These are my favorite types of interviews. Tech skills can be learned, but getting along with various people including managers and leaders is more important.

I've been lucky I have been able to build up my network via conferences and user groups and twitter. The last time I looked for a job, all the conversations were more or less personality based over tech based.

I think most of my interesting positions have started with things like that; once we went for pizza/lunch and chat, once we went for beer, and other times just random meeting for coffee (outside the office).

Getting the chance to talk about different things in a more natural environment is a lot simpler for everyone involved.

Of course there are downsides too, but these are the kind of interviews I prefer the most.

(In fact the past two interviews I had also involved me bringing my child, just to make things even more unpredictable! )

This is pretty much how the interview with my current position went. It felt really good to just talk about software development, private projects and other topics instead of doing tests in one form or another.

These are pretty much the only kind of interview I want to have, these days.

And the thing is - it's actually pretty easy to tell where the other party is at, skill-wise. As in, within 10 minutes or so usually.

Same