allergies, follow fasting practices, or have disabilities that could affect their eating or ability to process information in a loud restaurant. Their behavior during the meal might be misinterpreted as hesitation about the role or discomfort with the team.

Mealtime conversation also makes it easy to drift into talking about family, marital status, religious practices, or health conditions—topics that are unrelated to job performance and could expose protected information. Weighing them in the hiring decision, even unintentionally, can create potential legal and equity issues.

What Lunch Actually Reveals (and Why It Doesn’t Matter)

A meal out may tell you about whether the candidate’s table manners match your own, whether they can engage in the type of small talk you prefer, and maybe how they treat the waitstaff. These types of social behaviors have some value—most top leadership roles do require the ability to establish rapport with others and build relationships. But the type of social engagement you’ll observe over a meal won’t necessarily be an accurate measure of those skills. The context is just too different.

Research spanning 85 years of hiring studies finds that structured interviews, cognitive ability tests, and work sample exercises far outperform unstructured interactions when it comes to predicting job performance.

The interview process is inherently performative for candidates and hiring managers alike. We accept this because interviews are the standard way to evaluate candidates for a job. But when you throw a meal into the mix, you add an unnecessary layer of pretense—acting social when you’re really evaluating each other the entire time. Your time might be better spent structuring your interview process to reveal more about how they work.

A Work Sample Can Reveal Much More About Cultural Fit

If you want to get to know a candidate and assess cultural alignment in a way that is relevant to the role, give them a work sample assignment. This involves giving the candidate a realistic work scenario or strategic issue to analyze, which you then discuss in a follow-up interview. You can invite other team members to participate and observe how the candidate collaborates, asks for input, incorporates different perspectives, and leads or follows as appropriate. And you can see how their working style might bring something new to your team.

You’ll see all of those “culture fit” qualities in the right setting—at work, where they impact job success—not at a restaurant, where they don’t.

It’s a delicate balance to strike between typical social norms and the structure needed to make a well-informed hiring decision. When you’re making a high-stakes choice about the next leader of your organization, it may be smarter to err on the side of reducing the potential for bias and skip the lunch or dinner out. At the very least, be aware of the extra factors that could influence your thinking.

You can always treat your new hire to a lovely meal after they’ve accepted your offer.

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