THOUGHT PIECE the carling team
Wine, Beer & Drink Industry Job Interview Types
Like most other industries, the wine, beer and drink industry tends to be inundated with candidates when they have a position to fill. This means that they have to be extremely thorough in their pre-interview selection process so that they can be sure to invest in interviewing the right candidates.
Technology has allowed the interview process to be speeded up and made more cost effective and although not all employers use Skype or telephone interviews, more and more companies are looking to do so to keep their costs at bay.
So if you’re a candidate in the wine, beer or drinks industry, what sort of interview might you expect? Essentially there are three popular types of interview and they are:
Face-to-Face
Face-to-face interviews are the traditional type of interview where you will typically be given a time and a date to attend the employer’s premises. In certain circumstances, for example if an employer is looking to recruit a number of candidates in a new location, you might be invited to attend an interview in a dedicated room in a hotel or another neutral location. The interviewing company may offer to cover any travel and/or accommodation expenses incurred, usually when significant distances are involved.
Face-to-face interviews may take the format of one-to-one or be made up of a panel of representatives from the recruiting company. Either way, you can expect a thorough and in-depth range of questions to be asked. In most instances, if there is anything you are required to prepare in advance you will be told.
Because of their costly and time-consuming nature, face-to-face interviews have a tendency to be reserved for either relatively senior positions or for second interviews. As a result, you shouldn’t be surprised if your first interview isn’t face-to-face.
Phone
More and more companies today are taking advantage of either telephone or Skype conversations as the first part of their interview selection process. A convenient way to ascertain if a candidate is worth pursuing; this can be a relatively stressful process for the interviewee if you’re not used to video calling or telephone interviews. In many ways, preparing for a telephone or Skype interview deserves even more attention than a face-to-face interview because you’ll need to get your points over more succinctly and more effectively. You can find out more about being a success at Video Chat interviews here .
In Situ
In certain circumstances, candidates might be asked to attend a workplace evaluation whereby they go to the potential employer’s business to carry out day-to-day tasks. While this mightn’t necessarily seem like an interview, this form of evaluation process is extremely thorough. Employers will be looking at things like how you interact with other team members; how you carry out tasks; prioritizing; decision making and problem solving to name but a few; so in this type of selection process you need to really be on your toes.