> "I want to give you some time to ask questions about {insert company name}." I don't have excellent social skills but I can spot that line from a mile away.

> "I want to give you some time to ask questions about {insert company name}." I don't have excellent social skills but I can spot that line from a mile away. I'd agree that's often the case, but I actually also often ask this question up front, and then close out an interview by asking it again. By asking it up front, I'm taking some pressure of the candidate by taking 5-10 minutes to present information to them before I put them on the spot. Candidates are generally nervous and/or trying to quickly figure out the situation, and this gives them some warm up time as they learn more about their interviewer, the team, the product, the company, etc. Helps set the tone of a dialog rather than a grilling. Then I ask again at the end just to make sure they feel like they have enough information to make a decision. Disclaimer: I don't work for Google / perhaps some companies have a set interview format where this wouldn't work. I recall an interview I did at one name-brand tech company where the interviews were scheduled for 40 minutes, so there was no time for any kind of chit-chat.