Unit 3.4
Analysis of Questions Raised in Different Interviews

Name-brand hotels involved in this textbook are mostly located overseas or in large cities in China, like Beijing or Shanghai, so they would adopt a variety of interviews for the sake of convenience and efficiency, including telephone interviews, video interviews, group interviews and individual interviews etc. In this part, how to prepare for questions raised in different interviews will be analyzed, offering more interview skills for interviewees.

Unit 3.4.1 Interview Procedures

When name-brand hotels announce their recruitment plans, they would receive resumes from many candidates. For human resource department personnel, it is not an easy job to interview all candidates, so the first step before interviews is to select some qualified candidates by screening their resumes. The following presents two English resume templates for reference to help a candidate to make a brief and concise resume to impress HR :

After screening resumes, generally speaking, name-brand hotels would interview candidates through telephone or internet (to be specific, on a computer with a camera and a headset), which is called a telephone interview or a video interview. On the one hand, these kinds of interviews could help hotels save employment cost; on the other hand, through telephone or internet, hotels could know more about candidates, including authenticity of their resumes, their background, ability of expression and communication etc. Hotels then could select the most qualified candidates for face-to-face interviews in the next round.

As to face-to-face interview, group interview and individual interview are the most commonly adopted methods. Group interview refers to interview in which a group of 3-10 candidates participate together and candidates may face same questions. In group interviews organized by name-brand hotels, general questions are usually raised and interviewers could select better interviewees by making comparisons, which proves to be an efficient way of recruitment. As indicated by itself, individual interview means one candidate takes the interview exclusively each time, and this is usually when interviewers make their final choices by asking more specific questions related to hotel industry, career development, work experience, positions applied etc.

Unit 3.4.2 How to Answer Questions in Different Interviews

According to the part above, different interviews are endowed with different functions with different questions raised. Based on years of interview records of name -brand hotels (especially hotels stated in Chapter I), questions raised in different interviews can be roughly grouped into three kinds: in telephone interview or video interview questions asked are often based on resumes; in group interview general questions about candidates are usually proposed; questions raised in individual interview are closely related to the job and hotel industry.

1. Telephone interview or video interview

During telephone interview or video interview, interviewers tend to ask questions relevant to the resume, for instance,

(1) It says in your resume that your major is hotel management. Would you please tell me what you've learnt about this major?

(2) How did you get the first-rate scholarship?

(3) What do you think is a good way to learn English?

(4) Can you tell me some of the job responsibilities you do in your spare time?

(5) What's the greatest achievement you've made in college?

...

What's more, interviewees are supposed to be very polite when they pick up phones or hang up. Here are some suggestions: When picking up phones, interviewees could start with such polite greetings as “Hello, Sir/ Madam/ Mr. ***/ Mrs. ***. This is ***speaking.”Expressions like “Thank you for (giving) calling me”, “Thank you for offering me this opportunity”, “Thanks for your time and consideration”, “It's really nice talking to you” can be used to end a telephone interview. If it is indeed inconvenient to pick up phone calls, interviewees can make explanations, for instance, “Thank you for calling me, Mr. ***. But it is too noisy now and I couldn't hear you clearly. Would you mind leaving your phone number and I will call you back a moment later? ”

2. Group interview

Interviewers mainly ask general questions in group interview, which make it much more like chatting. For example:

(1) Could you introduce yourself in English?

① Your English name is …? Why do you choose this name?

② How old are you?

③ Who's this in this picture? What's the relationship between you and him?

(Students prepare some pictures and interviewers raise questions about them.)

(2) Why do you want to work abroad?

(3) Why do you want to work for our hotel?

(4) What is your advantage or disadvantage?

(5) Can you use three words to describe yourself?

(6) How do your friends / colleagues describe you?

(7) What are your hobbies? /What do you often do in your spare time?

(8) Who is your English teacher? Try to describe him/her.

(9) What is the great achievement you've made?

...

In this part, expressive and communicative abilities rank as the top two most important skills to be tested, so interviewees should invest much time and efforts cultivating their interpersonal communicative potentials.

3. Individual interview

Questions ranging from hotel industry, hotel management, positions in the hotel to interviewees' work experience, professional knowledge, and career development could be covered in individual interview. Typical questions are as follows:

(1) Which position do you want to apply for?

(2) Why do you want to work as a waitress/room attendant/cashier/commis?

① Working as a waitress/room attendant/cashier/commis is a tiring job. Can you manage to do it?

② You worked as a doorman. Why do you want to apply for room attendant now?

(3) What do you think is the best management?

(4) What do you think is important in this job?

...

Interviewers aim to test the professional qualifications, expertise and personal potentials of interviewees. Consequently interviewees are supposed to improve professional accomplishment long before the individual interview by attending classes in college, learning by themselves, doing internships in hotels, making career plans etc.

Conclusion

Getting the offer is when full preparation meets good opportunity. Full preparation refers to your knowing yourself and the position, with conviction that you really want the job and the job suits you indeed. Opportunity is the interview itself. In this chapter, the variety of questions, interviewer's motives and principles to follow in an interview are analyzed, all of which can be included into interview skills. With these skills, hopefully you can have a successful interview and get the offer.

Exercise

The following is a group simulation interview. The interviewer is a human resource manager of a five-star hotel in Dubai, UAE (United Arab Emirates), which plans to employ twenty waiters or waitresses and ten room attendants from China. He is interviewing three candidates. One is a sophomore majoring in Tourism English named Angela (A); the other two are Mary (M) and Jenny (J), both majoring in Hotel Management. Read it first and then analyze the answers carefully with what you have learnt in this chapter to see whether they are proper or improper and why. Then do a simulation interview in small groups with your classmates.

Three candidates knock at the door first and go into the room when they hear “come in please” from the interviewer .

Candidates: Good morning,sir .

Interviewer: Good morning.Have a seat please…Now tell me both your Chinese and English names please.

A: My name is Li Li. Angela is my English name.

M: My Chinese name is Wang Hua. My English name is Mary.

J: My Chinese name is Liu Mei. Jenny is my English name.

Interviewer: Thank you.Hi,Angela,what position do you apply for?

A: I apply for the position of waitress.

Interviewer: Why do you want to work in our hotel?

A: Because I think Dubai's hotel industry is highly developed and I think working in your hotel can give me the best chance to use what I have learnt.

Interviewer: Do you have any work experience?

A: Yes, I have. Last summer holiday, I worked as a waitress in a big restaurant for nearly two months. And this work experience made me responsible and trained me into a flexible and sensitive person.

Interviewer: Hi,Jenny.How do you understand“sense of service”?

J: I'm sorry. I don't understand what you are talking about. Would you please repeat your question?

Interviewer: Sense of service.

J: …?

Interviewer: Sense of service. How do you understand it with your work experience and knowledge?

J: I think keeping a sweet smile is very important. It can make customers warm.

Interviewer: Ok.Hi,Mary,what position do you apply for?

M: I want to work as a waitress.

Interviewer: In F&B?

M: …?

Interviewer: Which department do you want to work in?

M: I want to work as a waitress.

Interviewer: But do you know which department a waitress belongs to?

M: I want to work in Food and Beverage Department.

Interviewer: Yeah,F&B is short for Food and Beverage Department.Mary,why do you want to go abroad?

M: Because I think in Dubai, the hotel industry is developed. It can improve my English. It's a great honor to go abroad. I want to improve myself in your hotel.

Interviewer: J enny,would you like to tell me your purpose of working in UAE?

J: Yes. Last year, I joined the National Games of People's Republic of China. During that period, I worked in a four-star hotel as a room attendant for about two months. As a result I really learnt a lot about how to be a qualified room attendant.

Interviewer: But what is my question for you?Did you get it?

J: About work experience…

Interviewer: Angela,could you repeat my question?

A: About working in UAE?

Interviewer: What's your purpose of working in UAE?

A: It can improve my skills and practice myself.

Interviewer: In what way?

A: Just practice myself in the work process.

Interviewer: Ok…Mary,the same question goes to you.

M: I think when I was young, I should try my best to develop for my future. For example, I want to go abroad to improve myself. That's all.

Interviewer: Angela,I know that your major is not Hotel Management.

A: Yes.

Interviewer: But these two candidates have learnt many subjects about hotel management. Compared with you, they have certain advantages. How would you persuade me to hire you rather than they two?

A: Thank you for the question. Although I am not a Hotel Management major, I have work experience and know work procedures of waitress to serve the guests. My major is tourism English. I think language is an advantage when I work abroad. And I am a fast learner. On the first day I worked in the restaurant, the manager taught me how to put utensils and serve guests. I did as he told me. He then said, “Good job. You are a fast learner”.

Interviewer: Good.Hi,Mary,what're your advantages over the other candidates?

M: I am sorry.

Interviewer: What do you mean?Just tell me your special strong points over others?

M: I think my hard-working character deserves recognition, which is regarded as one of my strengths.

Interviewer: What about you,Jenny?

J: I am not an intelligent person, but I must be a diligent one. As I strongly believe that no pains, no gains. Every one can achieve more than he has done by working hard. Besides, I'd like to make friends with others. I think friends are an essential part of people's life.

Interviewer: OK.Angela,in your work experience,have you ever met an angry guest who is hard to deal with?

A: Yes. One day, a guest called me and shouted at me, “What's wrong with the fish. It's not fresh.” I felt embarrassed because I didn't cook the dish. I knew nothing.

Interviewer: What's your response when you heard her shouting?

A: I said I was terribly sorry and changed another dish for her.

Interviewer: Was the customer satisfied then?

A: Yes. She's satisfied with my work.

Interviewer: What would you do when your boss is one hundred percent wrong and you know that?

A: Sorry, I beg your pardon?

Interviewer: Your boss makes a mistake and you know that.He's completely wrong. What would you do?

A: I won't tell him directly. I will use my own way to show he's wrong.

Interviewer: Mary,what about you?

M: I will use my action to tell him.

Interviewer: Ok,that's all.Thank you!

Candidates: Thank you!

Interviewer: Goodbye to you.

Candidates: Goodbye. zeXGvnKOiaXsxRMLGe2+5odflHWl4XVVCJRCXEDFdoCev4Ox67CAJq3Xj70rU4xg