[With Practical Examples for Job Interviews] More Important Than Skills! Questions to Reveal the ‘Aptitude’ of Restaurant Staff

There are many cases where, even though experienced staff are hired, the results fall short of expectations. In most of these failures, the cause is not simply a lack of skills, but a mismatch between expectations and reality. This is especially true in time-constrained hiring situations, such as before opening a new store or when filling vacancies, where there is often not enough time to properly assess whether a candidate matches the type of person your shop really needs. First, we will introduce two key points to help prevent this kind of mismatch.

As a first step to preventing mismatches, start by clarifying your hiring criteria. Whether you’re hiring part-time or full-time staff, you need to put into words the requirements for people who will work at your shop. For example, for part-time staff, begin with basics such as whether they can work the required shifts, and then break it down more concretely into points like “Can they carry out tasks carefully and steadily?” and “Can they leave a good impression on customers?” If these criteria are unclear, the job duties or working style may not be a good fit, the person won’t be able to demonstrate their true abilities, and it will likely lead to an unhappy outcome for both sides.

On the employer side as well, it is necessary not only to highlight the positive aspects, but also to accurately communicate the tougher sides of the job and the store’s current situation. Specifically, by honestly explaining things like the possibility of overtime or shift changes, as well as the level of work quality and speed the store expects, job seekers can clearly understand their role and what will be required of them.

In mid-career hiring in particular, it’s risky to assume that people will “just understand without being told.” Even for experienced hires, you need to explain more concretely—your shop’s concept, the kind of experience and time you want to offer customers, and the operations and duties required to achieve that. Even when you’re pressed for time with tasks like opening preparations, make sure you communicate this information thoroughly and assess candidates carefully, without compromising your hiring standards.

Clarifying your hiring criteria and the situation of your own restaurant helps prevent mismatches, but here we will think even more concretely about those “hiring criteria.” While it is important to value experience and skills in customer service and food preparation, you can ultimately build a stronger team by placing greater emphasis on qualities such as being open-minded and having the motivation to work, rather than focusing solely on experience and skills.

"Honesty" can be rephrased as the ability to accept instructions and points for improvement straightforwardly, and "motivation" as the attitude of taking initiative and independently absorbing and refining skills. These elements are thought to strengthen a team for the following three reasons.

Since each restaurant naturally has its own way of serving customers and its own cooking and operational procedures, staff are expected to understand and follow those methods. Of course, it’s difficult to teach everything during busy business hours, so the people who take the initiative to learn how the restaurant operates and who try to correct their mistakes right away are the ones who grow—and as a result, the overall management of the restaurant improves as well.

On the other hand, people who just wait for instructions or stubbornly insist that “this is how it was done at my previous workplace” can slow down the team, so having staff who are open-minded and motivated is a crucial element in building a good shop.

For example, even if staff members don’t know certain things or make mistakes, if the team is made up of people who are honest and motivated, you can expect a synergistic effect where they teach each other and discuss constructive ways to improve. What’s important here is that the shop creates an atmosphere and system that allow people to report mistakes without fear.

As open and honest information sharing progresses, the entire team can be expected to become more capable of proactively solving problems, and above all, having staff members with this kind of “sincerity” and “motivation” boosts team morale even during busy periods.

When running a store, there are many situations where, for various reasons such as the surrounding environment or the store’s business conditions, you need to change how you serve customers, your operations, and the way staff work. At those times, rather than rejecting the change by saying, “This isn’t how we used to do it,” having the openness and willingness to adapt to those changes will be very reassuring for you as the owner.

However, when you change what you expect from your staff or how they work, the team will be more convinced and accepting if you, as the owner, take responsibility and clearly explain the reasons.

Comment from the supervisor

Point

Of course, things vary a lot depending on whether you’re a part-timer or full-time staff, and whether your role is in the kitchen or on the floor, but since it’s ultimately a team-based job, I believe communication skills are the most important. Cooking and similar tasks do require technical skills, but if you have the openness and motivation I mentioned here, I think the other skills will naturally follow.

Here, we will introduce five specific questions to help you assess a candidate’s underlying qualities. By asking about concrete actions they took in the past and drawing out “why they did that” and “why they reached that conclusion,” you can determine their suitability as a staff member. We have summarized the exact questions, key evaluation points, and follow-up questions, so please use them as a reference during interviews.

Purpose of the question / evaluation points

• Evaluate [Openness and Self-Objectivity]
• Are you blaming others or your environment for failures and criticism?
• Are you frankly acknowledging the facts and accepting them without getting emotional?
• Don’t just stop at “I got scolded = it was unpleasant”; think about what you tried to learn from it.

In-depth / follow-up questions

• What did you learn from that experience that is still helping you now?
• If you were in the same situation now, how would you change the way you act?

Purpose of the question / Evaluation points

• Evaluate motivation and openness
• Isn't that a passive attitude of just waiting to be taught?
• Whether they have the motivation to learn actively, such as taking notes, reviewing, and asking questions proactively
• Whether you have the flexibility (open-mindedness) to not cling to your own way of doing things and to be willing to accept new approaches

In-depth / follow-up questions

• Conversely, what kind of way of teaching (or giving instructions) makes it hard for you to do your work?
• Is there anything you could try doing in your own way to help you learn the job more quickly?

Purpose of the question / evaluation points

• Evaluate [Motivation & Interest]
• Not just whether the conditions are good, like an attractive hourly wage or being close to home, but also whether you’re genuinely interested in the restaurant itself (its food, atmosphere, customer service, philosophy, etc.)
• Before applying, have you at least done some basic research about the shop?
• It’s even better if you not only think about the shop’s good points, but also about areas that could be improved, like “it would be better if they did this.”

Deep dive / follow-up questions

• If you have no prior experience, why did you deliberately choose the food and beverage industry?
• What did you find most appealing about our shop?

Comment from the supervisor

Point

What you say in response to questions is important, but in many cases the most important thing is whether you speak up clearly. It depends on the shop, but being able to cheerfully say “Irasshaimase!” (Welcome!) is crucial, so in interviews we tend to want to hire people who can speak naturally, with a smile and in a lively, clear voice. On the other hand, if someone speaks very quietly or gives an impression of poor cleanliness through their hairstyle or clothing, we may hesitate to hire them.

Purpose of the question / Evaluation points

• Evaluate sincerity and sense of ownership
• Whether they first offer an apology and show a willingness to listen to the customer (rather than prioritizing self‑protection or making excuses)
• Do they avoid trying to handle everything based solely on their own judgment, and instead promptly report to and consult with seniors or employees (are they able to honestly ask for help)?
• Do you have the mindset to see it not as “I’m not at fault,” but as “a problem of the shop/business”?

In-depth / follow-up questions

• (Giving a specific example of a complaint) In a situation like this, what would you do?
• What do you do when you make a mistake that makes you feel, “This is hard to report to my boss or senior colleagues”?

In restaurants, behind-the-scenes tasks such as cleaning, dishwashing, and steady prep work are just as important as customer service. How do you approach this kind of work?

Purpose of the question / evaluation points

• Evaluate motivation and openness to feedback
• Do you understand the importance of not only glamorous work but also the more mundane tasks?
• Do you see it not as “a job someone has to do,” but as “work the team needs”?
• Do they have a positive, proactive attitude (motivation) toward tackling any kind of work?

In-depth / follow-up questions

• What has been the most “tough” or “boring” task you’ve ever had to do, and how did you get through it?
• If the dishes are piled up during peak hours, what is the first thing you think about?

Comment from the supervisor

Point

The difficulty of hiring varies depending on the situation of the shop. When a shop is newly opened, many people apply because they like reasons such as “being able to work with a fresh set of colleagues” and “the facilities are clean.” However, after opening—especially when hiring to fill vacancies—the number of applicants is low to begin with, so it becomes important to clearly decide “how far you’re willing to compromise.”

Interviews shouldn’t focus only on skills and experience; identifying a candidate’s potential—specifically their openness and motivation, or in other words, their underlying qualities—is what leads to building a strong team. The questions introduced in this article are designed to help you assess these qualities by digging into how candidates have thought and acted in the past, so please use them as a reference when evaluating their potential.

Hiring is a crucial part of building a store. Rather than judging only by skills, I hope this helps you recognize a person’s character—that is, their qualities—and reduce hiring mismatches.