Applied directly through their website, which also supplies interview tips. I was contacted by a recruiter, who scheduled a 30-minute interview over the phone. The interview was much like what you will experience with the manager(s), asking questions about your past employment that you specifically mentioned on your resume. The conversation was pleasant and positive, but there were some challenges in the situational questioning as expected. After the phone conversation, she contacted a regional manager to see if there was a location available that was closer to where I lived, and scheduled an interview with the regional manager at the location where I was to train/manage. I did my research on SBUX (mission statement, values, stock performance, history) and its competition to show that I really cared about the company and its success. I arrived 15 minutes early, dressed in business professional (suit/tie) with 2 copies of my resume on quality paper that I kept in a folio. From my research, I knew to wait for the interviewer to arrive to get coffee, as it would be part of the conversation. He arrived on-time and pulled out a laptop to take notes and review my resume (nobody appreciates good paper anymore), and the interview was very personable and relaxed. We already had a lot in common since we were both veterans, and we related a lot of those experiences to managing a retail store and personnel. We spoke at length about where I had lived, who/what I managed, and he asked several situational questions, and I provided as much detail as possible. Basically, be a good story-teller. Nobody wants to listen to boring stories, and definitely close-out the stories with how they apply to the question the interviewer asked. After our long conversation, we discussed salary requirements (on my part), and I was given the opportunity to ask questions of him. ASK ABOUT COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT! We shook hands, and he said he would let my recruiter know that he enjoyed our conversation and that he'd like to have me aboard. The rest of the logistics are handled by the recruiter to schedule start-dates, background checks, et cetera.

Phone interview with a recruiter who expects STAR style answers. The questions are pretty standard and easy to find online, so prep isn’t hard. Honestly, the toughest part, if you’re already an internal employee, is getting the interview in the first place. You really have to show your managers that you’re serious about moving into the role.