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We are going to interview a couple of teenagers tomorrow to work at our 4-screen. Mainly they will be selling concession items and selling tickets as well as some cleaning and stocking tasks. I was wondering what questions some of you ask teenage applicants at a job interview. Anything specific you look for in an applicant that makes them stand out?

The first thing I look at when they come through the door is how they are dressed. If they have a neat appearance that tells me (hopefully) that they will neat in whatever position I put them in.

Look for people that come to the interview by themselves, this sends the message to me that they are confident and may be a strong worker.

I also pay attention to how they express themselves. If they talk in slangs or try to overly impress then I get they feeling that there is a problem somewhere in this person's character.

Those are some of the things I look for.

Look at their school activities. I've found that the more active ones are better workers even though they are not always available to work a lot. The ones with no activities are ususally pretty lazy.

Thanks for the suggestions. Those are definately good things to look for.

Although, I'm more interested in what questions you would ask them at a job interview. I've interviewed a couple of people before but I always feel that I forget to ask them something. I'm just interested in what questions you would ask them to help you determine if they would work out well for the theater or not.

There is almost nothing specific you can ask in an interview that will tell you if they will be a good employee. There are people who are good at interviews and people who are not. There are people who are good a deception and people who are not.

What you are looking for in an interview is presentation, poise, punctualness and the ability to carry on a conversation.

We always use to ask two questions:

Why do you want to work in a movie theatre?

What was the last movie you saw and what did you think of it?

The answers didn't matter much, the ability to answer and the ability to communicate were what we were looking for. Accounting for nervousness, we almost didn't need to ask more. I always asked what the teenager's goals were and what they were doing after high school. That told me about how they saw themselves and what they thought of their future.

In a movie theatre you are looking for enthusiasm, alertness, cleanliness. Give me an enthusiastic person and I can teach then anything else they need to do the job.

The one thing I have never been able to figure out in an interview is deception and laziness. That's why you tell them you are hiring them provisionally and that if it doesn't work out to either of your satisfaction you move on.

Also, don't be hasty. After they drop off the application, schedule the interview later so you can see if they are on time. At the end of the interview tell them that you will think it over, even if you have made up your mind. Call them later with your decision. That way if you forget a question, you can come back to them with it later.

Use a probationary period if you are nervous about getting it right.

If you run across someone who might be developmentally disabled don't be afraid to ask to speak with their parent. Almost everybody that we hired who might have been developmentally disabled worked out for us, but then we had realistic expectations.

Remember that a movie theatre job is usually a starter job and you need to teach them how to be a good employee and what a good employer looks like. Take pride in the fact that you might send a good employee out in to the bigger world.

I'll take enthusiasm over skill any day.

[This message has been edited by Large (edited May 18, 2005).]

Thanks for the suggestions Large. I know that you cannot know everything about a person or how they will work out just by asking a couple of questions. I usually try my best to ask questions such as if they are available most weekends, what their plans are for summer vactions or time off, if they have things going on in school that would interfere with them working at the theater, and a few other things. For some reason, I get the feeling that afterwards I should have asked them something else but didn't think about it. But I also know that if you ask someone if they are a hard worker and they say "yes", then they could be lying.

I do agree that the way a person is dressed and how they conduct themselves are good indicates as well. Not to meantion if the application that they filled out was nicely written and brought back to the theater without being folded up.

The interesting thing about these guidelines is that 99% of the applicants at our theater come in dressed in street clothes and most often aren't very articulate.
It's generaly a crapshoot.
Most of the kids we hire end up being a hit or miss situation, some work out, a lot of them don't.
What then?

Well, we interviewed 2 girls last night at our theater for the job of selling concessions/tickets. Both girls were nicely dressed (no street clothes), one girl came on time and the other came 10 minutes early, both did a decent job of answering our questions, and probably the one thing I was most impressed about with both of the girls is that after the interview, both of them reached out to give me a handshake without me having to initiate a handshake. I thought that was very professional of both of them.

Now we run into the problem of figuring out which girl to hire. We know we have to hire at least one person. We've even considered hiring both of them because we're getting into the summer season and hopefully we'll be busy enough to need the extra help (especially since we've lost 3 employees in about the last month plus have another employee who is looking for another job). If we do hire both girls and both girls work out, then we could probably let go of one of our employees who doesn't do a very good job at the theater.

OH for the good old days. When I was hired for my first theater job (way back in 1972) I was not put on pay for the first two nights as an usher. I was trained off the clock to do little more than tear tickets, clean auditoriums between shows and get on kids for talking. The same was true of those that sold tickets and those that worked concessions.

When I moved to the booth I be told I would not be able to receive pay for my job till they were certain I could run the booth without help. Mind you, it was twin with two separate booths and only 20-minute reels and to boot carbon arc. Two days again and I was on the clock.

Makes a difference those that don't care don't stay until they are paid! We can't do that anymore it is a pity.

And not that it matters now but I was so happy when we went to hour long reels.

Two questions I always ask of every interviewee:

For high schoolers with no job experience:
1) Who has been your favorite and your least favorite teachers in school and why?

For those with job experience:
1) Who was your favorite boss to work for and your least favorite boss to work for?

These questions will give you clues as to the applicants personality and if it will match with your management style.

These have been tie-breaker / make-or-break questions for me several times.
I always want to make a sure as is possible that those I hire will get along well with me and the other managers.

tratcliff - Great idea, those questions and your reason for asking them are briliant. I will use them in the future.

Adding to the question of school activities: Check on family schedules. We frequently have kids that go here & there with travelling families. When Mom & Dad say their child is going with them, it's not easy to tell them they can't.

tratcliff - Thanks for the suggestion. I'll have to ask those questions the next time we do interviews.

rodeojack - This is definately a problem. You have kids that say they want to work but they are always asking for time off or go away during busy holiday times or whatnot. Last year we hired a girl and didn't know it at the time, but when summer came around she said she needed the WHOLE SUMMER OFF because her family goes out of town on the weekends. I guess we worked things out and hired a couple of new people while she had the summer off since we were going to have to hire some people anyway due to loosing a couple of employees after the summer.

1.Tell me about yourself
2.Why do you want to work here?
2. What do you know about us?
3. Do you know anyone else who works here?
4. What is your availability?
5.How many shifts are you looking for a week?
6.Are you going away for the summer?
Are you on any sports teams, clubs, evening classes etc...(looking for availability question)
I always ask their availablity and they say anytime, then I ask about teams and classes and it's always - I'm on the football team and have practice on Tues & Thurs, or I have piano classes on x night, youth night is Wed, so really tehy can only work 2 nights.

7 Where else have you worked? Are you working anywhere right now?
8. Tell me about what you did there?
9. What did you like about it?
10. What did you not like about it?
11. What is your biggest strength?
- I know it's a corny question, but most hum and haw about what it is.
12. What is your biggest weakness?
- Once in awhile you will get some one who actually gives you a weakness. I'm lazy,
13. What are your favorite classes in school?
14. Why?
15. Who is your favorite teacher?
16. Why?
17. How is your attendance?
18. Do you hae any questions for me?

Usually somewhere in there I will tell them about the job, ie box office, usher, concession - what we are hiring for. Tell them the starting wage - and watch for body language, typical hours of work and WHEN those hours are.

I usually hire at least 2 people at a time, to me it seams that it goes better cause I can compare one persons progress to another, rather than comparing them to someone who's been here for a lot longer. They have a couple of months to get it(it's not rocket science) and if not...bye bye.
If one doesn't work out then there is the 2nd person for a back up.

What they do at the theatre is not rocket science...What I try to hire for is personality. Quiet, shy, need not apply. But on the other hand crazy talkers I don't like either - as they do more talking than working.

[This message has been edited by Mill (edited July 20, 2005).]

Great questions Mill. I learned the hard way last week to give them a math quiz about making change.