emsr2d2, when you wrote 'He came across well at interview' you didn't mean a specific interview in the past, did you?
Then you must have meant interview as general type, right? Could you please explain it a bit further?
Thanks
Alex.
English is great, isn't it?! Actually, in the phrase "He came across well at interview" I actually did mean a specific interview. In that particular case, the sentence is fine with or without the article.
If two bosses were having a discussion about a job applicant who they interviewed a couple of days ago, they could say either "He came across well at interview" or "He came across well at the interview" and they would mean exactly the same thing.
The fact that both people in the conversation know which interview is being discussed helps but it actually wouldn't matter if one of them didn't.
One of those bosses could go home to his wife (or her husband!) that evening and say "I met a great guy today. He applied for the Sales Manager position and he came across really well at interview".
Someone who wasn't even involved in the interview process but had heard a rumour would be able to say "I saw an incredibly tall man in the office today. He must have been over 7 feet tall. He was there for the Sales Manager job and I hear he came across really well at interview".