I interviewed at Babalu Tacos & Tapas (Chapel Hill, NC)
Interview
Submitted my resume and was invited to interview in person. I was interviewed by the manager before the restaurant was open to the public. The interview questions were straight forward and not very strenuous. I got the job on the spot and started training that day.
I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Babalu Tacos & Tapas in May 2018
Interview
Met the interviewer at the restaurant. I arrived early. They were 35 minutes late. The person I spoke with on the phone was not the person I interviewed with. When they offered me the job they just assumed I would take it and I was left no place to refuse. I had to send a polite email that evening turning it down as the pay was barely above minimum wage. (I was looking to this PT and am an educated adult).
I applied online. The process took 3 days. I interviewed at Babalu Tacos & Tapas
Interview
I interviewed with two hospitality managers for about 15-30 minutes each. The first started by just asking me to tell him about myself, which was a little awkward for me because I wasn't prepared for it, but eventually it worked out. Then he asked me what I knew about Babalu, which was not enough-I didn't do my research beyond knowing that they were a taco and tapas place, but luckily the next question was about tapas and I love tapas, so that worked out well. I was asked a couple more things about why I wanted to be in the hospitality industry, what hospitality meant to me, etc and then passed off to another manager and asked similar things. At the end of the interview, I was offered a position on the spot. I don't know how competitive the interviews actually were; my manager told me that they hired about 200 people from 500+ applicants, but I also heard that my coworker went to her interview unprepared and in nike shorts and a tank top and she still got hired (I wore a nice dress and flats because I figured it's better to overdress than underdress). My manager said that he was focussing more on personality and energy than restaurant experience, although for a entry level job like host/hostess, that makes sense. All in all, it was fine, just more intense than I expected because I've never interviewed for a restaurant job before.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Imagine that you're hosting a dinner party and I'm one of your guests. Walk me through what the evening would look like.