Okay, your resume got you in the door. It managed to convinced at least one person in HR that you may have the necessary skills and knowledge to be successful with their company.
Now it’s up to you to go in, reaffirm what your resume has already advertised (that you are the best qualified restaurant manager/chef for the position), close the deal, and get the job offer.
For many people, this is easier said than done.
Despite what you may think about yourself, very few people can walk in to an interview “cold” and make a perfect impression. Part of the underlying purpose of the interview is to see how well you do under pressure – and to see what you can do or say to disqualify yourself from the job. To improve your odds for successful interviews, you need to actively Plan and Prepare (P&P) for them.
Your P&P strategy should include:
- Research in to the restaurant/hotel/hospitality group with whom you will be interviewing . Odds are that at some point the interviewer will ask what you know about the company.
- Visiting and spending at least an hour at one of the units/properties. We can pretty much guarantee you will be asked whether you have been to one of the company’s locations, who you dealt with, and what you experienced.
If possible, go during a slow afternoon period and try to spend a little time talking with a manager, chef, etc. to gain some additional insight – and make sure you project a positive impression of yourself during the visit. Your interviewer may just contact the people you talk to to see what they thought of you.
- For each company you will be interviewing with, write down the specific reason(s) you want to work for them. This could be the same for all companies or you may have different reasons for each. It doesn’t matter, just write them down so they become firmly set in your mind.
- This one we can’t stress enough. Practice answering interview questions. You will find that very similar questions are asked by just about all recruiters. Being able to smoothly and confidently articulate your experience, skills and capabilities will reaffirm why your are the right person for the position.
Practice answering with a friend, on videotape, in the shower, while you’re driving to or from work, etc. Seriously, the more you do it, the better you will be in an interview. (See our list of interview questions here.)
- Sit down and actually read your resume. We can’t we can’t even begin to tell you how many candidates we’ve interviewed that have completely forgotten what they put on their resume aside from their job titles and former employers. Read it once each day leading up to the interview.
- Create a list of questions to ask of the interviewer.
- Make sure you know the exact location of the interview and then visit the location before the interview to make sure you know how long it will take for you to get there.
- Get your hair done/cut the week before your interview. Feeling good about your appearance improves your confidence level which in turn will help you feel more comfortable and help you project a strong, positive self image.
- Decide in advance what you will wear to the interview and make sure it is cleaned and pressed. Have it set aside with the appropriate accessories – and then don’t touch any of it until the day of the interview.
- Make sure you have a few extra resumes and your list of references already printed up and set aside to take with you.