Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Interview Questions

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Posted by Brandon Henry (Member # 4161) on 10-21-2008, 01:01 PM:

Does anyone have a good set of interview questions for your conecssion, ticket and usher positions.

I am not looking to have a 2 hour interview but just a few questions that will give me any inidication of a good worker or someone who just wants free movies.

Posted by Galen Murphy-Fahlgren (Member # 4535) on 10-21-2008, 01:41 PM:

A 2 hour interview would be excessive for low wage floor positions. I haven't interviewed people, but I have had a few interviews, for work and school. For a floor position, their motives for the job are secondary (unless they are criminal) to whether they will do the job and be able to work in a team. I would just have a very informal sit down and try to get a feel for their interests as well as personal skills.

Putting popcorn in a bag is not a demanding job, so previous work experience isn't very important. Whether or not a person can get along with people and will do the work is important. Most people who work floor positions are not looking for a career in theaters, and it would be wrong to expect them to be, so just take people who seem to be genuine and likable. Remember, you can always fire them later on. [Wink]

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 10-21-2008, 01:44 PM:

You also need to get a sense of whether they understand that they are going to be working nights/weekends, when all their friends are out partying. You don't want someone who calls in sick every time their friends are having a party.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 10-21-2008, 02:43 PM:

My wife does our interviewing. I think she considers their personality more than their experience. Teenage kids can be trained to do just about anything. She'll do some role-play type exercises to see if they can think on their feet at all.

Also, our application has a "Read this first!" paragraph at the top that says "Before you apply, please remember that this is a job that will require you to work evenings and weekends, and there may be times when you will have to work when something "fun" is going on. However, we can often work around scheduled events, and all students are guaranteed to have Prom Night off. With that in mind, proceed!"

Needless to say, this filters out about half of our applications.

Posted by Timothy Eiler (Member # 383) on 10-21-2008, 03:59 PM:

The last question I ask is "If a customer buys a $5.50 popcorn and then hands you $20.00 How much change do they get???"

If they answer anything except $14.50 they do not get hired.

Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 10-21-2008, 04:33 PM:

I pretty much always ask:
"Aside from being paid, why do you want to work here?",
"What qualities, abilities, or skills do you feel are your strongest and reasons you will be picked over other applicants?"
"What do you feel are your weaknesses and how do you work around them?"

I also like to ask about what they do outside of work/school, what their hobbies and interests are. Tells you a lot about them.
If they don't have any answer, to me, that's a red flag that they do things they don't want to tell you about.

If they're interviewing for a managerial position I like to ask about prior conflicts they've resolved and the like, with coworkers as well as with peers and supervisors.
No answer means they roll-over on command or are such a jerk nobody goes near them.

I'm looking for folks that are calm and thoughtful. The more thoughtful the better.

And if your theater is busy, athletic kids that don't necessarily play an organized sport but are just very active are usually really good -- they have tons of energy and pep, think on their feet, and in my experience get along better.

My 2 cents...

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 10-21-2008, 04:41 PM:

I try to ask some questions that get them talking about themselves and that will give me a sense of their personality. What's your favorite movie, what are your favorite subjects, least favorite subjects. If they don't expand then I usually ask a follow-up.

I like the one suggested about how much change they would give back.

Posted by Scott D. Neff (Member # 185) on 10-21-2008, 11:26 PM:

My old boss (which is to say he's my former boss AND he's old) had the best interview questions ever for floor staff. They had nothing to do with why they wanted to work there and nothing to do with their math skills, but more about how they'd react in a certain situation.

Not role-playing sort of stuff, but things like:

It's your first night and it's a BUSY Saturday. You're cleaning theatres and a customer walks up to you and asks you something you don't know the answer to. How would you handle that?

The applicant can say any number of things, but likely the ones that say "I don't know." or "I'd tell them to ask a manager." aren't the ones you REALLY wanna hire. But the ones that say "I'd take them to the customer service desk to speak to a manager." or "I'd ask them to hang on while I find out the answer for them." would be people you'd more likely want to hire.

There were only or three questions, but they were really effective, especially when you're looking to fill one of those "warm body" positions. I wish I could remember all of them...

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 10-22-2008, 12:38 PM:

At some point during the interview after the applicant answers a question, drop everything, look at them point-blank, and ask "And you expect me to believe THAT?"

Then ask them "What's your problem with Korea, anyway?".

Then proceed with the interview normally.

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 10-22-2008, 04:08 PM:

Do you like gladiator movies?

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 10-22-2008, 04:11 PM:

I think both Sam and Adam have it pretty much dialed in...

But of course they both missed asking the MOST important and personality telling question: "Do you wear boxers or briefs?"

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 10-22-2008, 05:36 PM:

Do you have any experience?

-If "YES" - See ya. Good luck with the job hunt.

-If "NO". - Welcome aboard. Let me mold and shape you.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 10-22-2008, 07:27 PM:

Why should experience be thrown out the door like that? Hopefully there are other questions you ask as well.

It's not always a bad thing.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 10-22-2008, 07:39 PM:

With experience can come bad habits. Retraining projectionists is always a pain in the ass. It seems like they ALL come with super bad habits these days. Experience certainly isn't always a bad thing, but it rarely seems to be a good thing in this field. What I look for instead is attentiveness, technical competence (and interest), punctuality and efficiency.

I once had the usher girl come up and inform me that a movie was supposed to start a three minutes ago (I was busy building a film). No customers were complaining, she just noticed on her own. That impressed me. Unfortunately her availability sucks ass, but otherwise I wouldn't mind training her as she seems strong in other areas of overall work competence goes.

Posted by Caleb Johnstone-Cowan (Member # 3710) on 10-22-2008, 08:01 PM:

If you ask for an example of when someone has had to adapt to changes in their workplace or working practices then the strength of their answer could allay your fears of hiring experienced people. That was one of the better questions I've been asked in an interview.

What I really want to do when I get to a stage in my career that I interview people is get the person to shut their eyes and quickly box them in with tensabarriers, then ask them to come stand by me on the other side. If they try to climb over or duck they're out, if they open the tag at the end and walk out they're in!

Posted by Joe Elliott (Member # 4006) on 10-22-2008, 10:45 PM:

Back when I had to worry about that, I checked out a book at the library (pre-internet), called 101 interview questions. It had questions separated out by experience, hobbies, etc. Even had a "last resort questions". My favorite last resort question, which I only used when confronted with those who would give me only one word answers was "If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be".

You have to collect a broad array of questions, and tailor it to the applicant. If they have experience, use more experience based questions. If they have lots of education, and after school activities, have questions based on that. Always be ready to see what kind of "wood" they are made of. You are trying to find out what kind of character and work ethics they have, and as such there is no end-all beat-all set of questions.

And watch out for those who seem to have all the "right" answers ready. The ones who have canned answers that is what they think you want to hear. Be ready to give them the off the wall questions to see through the crap they have practiced.

Remember Google is your friend. A quick search reveiled several good sites.

Questions you should not ask:
http://www.jobinterviewquestions.org/questions/illegal-questions-interviewer.asp

100 questions to ask:
http://career-advice.monster.com/job-interview-practice/100-Potential-Interview-Questions/home.aspx

Categorized list:
http://www.csc.uvic.ca/~csmacoop/studentprep/interviews/intquestions.html

Posted by Galen Murphy-Fahlgren (Member # 4535) on 10-23-2008, 12:06 AM:

Caleb, that reminds me of a time when my GM at my old theater and I were sitting at the managers' station counter and some kid walks up to turn in an application. He completely ignored the staffer standing ticket post and just walked under the barrier! The manager took the kid's application without even bothering with the basic questions whenever someone turns in an application. As soon as the kid walks away, the app goes straight to the bottom of the 100 deep pile. There's no way to ruin your chances quite like ignoring the rules and courtesy expected of all guests.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 10-23-2008, 03:14 AM:

quote: John Wilson
Why should experience be thrown out the door like that

I ran into that as well when I was a "Presentation MGR" for a 21 screen complex.

Coming from the "old school" days where experience was valuable, these days experience means competition and the new candidates are planning on getting what they want even if it means to take your title away from you.

I hired a college kid that had booth experience for a member of one of my crew and he began to complain to the boss that my "old school" methods were not acceptable to his liking and I should be running the booths in his manner of fashion.

Then, I had another fellow that, though with being on an actual movie set as part of the production team, it would carry him into areas of the booth to gain importance with the main boss of the theatre - even to get me in trouble if I was late for my shift since he was already there and could watch the place, but just had to make a point.

In short, all of this competition really overwhelmed me since I've never had this sort of confrontation in the past.

Now, if one want's to learn booth, my main question is that, "are you doing it for the interest and to learn a new skill, or are you doing it just to get away from the tasks downstairs?" If the latter, then I'll keep them downstairs.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 10-23-2008, 05:44 AM:

quote: Joe Elliott
"If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be"

So, um, how is a question like this supposed to be helpful in deciding whether or not to hire someone? Would you want an oak tree to work for you, or would the birch tree be a better choice?

I hate hate hate interview questions like this (as well as "tell me about yourself"), since they make the interviewer seem lazy and dumb, even if he is not.

I don't interview people for minimum-wage positions and I don't consider myself to be a particularly good interviewer, but even I can do better than this. I generally try to ask questions about what the candidate has done (specifically) in his last position, what problems he has solved (and how and why a particular solution was chosen), and the like. This generally provides a good indication of whether the candidate is intelligent and has the experience that is indicated on his resume. I also try to ask about hobbies and interests as a way of getting the candidate to talk and, hopefully, provide some indication of whether he can work with me and the others in the organization.

For someone in a customer-service position, it is also important to see if the candidate has a pleasant manner and would be a good representative of the company to the general public.

I take the position that someone who is smart and interested can learn how to do any job, and that the most important function of an interview is to determine this and also to make sure that the candidate's personality and demeanor will allow him to fit in with the other employees.

Posted by Tony Ratcliff (Member # 1196) on 10-23-2008, 04:39 PM:

I have to agree with the notion of no experience being better, for floor staff anyway.

My best employees have always been a teen who has never had a job before, is a good student and appears to have common sense and politeness. Everything else I can teach them.
I've even taught a good kid some math lessons - she was excellent with customers, just couldn't add worth a darn.

Questions I always ask in an interview are:
"Who was/is your favorite boss ( or teacher for a teen ), and why?"
Then I ask, "Who was/is your LEAST favorite, and why?".
These questions can really reveal a lot about someone personality. I also use these answers to judge if my management style will meld well with them.

Tony

Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 11-22-2008, 01:05 PM:

Tony's right on the money there. Great questions -- I usually ask these.

It's also true, you can start with a kid that's 16 with no work-history and if you train him or her correctly they'll be a great employee and stick around for a good long while, play your cards right and these kids are your next batch of assistant managers when those kids grow up enough and get a 'real' job or go off to school elsewhere.

The problem however with a lot of the kids we work with is that they lack (increasingly it seems) a few of the fundamental necessities for getting along in the world.
They either have poor ethics or manners and most frighteningly an unfounded sense of entitlement.
I've been in management in this business in some capacity for about 4 years and more and more I find kids that think it's acceptable to tell YOU how they should do their job. Heaven forbid they do exactly what you pay them for.

At any rate, let me climb off my soap box...

Ultimately I think the best employees are the ones that need the job because those are typically the ones that know how the world works.
I don't care of they show up early or on-time (early is a plus of course) or if they sit up perfectly straight and have a cover letter.

I'm looking for someone who turns up on time, looking presentable (could be dress clothes or not as long as you don't look like a bum/gang banger), answers questions honestly and acts like they honestly want the job (I get a lot of applicants whose parents are trying to force them to get a job).

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 11-22-2008, 11:06 PM:

I have conflicting opinions about hiring the "good" students. The upside is these students tend to be more responsible, intelligent, and trustworthy. The downside is they tend to have more scheduling conflicts and work is not always a priority to them.

I've had more than a few 'A' students who had difficulty thinking for themselves or taking initiative to do things without asking. and many students in advanced math classes that had great difficulty with things like making change or counting inventory.

All things being equal, my ideal employee is usually a 'B' student who actually needs to work to earn money for a car or to go to school. And I would tend to prefer someone going to a community college rather than a university.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-22-2008, 11:33 PM:

quote: Dominic Espinosa
I find kids that think it's acceptable to tell YOU how they should do their job. Heaven forbid they do exactly what you pay them for.

I always make a point of telling the kids WHY they are to do something a certain way. Then they're more likely to do it. Also, we encourage the employees* to tell us if they think of a better/faster/easier way to do something; we either tell them why that won't work, or we adopt the idea. Making feel like they're part of the operation, as opposed to just slogging along following the manual, helps get them onto our side.

* Employees = people who work here. I hate the way everyone's now gotta be an associate, teammate, customer care specialist, barista, "lead," etc. We've had 'employees' for 79 years and it's gonna stay that way, dammit. (Yeah, Redifer, I know, I'm getting old.)

Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 11-22-2008, 11:59 PM:

quote: Phil Hill
But of course they both missed asking the MOST important and personality telling question: "Do you wear boxers or briefs?"

LOL why am I not surprised that Phil would ask? [Razz]

But, actually:

Boxer wearers will tend to be more laid-back, easier to train and less likely to get rattled under pressure.

Brief wearers will be more uptight, resistant to training and change, fly off at a tense situation, and you'll always catch them adjusting their goods.

And if a guy goes commando, he's gonna be a bit too loose to be working in public.

A guy with a g-string is working in the wrong industry.

Posted by Ky Boyd (Member # 23) on 11-24-2008, 01:51 AM:

So why do you want to work in a movie theatre?
What was the last movie you saw?
What did you think of it?

The third question is the money question. Someone who is comfortable talking to a couple of total strangers about their thoughts about a movie they saw (in a theatre, on video, on tv, it really doesn't matter) is someone who will be capable of talking to the general public. One word answers don't cut it. I want to know if they have an opinion and can give me two or three literate sentences about their thoughts on the film.

You can teach anyone to sell popcorn and soda or tickets. You can't teach people to have a personality. And those who really aren't interested in movies or just think a theatre is an easy place to work won't make the cut.

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 11-24-2008, 02:32 AM:

Ky,

I see where you're coming from, but I've worked with plenty of people who started out really timid with talking to the public and got over the "fear" over time, only then really getting to interact with people. Just because they started out differently doesn't mean they needed to be taught "personality", imo.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-24-2008, 09:43 AM:

quote:
I've worked with plenty of people who started out really timid with talking to the public and got over the "fear" over time,

Same here, especially with teenagers. Long-time readers might remember a thread I started some time ago about a kid we had just hired who was a good worker but was very shy, talked in a monotone, and didn't have that "bubbly" thing going. Well he's still with us and his personality has grown about 2000% since he's been here. He's now one of our best workers.

Posted by Brandon Henry (Member # 4161) on 12-04-2008, 05:55 PM:

Thanks for all the good feedback. I interviewed 4 kids last night and was amazed that when I gave each of them a drawer of money and said a customer just ordered 13.75 worth of conecessions and gives you a 20.00 go ahead and make change. 3 out of 4 kids got it wrong. One gave me me 7.75 back. The other 2 were off by a dollar.

Posted by Caleb Johnstone-Cowan (Member # 3710) on 12-07-2008, 12:07 AM:

We were talking about this recently, if you tell a prospective candidate the job is mostly cleaning their reaction should give you a good idea whether to hire them or not.

Posted by Brad Allen (Member # 470) on 12-09-2008, 07:45 PM:

quote: Brandon Henry
I interviewed 4 kids last night and was amazed that when I gave each of them a drawer of money and said a customer just ordered 13.75 worth of conecessions and gives you a 20.00 go ahead and make change. 3 out of 4 kids got it wrong. One gave me me 7.75 back. The other 2 were off by a dollar.

Note suprised at all my self.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-09-2008, 08:54 PM:

Brandon - when you do that exercise, do you make them count the change back? I try to get our kids to do that but it's a constant battle. I hate cashiers who just hand me a pile of money and say "six seventy-five is your change, thank you."

Posted by Dennis M Dow Jr (Member # 1970) on 12-10-2008, 01:11 PM:

When I was managing a theater and hiring employees, my 2 pet questions were 1)Why do you want to work in a theater? and 2) if they got the first question right then they had to make change as if the pos system went down and they had to figure it out manually.
Had one lady who was so stressed during the interview that she couldn't even think about making change. needless to say she was not hired.
On the first one you can always tell who is going to work out and who won't. An answer of it looks like it is easy is an automatic thank you and goodbye.

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 12-19-2008, 10:52 AM:

Earlier this week I interviewed two employees. I gave both of them a drawer and asked them to make change for $13.25 from $20. Both of them gave me $7.50. This was the first time I used this questions so I wasn't really sure how to use it to evaluate them as potential employees. I did wind up hiring both because they were the only two interviews and I needed to hire a couple people. Plus, I think properly counting change is something employees can be easily trained on.

I did find out later that one of the two realized his mistake and was very angry with himself and thought he had cost himself a job.