Dunkin Donuts as a franchise also beats Starbucks in coffee sales. This confectionery chain is known to people for coffee and donuts. It has stores in 12,500 locations in 40 countries. It has a total of 200,000 employees working for the company. Being such a successful company, people would like to apply for a job at this eatery. With a big name comes extreme competition to get a good position in the joint. If you are nervous about the type of questions that you might be posed in a crew member interview, do not worry I have got you covered.
Asking general questions like what is your favourite food is very common, but in this write-up, we will discuss some different types of questions that are frequently asked during a Dunkin Donuts crew member interview.
What are the Questions Asked at the Job Interview for a Crew Member Position at Dunkin Donuts?
What Made You Decide to Work at Dunkin Donuts?
This question is aimed at understanding the soft skills that you have. Here you will be assessed on the skills that you owe. Not on the products you know that Dunkin’ sells. As you know Dunkin sells a lot of coffee and donuts. If you say, you like it. The interviewer would rather like you to be a customer than an employee. Avoid this answer and mention your communication skills, managerial skills, knowledge about baking and frying, etc.
What Experience Do You Have Working in the Customer Support Area?
This question targets two main areas of your work. One is obviously trying to gauge how customer-friendly you are in your work. Apart from that, it is also trying to see your experiences in the department of customer services. In any shape or form, do not sound pessimistic and depressed about your job. Mention you are happy doing what you do, and you have grown leaps and bounds till now compared to when you started in the industry.
The best part about this question is you do not need some customer service work experience to answer this question. We all have coffee and tea or any type of food from an eatery joint, you always get to see the waiter or go to the counter for self-service. You would know the person at the counter and the way his behavior is. Along similar lines, there will be situations where you will be offended by some harsh person at the counter. You have to include elements of happy experiences and replicate them in your answer. So this question is easy in this regard.
Why Choose Us For Work & Not Our Competitors?
This question is also incredibly important. This is asked to gauge your personal preference and also understand your honesty. Whether you are giving a statement wholeheartedly or under duress. You need to relate to your personal experience as a customer. You have to talk about areas where Dunkin stands apart from other similar businesses. You also have to mention why you preferred Dunkin over another confectionery joint. These questions need to be prepared to gain the trust of your employees and establish you as an honest and earnest employee.
I like this question because it reflects your personal judgment of the company. Here the company is not looking at your traits or skills. The company is trying to judge your integrity, truthfulness, and sincerity. You have to ace this answer regardless. Let’s look at some pros and cons of this question:
Pros
- Establishes you as a supporter of the Dunkin franchise
- Workers start having faith in you
- It eliminates possible suspicion that often arises with new employees regarding leaving work soon
Cons
- You might have to compromise on your ethics and lie
- If you are a newbie and you lied about your skills during the first months they might reconsider your position
How Do You Deal With an Upset Customer?
Upset customers are tough to deal with. They cause problems in the middle of work. Here, the question is asked to see your patience and How do you handle a crisis which happens because of a service issue or food served to a customer. You need to show your sympathy and patient side to the interviewer. Talk about How you will console the person. Just add in that, you will make sure that the person goes back from your home happy as it’s your duty as a worker to do so.
Can You Work on Weekends?
Many teens will outright reject the work schedule if it does not align with their school and college classes, Or for that matter, a person will not choose to work at a particular time. Rejection can cost you your job. You have to show that you are willing to let something go because you want to work at the Dunkin Joint. If you are willing to do something, the recruiters will also make some concessions for you.
Can You Work Under Pressure?
Pressure is the ultimate litmus test. No amount of honing and skilling your set of talents can compare to impressing in your job as compared to someone who can deal with pressure. Mental stress can be fundamentally deteriorating, but keeping sanity intact and marching forward shows a brilliant character trait. It makes you a fighter.
I would recommend using an example in this question. Mention something detrimental that was happening at the joint and How you were able to avert the crisis from not spreading. People relate more to examples. For instance, “In an accidental fire, you went inside an ablaze building to take out your customers.”
What Will Be Your Response if a Customer Comes Running to You to Talk to the Manager?
If you look at it from the surface level people might presume that this question is a skill expertise question. But actually, it’s not a skill question. It’s a question about work experience. They want to know your work experience in the food industry. There is a protocol where you don’t call the manager till you are able to fix it. Once you are done fixing make sure that your customer is happy with the service.
Compared to other questions this question is tricky. Tricky being a little non-direct and can make your mind spin. If we do a comparative analysis of this question with other questions we can see that the question is built differently. It has been created to either check if you are bluffing as an experienced worker or if you are claiming a lot of things that you haven’t done yet.
What Will Be Your Transportation While Commuting From Home to Work & Vice-versa?
This question is asked to see your transportation status. You have to mention the vehicle that you will use for commuting to work from home. Talk about your plans to attend work on a snowy day. Many people rely on trams and buses for work. In case your outlet is far. You can always shift to a nearby location.
Make sure to keep Dunkin and your college in the vicinity. That will help in time management, it won’t lead to strenuous schedules and you can approach the work on time. Make sure to always reach 10 minutes early for work. Do not commute for long distances if you are working part-time and it’s seriously not worth it.
This Job is Quite Repetitive. How Will You Motivate Yourself to Work Every Day?
This question helps the panel to understand your ability to remain centered and stable. Here, the question is based on your motivation to do the work. Money or getting some extra cash to have some stuff is too small a reason. One has to have some bigger goals that one wants to achieve. This is extremely imperative. Some like baking/frying, and some like to work in the eatery industry. You need to contextualize things that can become a source of inspiration which will drive you to the same thing again and again out of your love for the work.
Recommended Reading – Short & Long Term Career Aspirations
Are You Employed Presently?
This is another tricky question that needs some amount of thinking before you answer in an interview. Dunkin Donuts employ a lot of young teens. They often do not have a desirable experience. For any working person, this question will mean when can you submit your salary receipts and release letter from the previous working institution. But instead, they are trying to understand relevant work experience.
Here, if you haven’t had formal employment, try to discuss stuff that you have done in your school. Talk about activities that you have done in a group. Mention any relevant projects that you have done in school. Talk about any cooking activity that you have done in school. If you like baking and have taken part in any competition in relation to baking inside or outside school, discuss it with the interviewing panel.
What Kind of Challenge Do You Foresee in This Job?
Every job has its own baggage, this will have too. What the interviewer wants to hear is what kind of solutions you have for those challenges which are pretty known by the panel. How do you manage a dissatisfied customer, all of this is very intricately related to How do you steer from the obstacles that have been part and parcel of your job.
So tell them how you will remain calm in a crisis situation where an employer is angry with the order. How you will confidently deal with someone who wants to speak to the manager. As it’s a rule that a crew member should always solve the problem and call the manager whenever it’s necessary. This is where the understanding of the job comes into play and you need to illustrate it.
Recommended Reading – What Challenges Are You Looking For In A Position?
What Are The Questions Asked At The Job Interview For a Baker Position at Dunkin Donuts?
Dunkin Donuts does not specifically require any trained baker. Donuts are often more deep-fried than Baked. Baking is very rarely done. And if the outlet is small, the donuts come from the central kitchen. During training, you are taught both frying and baking. The questions won’t be asked directly as the entry point to the outlet is the same. After the same training, preferential roles are assigned. Here is a question to check on your work flexibility.
Are You Open to New Experiences?
This question is aimed at how flexible you are in your approach to your work. If you are at the ordering counter, there can be a situation where you might be required to fry or bake donuts in case of emergency. That kind of versatile training is often required. This question targets the ability to multi-task in case of emergency needs.
What are the Dunkin Donuts Manager Interview Questions and Answers?
If you want to be appointed as a manager in Dunkin you need to look after all the work inside the outlet. Always divide the work among the team prior to starting to attend to customers for the day. In many cases, a schedule is drafted. Some leadership questions will be asked.
How Do You Handle a Customer Dissatisfied With Food?
Dissatisfied customers often want the manager to come and attend to their problems. If you are a manager you already know that the customer’s problem was not solved by the crew member. Hence, you are being called. In situations like these, the interviewers are wanting to look at the plan you have to handle the scene. Be calm and be present to hear her problem. In case, her food has some legitimate issues, then give the customer a new order.
Do You Have Any Background in Management Education?
Though education is not required in appointing crew members, they require seasoned employees for managerial positions. One who has some amount of marketing and business knowledge or experience. Having that exploratory form of education will help you better yourself in the long run. You can understand and act as an asset for the outlet and the company.
How Do You Integrate The Spirit of Teamwork in Your Workers?
Teamwork is a very important asset for any company. The other name of the company should be ‘group of many employees’. Because of what you see as any franchise, in the case of Dunkin Donuts the outlets are a small fraction of the large organization of 12,500 stores they have. They have to unite a team of 200,000 employees from all over the world to make Donuts. You have to do your part for that unity. Some factors that help in building better teamwork:
- Mutual respect for all workers from the doorman to the manager needs to be the same
- People should have some involvement in each other’s lives
- Teach workers to be empathetic and helpful when attending to a customer
- Rewards should be offered if someone has exceeded the expectations of the company
Dunkin Donuts Shift Leader Interview Questions
A shift leader of a Dunkin Donut outlet is basically a person that oversees crew member work and is usually rotational. This culture builds accountability among employees. A question might be asked in relation to the assessment of this.
If You See Any Peer Worker Stealing What Will You Do?
Irrespective of the biases that you have, you need to be loyal to the company here. The answer is framed to judge honesty and being dutiful. You are expected to complain about that person to the higher management of the company. You are expected. If this gets caught and the management knows about your silence you can lose your job.
What Should You Wear for a Dunkin Donuts Manager Interview?
Dunkin Donuts Managers often have formal attire. Here are some tips on what to wear:
Conclusion
Dunkin Donuts is known for its tasty donuts and coffee. The best thing about the franchise is that in walk-in interviews you are selected and you can start work from that particular day itself. I have given you a list of questions that are commonly asked in a Dunkin interview for a crew member or a manager. Going through them will instill confidence in you before the interview.
