You fill out an application for their company online, and you can select up to five locations to be considered for. However, I don't know if they really care for their applicants unless you make the effort to come into one of their stores and say, "Hi, my name is Such And Such, and I'm wondering if your store is currently hiring." You're just another name in their pile, otherwise. You need to go out and make an appearance.
I was hoping to work at a particular store because it was close to my house. I went in and got to speak with the manager, and told her I was looking for full-time work. She told me then that she was not sure she could give me full-time, but she said she would let me know if something came up. Surprisingly, that same afternoon, she gave me a call and asked me if I could come in a week later for an interview.
I told her I could, and a week later I walked into the store wearing a button-up shirt, slacks, and dress shoes. (I had studied previous Glassdoor interviews and I decided it was a good idea to dress up rather than dress down.) The staff behind the counter recognized I was there to be interviewed and kindly offered me a drink while I waited. I understand this is common courtesy for their stores, and it's a pretty nice perk just for an interview!
The manager and her assistant manager were busy interviewing another applicant--my competitor. After that was finished, the assistant went back behind the counter to work and the manager came over. We greeted one another and made a little small talk before getting down to business. She gave me the standard barrage of interview questions: why I wanted to work at Starbucks, how I would deal with customers or coworkers in certain situations, the usual. I felt that I answered questions fairly well, but I was a little nervous that day, and because of this I might've babbled a bit TOO much. I wonder if this could have hurt my chances. We wrapped up the interview and she told me that she would give me a call either that day or the next.
The manager ended up calling me the next day and told me that she had decided to go with the other candidate because she was not able to give me full-time hours. I was a bit perplexed by this; why would she interview me if she knew she couldn't give me the hours? I quickly (and, I'll admit, desperately) told her if that was the only thing holding back her decision, I would settle for part-time work. The manager then replied in turn that the other candidate also had a bit more of the experience that she was looking for. I suppose this was somewhat fair; the last time I had worked as a barista was during the summer of 2007, and I had worked nothing but summer jobs since then.
The manager added that she would keep me under consideration for getting hired in the near future--the fall season is apparently busy for Starbucks. If she offered me a job, though, I don't know if I would take it. I know Starbucks supposedly treats their employees well, but I felt like I got toyed with. I don't know why she bothered interviewing me if she still knew I wouldn't be able to work full-time; perhaps she was expecting me to plead for part-time like I did? Not cool.
