Favorite Question to Ask

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Permalink Reply by Jason Bonesteel on January 21, 2009 at 5:23pm

2 questions...

1 - What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning?

2 - If I were new to your town and needed a great place to eat, where you recommend that I go and why?

The first one can lead you down so many roads. Does the candidate have a true purpose or direction in life? What excites them? What do they look forward to each day? Hobbies, activities, special people, pets, exercise, etc...
These kinds of questions can really open up your candidate to you. Find out if they are in the right business and will the job that they are interviewing for be a good fit for their desires and lifestyle.

The second question is more fun for me. How outgoing is your candidate? What is important to them in a restaurant - food, service, cleanliness, atmosphere? How do they view other restaurants compared to their own? Why did they or didn't they recommend the restaurant where they work? How familar with their competition are they? How well do they know their own market? A lot of these things are what separate your average manager from the excelling ones.

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Permalink Reply by Shawna Katz on January 27, 2009 at 1:05pm

Thanks Jason! These are awesome questions. I never really thought about where you would recommend that I go and eat. I wonder if folks usually recommend their own place! Hmmm... Where would I recommend? Might say a lot about me! : )

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Permalink Reply by Chris Martin on January 23, 2009 at 10:24am

#1 - What are your career goals?

Really talented, focused candidates will know what they want, where they want to go and what they need to do to get there. It really helps me understand what is driving them to be a restaurant manager and to validate that my company can provide them an avenue to reach their own career goals. The earlier we undertsand whether we can provide them the opportunities they desire, the easier it is to focus on how they have performed in the past and how they are likely to perfrom in the future.

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Permalink Reply by Shawna Katz on January 27, 2009 at 1:07pm

That is great Chris! It is amazing how many folks are still trying to figure that one out. After being in op's for so long, do you ever miss it? or are you loving the recruiting side of it?

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Permalink Reply by Laurie Hardy on January 27, 2009 at 3:48pm

I love the questions, Jason!

Great idea, Shawna.. there are so many I like to ask... I really like to know who their greatest mentor was and why...

I once, years ago, had a recruiter ask me what I would want my headstone to say... or what would my obituary say about me... creepy questions.. maybe could have been phrased differently to get the same information out, right? Just still like to giggle about those 2.

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