It is easy to ace a fast-food job interview only if you bring the right tools and ideas. But, unfortunately, for many of the 10.2% unemployed in the US, getting a fast-food job didn’t become as easy as they imagined because they lack the knowledge and information to prepare them for such interviews. This article will bridge that gap.
You have just one job at an interview to create a great impression about yourself, and you have only seven seconds to do that- You only have 7 seconds to make a good first impression. Hence, to ace a fast-food job interview, you must show the interviewer just one thing- why you should be hired. This entails your comportment and gait, demonstration of being a potential asset, and what your previous experience adds to the employer. In essence, you must show the interviewer that hiring you will help the kitchen and its customers. Therefore, you must go to the interview with the following: Knowledge about the fast-food industry in general and the inner workings of the firm interviewing you, experience in making what the kitchen offers (don’t be discouraged if you lack experience, I will walk through how to beat this) you appropriate appearance that portrays you as neat decent, confidence level enough to give the interviewer the impression that the content of your resume is true, stationeries like a pen and notepad, answers tailored to address expected or usually asked questions, and questions about the firm. When these tools and ideas are properly used within the forty-five minutes to one hour that most job interviews last for, you would have made an impression on the interviewer that the qualities you bear are enough to make the ideal candidate for the job. I will explain further bit by bit in the following paragraphs.
Seven Tools to Bring To an Interview and Ace It
- Knowledge
- Previous experience
- Appropriate appearance
- Confidence
- Stationeries
- Answers
- Questions
1. Knowledge
Imagine yourself in a strange neighborhood late at night, and the lights suddenly go out. How do you navigate your way out of the darkness? Flashlight from your phone? Google maps? The interview situation is the dark neighborhood in which the data and information you avail yourself serve as illumination and compass to steer your way into the desired place. First, you need to know the fast-food industry facts and developments and the restaurant’s specificities that are about to interview you. For instance, you should know how Covid-19 has affected the fast-food business in the US; is there an increasing need to deliver food packs to customers’ homes? Do Jack & Susie (Hypothetical fast food business name) run a home delivery system? If not, why? If yes, can it be improved upon?
Seven Important Things to Know When Going To a Fast Food Job Interview
- Required skills: you should know the skills the restaurant values
- Required experiences: you should be aware of how the restaurant rates length of previous experience; whether the experience should be exact or similar.
- Know the players in the restaurant and their strategic positioning; the cooks, the waiters, the delivery men, the account officer; you should know the rudiments of their operational chain.
- What the restaurant serves
- Their Cuisine
- Recent news and or events that concern the restaurant; whether they are downsizing or recruiting, or involved in a legal battle, or did community service.
- Restaurant values, mission, and vision
Four Ways to Obtain Information
- Check their website or social media pages
- Check-in as a customer and observe
- Gather reviews about the restaurant’s services by checking their SM interactions and asking a few people one on one how they feel about the service
- Politely ask current employees questions about their work. Don’t be overzealous and make the mistake of prying.
2. Previous Experience
It is important to impress the interviewer with the work you have done in the past. Every employer wants to save time and resources. So if you give an impression that valuable time and resources would be needed to train you, you are also slashing your chances by large miles. A former employee of Subway and Pizza Hut with well-outlined roles in previous jobs applying at McDonald’s will stand a better chance against someone with zero experience.
However, you don’t have to paint your experience column as non-existent, as this is rarely the case. You don’t need to work for McDonald’s and Pizza Hut to land a job at Subway. The experience gap can be meshed up with non-contractual errands. You will not lie about where you have not been, but you can hype up what you can do. You have to measure up at the interview. I will explain further below.
Three (3) Ways Greenhorns Can Mesh Up Their Work Experience
- Find out the basic responsibilities of the role you are applying for
- Retrace your previous errands or internships and identify which ones align with your prospective roles
- i.) Select similar roles and state them as what you have done and can still do.
ii.) If non aligns, you should look for qualities you learned from the experience and state them to make a case. For instance, as a Prefect in high school, I learned leadership, persuasion, and teamwork skills, and I believe that Jack & Susie being a customer-centered business, will benefit from my people skills.
3. Appropriate Appearance
Appropriate dressings are a matter of must. There is no way around it. The same way a lawyer cannot argue a case in front of a judge in a pair of shorts and bathroom slippers is the same way you take your interview and the interviewer seriously. You have to appear decent and neat. It will be great to smell nice, too but don’t choose offensive or too strong cologne. Your interviewer might be asthmatic. You should ensure to have a fresh breath too.
Useful Tips:
i.) Find out the restaurant’s color scheme and let your dressing reflect it but don’t overrepresent.
ii.) Avoid shorts and sleeveless
iii.) Cool sneakers are good, but most employers prefer decent loafers, sandals. Etc.
iv.) Avoid jeans as much as you can
v.) Don’t wear dresses with prejudicial inscriptions
4. Confidence
If you are confident in your disposition, oration, and firm handshakes, the job is half yours! You have to be essentially confident in what you can do. The chances are high that your interviewer will be too if you are confident in what you can offer. But, on the other hand, you have to be careful. There is a thin line between arrogance and confidence. Don’t cross it.
Useful Tips:
i.) Say, “long hours can be tiring, but I can manage them under necessary conditions” instead of “I am good at what I do, so you have to treat me well, or you will lose me.”
ii.) Walk with your spine straight, your gaze focused and head held high but didn’t hold high shoulders.”
iii.) Look directly at your interviewer but don’t stare
iv.) Listen more than you talk
v.) Ask for clarifications
5. Stationeries
Take a small notepad and a pen with you to the interview. Write interesting things and new information down. Then, ask one or two questions from your notes.
Significance of Bringing and Using Stationery
i.) It gives the interviewer the impression that you are a serious person
ii.) It makes the interviewer feel you have an interest in the restaurant
iii.) It presents you as someone open to learning new things
iv.) It sells you to the interviewer as a good listener
v.) It shows that you pay attention to details
6. Answers
Your employer had gone through and was impressed by your resume. Knowing that roughly 85% of job seekers lie on their resumes, he calls you to prove you are not a liar and capable. He has prepared some questions to see through you. How you perform depends on how prepared you are. If the interviewer’s questions get to you unawares, you shouldn’t be on that site anyway.
Four Questions Most Interviewers Ask and How to Approach Them
i.) Can We Know You?
This is not an opportunity to read your autobiography. Rather, you expected to discuss your motivation. Use this opportunity to explain why you want the job; emphasis on why.
Tip:
Say, “I am a competent hard worker who goes about with my easy smile and bag of dreams. Jack and Susie represent an important part of my dream as I have always wanted to feed people and get paid while doing it. I hope to become a renowned cuisine consultant someday.”
Instead of “my name is Fowler Cassie. I graduated with great grades from the University of Georgia. I studied Diets & Nutrition Science… blah blah blah.”
ii.) Why Do You Think You Are the Best Person for This Job?
Here is where you advertise yourself. Note: your zeal to sell yourself might push you into bragging mode. Don’t let it. Align your skills with the role you are being interviewed for. For instance, if you are applying to be Jack & Susie’s delivery person, say, “I am an efficient dispatcher, and I know this city so well. With my peoples’ skills and a nice smile, I will improve customer satisfaction and company ratings” instead of “I am the best you can get, I know everywhere in this city and will dispatch anything, anywhere and anytime.”
iii.) What Are Your Strengths?
This is an offshoot of the answer to “why do you think you are the best person for this job?” so let it align with the given answer. For example, you can try “I know how to manage my emotions and can deal with almost anyone” or “I enjoy riding or driving and can last in transit for long hours.”
iv.) What Are Your Weaknesses?
This is not the part where you intentionally throw yourself under the bus. Instead, you can talk about your areas of inexperience. For instance, you can say you don’t know how to drive cars with manual gears but quickly put that you are a fast learner if that’s what the company uses for delivery.
7. Questions
This is an opportunity to give an impression that you are interested in the restaurant. It doesn’t matter if you know the answers. Ask anyway. It makes me seem confident, interested, and open to new knowledge. Employers like to see it.
You Can Ask Questions About
i.) shifts duration and ranges
ii.) Possibility of promotion or inter-departmental transfers
iii.) Training
iv.) Possible interview feedback time
Conclusion
There you have it; the seven tools to take with you to a fast-food job interview but note that you should not just leave. Instead, you should thank the company for the opportunity and their time and try to obtain the interviewers’ contact before. It provides a point of contact, and you are interested. You should also endeavor to send a handwritten or a typed thank you note within 24 hours after the interview. A simple thank you note is a post-interview way of selling yourself to the restaurant as a polite person.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I get a fast-food job without a referee?
Answer: Ye,s you can especially take the seven interview acing tools along
- Can I get a fast-food job without any experience?
Answer: Yes, you can. You will mesh up your non-contractual errands
- How much does a fast-food worker earn?
Answer: It depends, but a fast-food worker’s average earning in the United States is $25,848 per year or $12.43 per hour.
- Will my college degree earn my high position in a fast-food job?
Answer: Yes, it can, but the position has to be open, and you have to ace the interview.
