Car Washer Interview Preparation Guide

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I would say, 'On the way to work I'm thinking about the 20 things on my to-do list when I get into the office,'. "That demonstrates that you're on and ready to go when you get there.

I'd say. That's a conversational dead end!

Seriously, do you really want an interviewer to conclude that, after knowing each other just five minutes, you have nothing else to say to one another? God forbid you run into one another in the kitchen while heating up a Lean Cuisine — those will be the longest five minutes of your life!

On the "don't" list, Lachapelle suggests, never speak negatively about a past employer or former co-worker.

And never, under any circumstances, miss an opportunity to sell yourself. Even if a penguin walks into the room!

This is not the time for waffling, you're being asked to give a succinct summary which shows your skills and characteristics and interest in the company you' may be about to join.

Steer clear from the 'How did you get where you were' type questions and go for something which will make you stand out and memorable.

To work this out you'll need a lot longer than the time given in an interview so therefore the answer you give is more to do with how you think about the process of solving the question - rather than coming up with the answer itself.

Add to this the fact buildings are popping up all the time in London, just take the stat last year that 260 new tower blocks were currently planned for the London skyline, and it's a near-on impossible task to come up with a factually correct reply.

Instead think about how many people there are in London - eight million - and how many businesses - 3 million listed on Companies House for the whole of the UK - and you can start to think about the answer.

However, when you start factoring in the size of the window and the ability of the window cleaner, you're on sticky ground.

Replying with an answer on how you would go about finding out an approximate number will work in your favour as it shows how you deal with pressure and problem solving.

"'Under Pressure' by Queen!" One person said.

"'I'm a Rolling Stone,' because I take it as it comes!" one man said.

"'She Works Hard for the Money!'" a woman responded.

This first key to success is by far the most important one. Because site managers affect the results of their wash, it is worth the effort to create a Job Model for that position and evaluate internal or external candidates to see if their behavior traits match the requirements of the job. When someone is a match for any job they achieve more, are happier in their work, and are actually less influenced negatively by family and friends in terms of industry image. When the job satisfaction of a successful manager is high, the chances of retaining that person are better.

☛ How did you prepare for this work?
☛ How would you describe your work style?
☛ Do you have any questions for me?
☛ What are you looking for in terms of career development?
☛ Do you know anyone who works with our company?

Don't stress yourself with the idea of winning or losing. Describe your weaknesses as strengths. Always focus on the positive reason such you were seeking the opportunity to expand your career opportunities.

☛ Tell about a time that you had to adapt to a difficult situation.
☛ What are you expecting from this firm in the future?
☛ What has been your biggest professional disappointment?
☛ Tell me about an important issue you encountered recently.
☛ Can you describe a time when your work was criticized?

Never interrupt even where the question is obvious, wait for the interviewer to finish before your reply.
Provide truthful answers to Car Wash Manager interview questions and exude confidence when speaking. If interviewing for a professional-level position, be ready to answer questions about standards within the industry.

☛ What was the most important task you ever had?
☛ Describe a situation in which you had to collect information.
☛ Give some examples of teamwork.
☛ What negative thing would your last boss say about you?
☛ Tell me about your proudest achievement.

Give several reasons and include skills, experience and interest. Make sure the experience is relevant. Provide truthful answers to Car Wash Manager interview questions and exude confidence when speaking.

☛ What do you look for in a job?
☛ What is the most creative work-related project you've been involved in?
☛ What subjects gave you the most trouble?
☛ What types of people do you get along with and why.
☛ What do you prefer: recruitment or selection?
☛ What would cause you to miss an assignment or be tardy?
☛ What is the hardest job you have ever performed?

☛ Give me an example when you felt you were able to motivate a group.
☛ Tell me about a difficult experience you had as Car Wash Attendant.
☛ Examples of strategic thinking in past situations.
☛ What has been your most successful Car Wash Attendant experience in speech making?
☛ Did you ever postpone making a decision? Why?
☛ What other careers have you considered/applied for?
☛ What was your best learning experience?

☛ Where do you see yourself in five years time?
☛ How do you handle problems with customers?
☛ What are you expecting from Car Wash Attendant job in the future?
☛ Give an example of situations when your leadership skills were needed.
☛ What is your biggest regret and why?
☛ What have you done to contribute toward a teamwork environment?
☛ What are three positive things other Car Wash Attendant would say about you?

☛ What do you think you can bring to this position?
☛ What have you been doing since your last job?
☛ What quality of yours or personal trait matters the most in your career?
☛ Have you ever had difficulty working with a manager?
☛ What do you think, would you be willing to travel for work?

☛ What do you think this position involves.
☛ What major challenges and problems did you face?
☛ Who has impacted you most in your career and how?
☛ Describe a recent unpopular decision you made.
☛ What three character traits would your friends use to describe you?

Think of at least two reasons this job is a good match for your skills, strengths, experience and background.
If you don't know the answer, just be frank and tell them that. Don't feel too much pressure as you have been asked many strict questions that you are unable to answer well.

☛ List five words that describe your character.
☛ Who else have you applied to/got interviews with?
☛ What would be your ideal working environment?
☛ Tell me about your strengths.
☛ What has been your most successful experience in speech making?

☛ Give examples of ideas you've had or implemented.
☛ Has anything ever irritated you about people you've worked with?
☛ How do you decide what gets top priority when scheduling your time?
☛ What kinds of situations do you find most stressful?
☛ What can you do for us that other candidates cant?

☛ How will this job fit in your career plans?
☛ What suggestions do you have for our organization?
☛ Do you always double-check your work?
☛ Why do you want to change jobs?
☛ How do you spend your day?
☛ What clubs do you belong to?
☛ Walk me through the important points on your resume.

☛ Have you written any articles for a professional journal, magazine, or newspaper?
☛ What do you think is required in this position?
☛ What are your pet peeves?
☛ Why did you choose your degree subject?
☛ What gets you out of bed in the morning?
☛ Why aren't your grades higher?
☛ What would you do to drive additional sales?

☛ What two or three accomplishments have given you the most satisfaction?
☛ What do (did) you like about that job and company?
☛ What motivates you in a job and in personal life?
☛ What personal characteristics do you think lead to success in this job?
☛ Would you go there again? Where would you go instead?
☛ What civic organizations do you belong to?
☛ Would you be willing to take a salary cut?

☛ Tell me about an important goal that you set in the past.
☛ What are your expectations regarding promotions and salary increases?
☛ Did you feel you progressed satisfactorily in your last job?
☛ How do you react to instruction and criticism?
☛ Tell me about a difficult experience you had in working.

1. Tell me about your business? How many years in business? Who are the principles? What is their experience in the car wash industry? Do they own and operate car washes, if so how many and what kind? Why did they make the decision (to/not) be in this business? What and how do I benefit from their decision?

2. Who do you represent? Why did you select them? What enables them to offer me a competitive advantage? Who are some of their key accounts? How long have they been in business? Describe your relationship and the support you get that will benefit my business.

3. If I were to select you as my provider what tools and or assistance would I receive as it relates to; Design, consultation with engineers/architects, meeting with and representing me in front of government boards, sitting with my lawyer and any other member of a team I put together? Is there a cost for this service? If so how much? What success have you had in these areas? Would you demonstrate and validate your statements?

4. How do I do business with you? Terms and conditions of sale? Deposits, refunds, payment, guarantees? Will you provide me financial references, vendor and or primary bank relationship?

5. Who is your customer? How do you serve him? What references can you provide me?

6. What is the normal time line required for equipment manufacturer? Delivery? Installation time?

7. Regarding the equipment and installation what are my responsibilities? Yours? Do you have a list that clearly delineates each of our responsibilities? Will you acknowledge and have this as part of our agreement?

8. Based on my site what will you do as to site review, financial projections and suggestions as to which type of wash and the methodology of wash (friction/touch free)? Do you offer various types of systems? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each system, mechanically or financially?

9. Based on what I have shared with you what do you feel is the best approach to my market? Why do you feel this way? Are there similar locations to mine and if so now that they are up and operating have that meet the stated projections? Does your customer feel they have met their expectations? If they (have or have not) why.

Assuming we have gotten through the "address", and now the "interview" stage, and are comfortable with the answers the next stage is to begin creating our car wash. What type, where located, how big, how costly, what kind of return and timing.

10. How and why would you lay out my property? What would you project the total cost to be?

11. I have been told that "highest and best use" is the mantra for all real estate investments. Based on what we have discussed, does what I am proposing meet that requirement? Will the income projected support the investment?

12. You have suggested a certain approach to my market, although I have done a SWOT analysis, how competitive will I be to other car washes? What threats are there that you know about that could affect my business? What opportunities?

13. What is the life expectancy of the equipment you have proposed? What programs do have that will minimize downtime? Do you provide cost per car programs for maintenance and chemical? What is my commitment? Yours?

14. Car washing is a cash business, what systems are you recommending that will enable me to manage and track the variable expenses of my business? What are the costs? What is the benefit?

15. Although we have spoken about service and maintenance, how far from my operation is your service facility? Will you guarantee a certain response time? Will you consider a program guaranteeing a certain uptime? If so tell me how it works?

16. One of the items needed to assure adequate financing is a good business plan. What assistance will you provide? Is there a cost? Will you meet with my bankers if required?

17. I know you can't legally control competitive locations from being placed in my market however what can I rely on from you to keep me informed and competitive?

18. What assistance will you provide for marketing? Is there a cost? Are there any co-op advertising dollars available? How do they work? What are the various advertising and or public relations mediums I should be using?

19. What assistance will you provide for training? Is there a cost?

20. Do you have complete service manuals and install drawings? When may I receive and review them?

21. Do you have contractors that you recommend? Will you assist me in making that contact?

22. Will you walk through all the mechanical requirements of your system with my team?

23. I understand that some of the equipment you will provide comes from a number of various suppliers will all equipment be guaranteed the same?

24. As you can well imagine this is a very significant investment what ongoing assistance can I rely on.

25. Why should I buy from you?

☛ At Delta Sonic Car Wash Systems our business portfolio is diversified which can create a challenging management environment. Are you able to effectively manage unrelated business units?
☛ Because Delta Sonic Car Wash Systems is a diversified organization, we offer a wide range of opportunities for career growth. Where would you like to see your career in 5 years?
☛ Clear communication is key to our success at Delta Sonic Car Wash Systems. Describe to me your communication style and why you think your style will be a fit here.
☛ At Delta Sonic Car Wash Systems we offer a wide range of products and services. How do you plan to positively impact our business, if hired?
☛ Because Delta Sonic Car Wash Systems has a large geographic footprint, we have to accommodate a variety of time zones. Do you have experience working for clients and co-workers in multiple time zones?
☛ Have you ever been employed through a company merger or acquisition? If so, tell me about your experience.
☛ Delta Sonic Car Wash Systems puts a lot of focus on our local and global impact so we seek to hire those with the same values. What do you know about our company values, and how do they align with your personal values?
☛ We have many strong competitors. In your opinion, what does Delta Sonic Car Wash Systems do to stand out from the rest?
☛ Typical "corporate culture" is something that we work hard to avoid here at Delta Sonic Car Wash Systems. Tell me about your ideal workplace culture.
☛ Tell me about a time that you have helped a co-worker accomplish an important goal.
☛ When have you been asked to perform a function or complete a task in which you had little or no experience in doing?
☛ Give me an example of a time when you had to make a split second decision.
☛ How would you describe your work ethic?
☛ After receiving information from your supervisor, how do you ensure you properly communicate this information to your team?
☛ Describe your working relationship with your previous or current colleagues.
☛ What makes you the best candidate for this position?
☛ Tell me about a time when you created a unique idea or solution, and it was rejected by your colleagues. How were you able to bounce back?
☛ When have you had to be extra thorough in completing tasks?
☛ We are asking for 8 years of industry experience and you have just 5. Why do you think you are qualified for this position?
☛ When have you shown great integrity at work?
☛ What causes you to feel dissatisfied on the job?
☛ Do you believe you are a leader? When have you led a team?
☛ How do you evaluate success among your team members?
☛ What are you reading right now?
☛ How do you collaborate with others to solve problems?
☛ What would you do if a client asked you about a product or service and you were unsure of the answer?
☛ How long have you been looking for a job?
☛ What tools help a team to function at its best?
☛ What is the most important thing you're looking for in a company?
☛ What are your salary expectations?
☛ Do you have any questions?
☛ When was the last time you used your sense of humor to diffuse a situation at work?
☛ How do you manage your time?

The car wash industry has elements of retail, service, and manufacturing involved in turning out the end product of a clean vehicle. Dealing with customers is like a retail business, managing employees is more like a service operation, and keeping the place running smoothly with all of the equipment to take care of is very similar to running a manufacturing facility. Because of the basic nature of this complex business, a manager’s job is particularly challenging.

After working for over 20 years in this industry and being involved in the recruiting, initial training, and ongoing development of managers at all levels, both new to the business and experienced, here are six (6) major challenges that make a car wash manager’s job very difficult to accomplish. Lest you get a little depressed reading this, please know that I will give you some solutions for these issues at the end of this answer.

☛ MANAGER NOT A MATCH FOR THE JOB
☛ INDUSTRY IMAGE
☛ RECRUITING SUPPORT NOT PROVIDED
☛ PHYSICAL NATURE OF THE WORK
☛ VARIABLE HOURS
☛ BASE PAY

If you're really thrown off by an oddball question, stop for a moment. Take a breath ... and think of something! A clever response is to use something like that to sell yourself.

My penguin is going to come in the door and say, 'You should hire me — she's organized and she has her stuff together. You want her to lead your team,

This question is geared up to allow you to talk about people in your life who you might find interesting or inspiring.

With each actor you choose, think of several examples of how the work they've done has influenced or inspired you - and how you can bring this back to your career.

There were only 28 babies in 2013 called Gary - could you remember this for an interview question?
There were only 28 babies in 2013 called Gary - could you remember this for an interview question?

Remember - if you're naming people because you think they'll make you sound intelligent you won't get anywhere if you've just said a name to sound impressive but don't actually have a clue who they are.