Candidate Screening Phone Interview –
Restaurant Zone Interview Questions
Below are general questions to help you gather data to determine if a candidate is worthy of a submission. Some will apply to managers and some apply to hourly candidates. It’s important to keep your submission notes to the client consistent, however, feel free to use your own unique questions to build a strong rapport with the candidate. Remember to reveal the restaurant concept during the interview and retrieve an updated resume if necessary.
Why do you want to leave your current position or why did you leave your last position?
What has been your greatest achievement?
How would you describe your personality?
What’s your experience with operations in terms of P&Ls, sales reports, food and labor costs?
How would you describe your management and leadership style?
How have you increased sales and what did you do to control costs?
What is your salary expectation?
Where do you see yourself 3 years from now?
Have you opened stores before?
What are you looking for in your next role that you don’t have in your current one?
If we ran a background check on you, would anything show up?
What’s your schedule like for an interview?
Do you have a linkedin and references?
Do you have reliable transportation?
Tell about where you are right now and what are general careers goals?
How is your work ethic and how would you describe it?
How do you work with team members?
What are the three things that every GM should know to be successful in their career?
“Who” Questions by Geoff Smart
1) What are your career goals? Where do you want to be financially/professionally?
2) What are you really good at professionally? What are you not good at or not interested in doing professionally?
3) Who were your last two bosses and how did they each rate your performance on a 1-10 scale when we talk to them?
4) Run me through the numbers of your store. What’s the weekly sales volume? How many employees do you manage? Describe your involvement with the P&Ls?
5) What is your management / leadership style? What is your greatest achievement as a manager?
6) Tell me what you’re looking for in your next career? What is something you’re not getting from your job right now?
7) Tell me the top 3 things you focus on inside the restaurant?
8) What sort of things have you done to increase sales? What sort of systems have you put into place at XYZ restaurant you worked at?
