This was my first interview of 8 at a 1-day hiring conference put on by Lucas Group (a headhunter agency). There was someone from corporate HR and a hiring manager from two differnet facilities. It didn't matter at all what the HR guy thought... the manager was the guy who picked you or not. There was no "interview" to speak of... we chatted for 45 minutes about oilfield business and equipment and technology. Apparently the only criteria was whether you seemed likeable or not. One manager was interested in my because I have a strong interest in mechanical problems and practical engineering (no training as an engineer). He offered me a second interview. The second interview was a 3 day site visit. Day 1 we looked at two or three shops and talked about the equipment the company manufactures. Day 2 we visited another shop in town and met some other managers. Day 3 we talked offers and money. Days 1 and 2 were strictly conversational - still no "interview" in the formal sense. They were not interested in any writing sample or anything like that. I talked with several subordinate managers (outside of the hiring manager's presence) about different types of equipment and machinery. They were very willing to discuss benefits, vacation days, work schedule etc with me. When it came time to talk offers and money with the hiring manager, I let him do the talking. I told him I had another offer in a better location and told him what they had offered me. He suggested a salary and I stayed quiet... he increased it and I stayed quiet... he offered to throw in a bonus and i said "When do i start?" They were very flexible about starting date. Total time elapsed from 1st interview to offer of second was about 1 week. I went to the second interview about 2 weeks after that. I accepted the offer letter a week later. Total elapsed time: about 4 weeks. Never had an "interview" in the formal, formatted-questions, Q&A sense that most of my other interviews were in. This was very fluid, very informal, and very good. They probably got a better sense of whether I was right for the job through this interveiw style than they would have with a personality test or somethng.