Hotel Concierge Interview Preparation Guide

Maybe you want a more competitive salary. Perhaps you cannot abide your current manager. You may even be bored. Whatever the actual reason, find a way to stay positive. It may be easiest to focus on what you want from your new job—greater challenges, more advancement opportunity, a chance to learn a new aspect of hospitality—rather than what you didn’t like about your last one.

Whatever your hotel position, there are guaranteed to be days when you cannot complete everything that needs to be done. Hiring managers want to see that you have the ability to analyze such a situation, think clearly when under pressure, make a decision on a course of action and take responsibility as you proceed.

Do your homework prior to the interview. Doing the background work will help you stand out. Find out who the main players are -- have they been in the news recently? You're not expected to know every date and individual but you need to have a solid understanding of the company as a whole.

There are several ways of addressing this one. You may be the sort of person that works well under pressure; you may even thrive under pressure. Whatever the case, make sure you don't say you panic. You want to give specific examples of stressful situations and how well you dealt with them. You may also want to list a few tools you use to help you, such as to-do lists, etc. It is alright to say that you will ask for assistance when the job is more than what you can handle. It is equally acceptable to say that you work best under pressure if this is indeed the case and relevant to the particular role.

Before answering scheduling questions, it's important to be clear on the interviewer's expectations. If you haven't had a chance to clarify their scheduling needs, now would be the perfect time to ask! Consider asking, 'What are the scheduling expectations for this position?' If they expect you to work 12 hour days, it would be important for you to know that before you respond with, 'Absolutely! No problem!' You want to be sure that you can meet their expectations. If it turns out their schedule expectations won't work for you, think about what you CAN offer and see if you can meet in the middle. It's much better to discuss these things in an interview than for you to commit to a schedule that won't work for you. Keep in mind that, in most states, an employer cannot demand that an employee work more than 44 hours per week.

This question is really about your self-esteem, confidence and career aspirations. The answer must be a “yes”, followed by a brief explanation as to what it is about your career so far that’s made you happy. If you have hit a career plateau, or you feel you are moving too slowly, then you must qualify your answer.

This is something you need to have very clear in your mind prior to the meeting. There is no point in saying yes just to get the job if the real answer is actually no. Just be honest as this can save you problems arising in the future.

Select an achievement that is work-related and fairly recent. Identify the skills you used in the achievement and quantify the benefit it had to the company. For example, “My greatest achievement has been to design and implement a new sales ledger system, bringing it in ahead of time and improving our debtors’ position significantly, saving the company $50,000 per month in interest.”

This is a challenging question -- as if you have no weaknesses you are obviously lying! Be realistic and mention a small work related flaw.

Many people will suggest answering this using a positive trait disguised as a flaw such as "I'm a perfectionist" or "I expect others to be as committed as I am." I would advocate a certain degree of honesty and list a true weakness. Emphasize what you've done to overcome it and improve. This question is all about how you perceive and evaluate yourself.

This shows you really understand the industry and the main players.

Think about a few and say how you think they compare (similarities, differences). This is a good opportunity to highlight what you think are the company's key strengths.