Panda Express General Manager/Assistant Manager interview questions

After viewing your resume and made a decision to interview you, the manager will ask you to come to a Panda Express Restaurant where they need to fill the position and then do interview in customer dine table inside the restaurant. Interview appointment will be made by phone calls or email. Generally they will ask for a time two to three hours after lunch to avoid too much people in restaurant.

Went to an open house and did a group interview. Got a call back for another interview with their version of an area/district manager. Interviewed and was asked to go to one of their monthly seminars at headquarters. I went and found out more about the company and the people. I was then offered a position starting at the "bottom" to work my way up as a manager through email. They stated I would progress within 3 months and work my way up as that was what they envisioned. I had no problem starting at the bottom. However after that they sent me to another interview my 3rd one with the training manager. At no time other than asking about what I wanted to be paid and the hours I wanted was acknowledged but only discussed at my 3rd interview. She tells me hours are based on performance and you start at minimum wage. She then tells me she will be in touch to see where they will place me and I would be called for another interview. I asked her am I not hired yet? As it was stated in email I was offered a position by the area manager. She said she could not confirm and that all employees even cooks and basic help have to interview around 3 times. After that its been over 3 weeks and I have not heard anything back. The problem I had is I felt like I was jumping through hoops and they were saying how high. If you are seeking college educated individuals for a manager position than why not only myself but other reviewers have stated do you offer positions at the very bottom serving food? The process is on false pretense. I understand we should all start at the bottom as those individuals we were interviewing did as well and I am fine with that, but understand if your seeking managers to be at the bottom state clearly your intentions to basically train us to move forward to the positions we are both seeking and that is to be a manager. I don't believe 3-4 interviews for being a cook or serving food is relevant. Its a waste of time and after stating they wanted me to start at the bottom but you want to interview me more? Throughout the process I blew away and impressed them as stated over and over by the hiring managers. I communicated well and my answers were intelligent. However it is no wonder your having problems seeking the 100s of new managers you need for the future as you can tell if your looking for jobs there is always an open hiring ad for Panda somewhere. Your process is overly excessive for someone who just wants to get through the door to serve food. By the second interview by the area manager who asked if I offered you a lower position would you say yes, and I said yes. You already have your mind made up but why make me jump through more hoops to be a food server? You don't know what your looking for, if you want people to start at the bottom why not hire within? If you want managers why seek and waste people's time when you just want to make them servers and cooks? In their emails exchanged to one another there is lack of communication even within higher ups as two people said I was hired and the third can't confirm? And after all this time pass at least follow up as if other avenues were pursued or you changed your mind. This whole process took over a month as I drove down over 4x to have these interviews. Panda is based on helping people develop and strive for excellence in their lives…but from my experience from the process it was anything but.