As a general rule, we don’t recommend putting a candidate in one conference room for the day of interviews. This often seems an efficient way of handling things, but candidates don’t like it. They feel sequestered. They comment afterward that they didn’t get a good feeling for the workplace. You won’t get better interviews, but you may get fewer offer acceptances.

If you must do this due to security concerns, that’s understandable. Tell the candidate why you’re doing it in advance. And make sure your interviewers know that this means they will have to work very hard to be promptly in some other place than their office/cubicles. There is an epidemic of lateness to meetings everywhere we go: Don’t let the candidate’s interviews just be “another meeting I can be late to” for your team.

A conference room is often chosen in open plan offices. But having an open plan office usually isn’t a good enough reason for the (bad) solution of using a conference room. You can conduct a great interview sitting in your open plan desk space. Others will hear parts of the interview, yes. But that’s what the candidate will experience if she comes to work for you. Interestingly, the latest version of conference rooms, often called “huddle rooms,” are even worse if the candidate stays there all day. Usually the rooms are unscheduled, so they’re available, but they’re just too small for a candidate to stay in all day. They can be a little claustrophobic.

If your open plan office is too crowded (it usually isn’t, but sometimes is), the conference room may be inevitable. If so, give the candidate a tour, explain the office set up, and encourage her to say hello to team members who are not interviewing.

Discourage your interviewers from chatting too much about the candidate during the rest of their day. An early interview that goes poorly and then is communicated to others inhibits later interviewers from giving the candidate a full and fair interview.

Each interview stands on its own. Each interviewer is usually going to have somewhat equal input into your hiring decision. An interviewer who doesn’t give her all diminishes the process, and may be surprised by how other interviewers report at the end of the day.

For team members who have their own offices, have them conduct their interviews there. If there is no space other than to conduct the interview across the desk, that’s acceptable but not ideal.

An across-the-desk interview is off-putting to candidates. A desk puts the interviewer in even more of a superior role than is required. Candidates describe cross-desk interviews as being less friendly and less conversational.

If you can move from behind your desk, do so. A couch for the candidate and an armchair for you, at 90 degrees, is a great choice. You may have to use a clipboard to hold your notes, but that’s fine.

Despite what most professionals believe, a totally effective interview can be conducted in most cubicles. Sometimes that means across the “tongue” of your cube’s desk (that’s what it’s called) where you would have a colleague sit across from you in a two-person meeting. Or you can use two chairs in your cubicle, close together, again using a clipboard for your note taking.

Perhaps the biggest problem with interviewing in your cubicle, office, or even in your area in an open plan office is the distractions for the interviewer. If there is a computer screen, open laptop, a tablet or iPad, or even your phone between you and your candidate, you will get distracted.

We can’t tell you the number of times a manager has said to us, “Oh, I’m not using that. I’m going to ignore it.” We then say, “That’s fine, if you’re not going to look at it, just quit your mail client software.” And the response is nearly always, “But if I’m not going to look at it, why would I need to shut down mail?” We have stopped telling them that if they’re not going to look at it, why would shutting their mail client down matter?

Most of these very same managers are aghast when we show them videotape of an interview with their eyes averting to the screen nearly every minute.

Some of this is just all the alerts that managers get, for Slack, and mail, and instant messaging. But if you’re a long-time listener to Manager Tools, you know that those alerts need to be turned off. Handling email throughout your day, rather than scheduling time to focus on it, is a huge productivity drain.

One final note on physical setup and distractions: It’s not just that you’re distracted. The visible screen between you and your candidate sends a message that those distractions are available to you. Candidates don’t like it. Maybe you’re one of the rare managers who truly can ignore the distractions—you’re not, but anyway—you’re still hurting your organization’s chances of getting a great candidate because he feels like you weren’t willing to give your very best to him for even 60 to 90 minutes.

Open or shared public spaces in an office are also quite serviceable for an interview. The key here is not to choose a public space where someone not involved in the interview would sit next to you—in earshot—for more than a few minutes. If that happens, politely mention that you’re conducting an interview, and the person will move away.