I applied through an employee referral. The process took 6 months. I interviewed at Starbucks (Tempe, AZ) in Feb 2010
Interview
Process was very long and drawn out, there were three interviews with me...
First interview was more of an in-person screening with the store manager... the second interview was the same thing just with the district manager, the third interview was an in-person interview with two other DMs...
The questions were all "tell me about a time when (such and such) happened to you"... The grading scale for each answer is based on SARI... S= Situation, A= Action Taken, R= Result, I= Something Interesting that you learned or may have resulted after the event took place...
Not much constructive or usable feedback was given afterwards other than whether or not you stuck to the SARI method, they didn't focus on my knowledge, accomplishments, abilities, education or career goals, all interviews were very much focused on if you could tell the story of the event they ask in the order of the SARI method... No warning was given to me about SARI prior to the interviews...
I applied in-person. The process took 4 months. I interviewed at Starbucks (Cleveland, OH) in Oct 2010
Interview
Barista worked up to Assistant Manager. The process is not for the faint hearted. Be prepared to jump through a lot of hoops, they want to see how committed you are. In the end it is worth every effort.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Describe a time you had to lead a team even though you didn't agree with the decision.
The process took 2 days. I interviewed at Starbucks (Chicago, IL) in Oct 2010
Interview
I received an invitation from an HR manager for a phone interview days after applying online. The phone interview lasted approximately 30 min, and focused on a lot of "tell me a time when..." questions. At the end of the interview, we scheduled a meeting for a second interview with some current district managers, which took place about a week later, at an area Starbucks. When I arrived, I was greeted by three very friendly district managers, two of whom then interviewed me, after we had a 'cupping' session (tasting coffee). It was a really nice beginning. Again, most of the questions were 'tell me a time when...' mostly around customer service. It was pretty short, only about a half hour or so. The interviewers were very warm and friendly.
I got a phone call the next day from the first person who did the phone interview, saying that they had decided to go another route. When I asked what sort of qualifications they were looking for that I was not able to offer, I was told that they do not give coaching and development to candidates, which stung a bit, as I was not looking for coaching, but for a simple 30 second answer. Oh well. I'm telling myself it has mostly to do with the fact that I have a different career and that it was obvious that this was not a job I actually wanted. Wish I could tell you what the problem was, though -- it might make this review more helpful!
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell us about a time when you had a conflict with a co-worker. What did you do?