Otdfbt

after all, they did just spend a few thousand dollars flying me over just for a half day interview

They inviting you (and paying for the trip) isn't a gift. It one of the costs of hiring, which are part of the costs they pay so that they make more money from their workforce.

This doesn't mean you shouldn't be thankful for the opportunity to interview with them, thankful if they offer you the job, etc., it just means that you should understand this process, and your employment with them, as part of a business relationship.

It is not common practice as far as I am aware. If you want to show gratitude for the opportunity make it a point to thank them in person both before and after the interview and let them know how much you appreciate their gesture. The key is doing so in person first and not waiting until you are back home to thank them via email.

If you absolutely want to give some sort of gift ( which I would not recommend ) you just need to make sure that the gift is small/insignificant enough that it will not be considered some sort of bribe towards landing the position.

This is going to be a difficult and fairly opinion-based question to answer. Some people may receive your treats as a sign of gratitude, others may assume you're trying to bribe them or influence their decision. It's certainly not typical for candidates to bring gifts in interviews I've done, even when the employer is paying significant travel costs.

Which would be worse, doing something unconventional and having it cause a problem, or sticking to the norms and not risking it? When it comes to interviews, you want to focus on getting the job because you're the right candidate - you want to stand out in ways that are meaningful to the employer's goals. Standing out in gimmicky ways or unexpected (and potentially irrelevant) ways can run the risk of being perceived negatively. In terms of unconventional ideas like bringing treats, the best approach is almost always a conservative approach - stick to the norms, don't bring gifts.

It's not common to bring food to interviews in Australia, though I do know of some people who have brought food items to interviews (if they are interviewing with a company of less than 20 employees).

The biggest issue you are likely to face however is bio-security restrictions, both on entering Australia and on entering the State the interview takes place. As an example, Tasmania is much more restrictive than the mainland States and typically only allows commercially prepared foodstuff through.

If you want to go ahead with preparing food for the interview, then I recommend these guidelines:

1. Prepare it once you are in the State;


2. Consider something easy and not messy to eat i.e. small cakes, biscuits, etc;


3. Interviews around 10am to 11am or 2:30pm to 3:30pm are ideal time periods to bring food;


4. Avoid strong-smelling foods;


5. Refusal of the food by the interviewers does not indicate offence at the offer;


6. Avoid common allergens, e.g. nuts (these don't have to be consumed in order to cause an allergic reaction);

What matters most though is your interpersonal skills, how you interact with the person you meet on your arrival at the interview and how you react to the unexpected (such as delays).

You can't be sure if everyone will like what you offer, and it might cause an awkward situation if one of the interviewers is allergic to something or unwilling to eat sugar or gluten, for example.

It would probably work against you.

I used to have this problem a lot when I was working for a large US computer company with offices in Australia whose Asia Pacific office was Singapore and we also handled Greater China.

Asians, particularly Chinese had a tendency to provide gifts for all sorts of things which were very hard to refuse. The problem was that this put me in a horribly uncomfortable position of being obliged to refuse - which would insult the gift giver. Or accepting the gift which would bring me into difficulties with management and would leave me feeling under an obligation to the gift giver.

I generally avoided contact with anyone who put me in such a position as much as possible thereafter.

Its sort of like the girl who asks you on a date who you refuse, but then have to see again. Awkward.

Just say thank you to them for their effort. This will suffice.

In my part of the US the standard practice is to send a thank you card to the interviewers, thanking them for the opportunity to talk to them, and possibly mentioning something memorable in the interview. This makes you stand out without taking the chance of impropriety. If you have a card with you, you can write the card, address the envelope and mail it immediately after the interview.

Do it.

But make sure that you get sealed items and not something that your mother/wife prepared.

Not for you. The problem is the top comment in OP is widely believed (obvious from its upvotes). "You can't bring food into Australia". Some people will have that reaction - "how dumb is he" / "doesn't know our laws" /"snuck that through Customs?" and gossip about it.

Then there's the problem of taste: there are "standard" foods to bring and that's what people expect. If you come to the US it would be donuts or a pastry plate; maybe carrots, celery and dip. And sensitivity toward diabetics and gluten-allergic is starting to come up. If you bring sweet meats, most people won't touch it because it's not the normal, then they worry about your impression of them etc. Awkward.

Besides, bringing food is what a host is expected to do, and it's an ingratiation, so the bringer gets something out of it. People can be a bit greedy about that. You are being greedy about it too.

It's also not great for your brand. You end up being the "sweet meats" guy or whatever, instead of being the guy who aced the tests.