Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Kurtz]

I have a Korean friend who wants me to interview some university students wanting to work in the U.S.A. who want to combine work with practicing their English. They want to work on the front desk of a large hotel.

I've already interviewed them over the phone, but they want another go, face to face. I've got an all expenses paid trip to Gwangju for this so I want to be well prepared.

I really have no idea how to do this. Last time I asked them the usual questions like "why do you want to go to the U.S?" and "what do you like about the US?" etc but I wanted to test their vocab so I threw in a "do you like Obama and why?" this took them totally by surprise. They had no idea how to answer this.

The students seemed really dull and boring, and very childish. Typical answers were " Miami, Miami, I want to go to Miami as I like CSI" and "I like American culture, I like hip-hop and American fast food" or "I want to go Colorado as I have some buddies there and I like snowboarding" so the Obama question took them by surprise.

Perhaps not having an interest in American politics is understandable, I feel I just don't have much to work with. I know these kids will have prepared answers for cliched type questions, so I want to have a few surprises, but surprises they can respond to, not "oh oh I don't think about that politics stuff I just wanna hang out with my friends"

Taking the above into consideration, what questions would you ask for a 2nd interview, and how would you rate their English? fluency? pronunciation? word power?

I'm the difference between them realizing their dreams and putting a huge spanner in the works.

[jugbandjames]

Since it's for a hotel, you could do some role playing where you're an angry customer or something. That way they'd at least have to show that they have the vocab/speech ability to do their job.

[djsmnc]

Yeah, for sure. Having worked in a hotel, I would throw in these questions:

Why do you want to work in a hotel?

If someone complained about their room having a cockroach in it, what might you do?

If you received an angry phone call, how would you calm the person down?

What would you do if you saw a coworker stealing money but they didn't know you saw it?

Do you think that it would be better to give a guest a refund or give a coupon for another free night some other time? Why would you choose A or B?



A lot of working at a hotel front desk is managing complaints and answering VERY STUPID AND MUNDANE questions to get people in their room or out the door as efficiently as possible (whereas housekeeping on the other hand is making sure that the room is comfortable and clean). Therefore, a lot of customer service questions would be the most beneficial for an interview of this nature.

[Kurtz]

[conbon78]

I interview all the time at my job...I always try to throw in a question where they won't have a canned answer such as...

If you could have lunch with anyone in the world, alive or dead, who would you have lunch with and why?

The funny part about this question is that its long, so they tend to get stumped.

Also, definitely role playing - ask situational/behavioral questions, you are more likely to get those in a 2nd interview. Actually, for my current job, I was asked - tell me about a time when you didn't get along with a coworker. I thought it was actually a really good question.

Sounds fun!