How to Get a Job at McDonald's
With over 38,000 corporate and franchise locations, McDonald's is one of the largest employers worldwide. The fast-food chain hires seasonal, part-time, and full-time workers for many entry-level positions. Hopefuls can find McDonald's applications online or in-store. While those just entering the workforce are welcome, past work in foodservice can increase your chances of employment.
The McDonald's Interview Process
After submitting a McDonald's application, candidates usually hear back within a week. At this point, a manager calls the applicant for a discussion over the phone. This initial phone interview can result in an in-person interview. Plan to arrive early to your McDonald's interview to impress the staff and get a sense of the restaurant layout.
While the phone interview can also serve as an opportunity to make a good first impression, the in-person interview is a candidate's chance to shine. How McDonald's hiring personnel conduct their interviews depends on the individual store and district. Some types of McDonald's job interviews include:
Walk-In Interviews
In some cases, people pursuing entry-level jobs at McDonald's skip the application process. The restaurant advertises walk-in interviews at its location with a list of days and times. Candidates should dress well for McDonald's open interviews and bring an up-to-date resume.
Group Interviews
Group interviews occur if a McDonald's location has multiple jobs to fill quickly. These interviews are common for seasonal jobs and entry-level positions. When attending a McDonald's group interview, always be courteous to others and demonstrate strong teamwork skills. These qualities can help you look professional and stand out from the crowd.
One-On-One Interviews
Solo interviewees talk to hiring managers for an average of 15 to 20 minutes. Though McDonald's interviews are generally casual and low-key, job seekers should try their best to impress managers. Be sure to prepare for McDonald's interview questions and answers, dress appropriately, and bring extra copies of your resume.
McDonald's Interview Tips and How to Prepare
The best way to prepare for a McDonald's interview is to practice answering common interview questions. Remember to spend enough time going over potential questions and your responses. In addition to learning what managers look for in candidates, practicing can also help you feel more confident during your meeting.
What Can I Expect At a McDonald's Interview?
At a McDonald's interview, hiring managers choose candidates based on their resumes and applications. McDonald's open interviews are like regular one-on-one meetings, though they often become group interviews if enough hopefuls join the session. Expect hiring personnel to ask the same or similar interview questions to each individual of the group.
What Are Common McDonald's Interview Questions?
Because the company operates in food service, most of the questions you answer in a McDonald's interview relate to customer service, communication skills, and personal qualities. Come up with your own honest, concise answers and share examples of your positive traits. Some of the most common McDonald's interview questions are:
- Why do you want to work here?
- How do you handle stressful situations?
- How would you deal with an angry customer?
- Tell me about yourself.
- What are your biggest strengths and weaknesses?
When considering how to answer the above inquiries, reflect on the purpose of each question. Is the hiring manager looking for a person who wants experience or money? Do they want to hire someone who works well under stress? McDonald's interview questions and answers are your opportunity to show how well you understand the purpose of the job.
Emphasize Your Skills and Abilities
The different types of jobs at McDonald's require excellent food service skills. Since employees all work together, hopefuls must be able to work as part of a team and showcase leadership skills. Remember to emphasize your ability to communicate effectively with coworkers and customers.
Does McDonald's Hire You On The Spot?
The McDonald's hiring process can take anywhere from a single day to a couple of weeks. Some candidates report receiving a job offer on the spot, though most cases take longer. The timing usually depends on how quickly a store location needs new employees. As a general rule, it's best to wait a few days to call in or stop by the store and ask for an update.
What Should I Wear To A Job Interview At Mcdonald's?
When considering what to wear to a McDonald's interview, note that the restaurant is a casual eatery. What you wear should appear both professional and casual. Business casual attire includes buttoned shirts, slacks, khakis, blouses, and close-toed dress shoes. Some questions about McDonald's interview dress code you may have are:
Can I wear jeans to a McDonald's interview?
Be careful about wearing jeans to a McDonald's interview. If you do, make sure the jeans are clean and presentable. Dark denim jeans are a safe option as they can appear more professional, making them ideal for business casual attire. Clean straight leg, bootcut and skinny jeans are all acceptable to wear to a McDonald's interview.
Can I wear shorts to a McDonald's Interview?
Depending on the weather and temperature, you might want to wear shorts to your McDonald's job interview. However, make sure the shorts are clean and free of stains and tears. Avoid denim shorts and consider khaki shorts instead. Be sure that the length of your shorts hover just at or slightly above your knees.
Final Steps in a McDonald’s Interview
Some McDonald's franchises require training, drug tests, or background checks before offering a candidate a position. Successful employees fill out forms and provide proof of right-to-work, such as work permits or citizen status. There may even be a probationary period for each McDonald's worker.
Insider Tips
Video interviews with former McDonalds employees.
McDonalds Customer Service Representative Interview Video
Video Transcript
Interviewer: Please describe your job title and primary duties.
McDonalds Customer Service Representative: My job title was customer service representative. My duties include just taking orders. Not only just taking orders but ensuring that they actually get to the customer. They will first order, and I’ll see a screen where it tells me what they ordered. I will check it off if they got the food or not. They will time us to make sure we did it in a orderly manner. One when it’s slow in the drive-thru … Not the drive-thru, in the cashier in the front desk. They had you clean. Sometimes, if it was too slow, they just have you go into the drive-thru assisting the other person.
Interviewer: What was the work environment like?
McDonalds Customer Service Representative: It was busy. There was no down time. How it works is like you’re pretty much part of an assembly line. You’re the forefront. You’re the one directly interacting with the customer. You take the initial orders and give them back. The thing is you can’t focus on another coworker’s job. You have to focus only on yours. It not only so busy, but they built the system in a way that it works most efficiently when you make sure you take care of your job to the fullest extent because someone else is taking care of their own job to the fullest extent.
Interviewer: Please describe a typical day as an employee.
McDonalds Customer Service Representative: You get in there, you clock in. They have all this in the computer. Then, they give you a cash register, and you count the money in there. Usually, you make sure it’s like $100 or $120 because they are going to track how much money you’re making, or if someone tries to steal money, they’d know what’s up. From there, as customers come through, you have a screen of a series of little menu items, and you just click them, and then, as you make the order, you cash them out and then, you just wait in a little area where the food will just appear. There are other people working as well. Then you bag it up properly and make sure it’s not messy. You try to present it nicely, and you hand it to the customer and check it off. You just repeat the cycle over and over.
Interviewer: How would you describe the application and interview process?
McDonalds Customer Service Representative: The applications. McDonald’s are one of those guys who make you do it at the location to show that you’re willing to go out of your way to try to apply for this position. Once you do the application… What I did personally is I actually spoke to the manager myself after I finished it. They say just come back in a week or so. I came back and talked to them. Usually, they try to weed you out because some people never come back. You come back and you talk to them, then he schedules a formal interview with you. After that formal interview, it’s just like they take you to a little seat inside the restaurant and ask you a few questions, past experience, again how can you help the team grow. They put you in some scenarios and try to tackle them. Depending on your answers, they will give you the yes or no right there and then. They have a pretty high veneration rate. Sometimes, you have to show a little more effort because people come and go.
Interviewer: What should an applicant wear to the interview?
McDonalds Customer Service Representative: It was pretty much business casual. You know button up shirts, dress, loafers, or just dress shoes. Make sure and shower before. Keep the clean shave. That’s part of their uniform is clean shaven. You got to try to maintain that image.
Interviewer: What other advice would you give to a job seeker looking to gain employment?
McDonalds Customer Service Representative: Be ready to constantly work. There’s no off time until your lunch break. McDonald’s, as people know, is one of the busiest fast food restaurants in the business. One, you got to be ready to deal with a lot of people. Two, sometimes, people are going to be very rude. I don’t know why. There’s like this whole stereotyped associated with these kind of chains, but in the end you have your coworkers, and the environment is just happy in general.
McDonald’s Crew Chief Interview Video
Video Transcript
Interviewer: Please describe your job title and primary duties.
McDonald’s Crew Chief Interview Video: I was a crew chief at McDonald’s. There you have a little more responsibility than a crew member. As a crew chief, you have to look at some of the shift lists and try to work your up you way into management material and practice placing people in different spots. You also have to learn the different positions that you are available, to working with meat and the cook area, and then working with sandwiches called an assembly, and making all the sandwiches and understanding how to make them, and actually reading the screens and seeing, “Oh this is special. I have to make this differently,” and make sure you follow procedures. You also have to learn the front, which is a lot of drinks and different sort of milkshakes, and stuff like that, and orders like that. You also have to learn… Let’s see what else is there. You have to learn the register, which is actually really extensive because there’s a lot of different things that you need to know about. Someone wants something special or they just want an extra patty or something like that. You have to learn how to do that. You also have to understand how to ring people up, give correct change, and just learn a lot of positions. Even drive through is pretty intensive. It’s easier to do when you get more experience doing that sort of job.
Interviewer: What was the work environment like?
McDonald’s Crew Chief Interview Video: It was pretty quick. Some days would be slow. Some days would be pretty fast. During the day, it’s a lot quicker than the night. You’ll look at the clock once at 1:00, you’ll think it’s 1:00, and it’ll be 4:00, and your shift’s over with.
Interviewer: How would you describe the application and interview process?
McDonald’s Crew Chief Interview Video: The application production was, I believe, a three part application. You have to first go online. You have to first go to the store and ask for their online application. They’ll give you the code for the online application. You fill that out. They’ll go through, I believe, 2-3 weeks later, they’ll notify you if you’ve been accepted for the next step. The next step is just sitting down with one of the managers and just going through some questions. Some preliminary questions like, “Why do you want to work here?” “What brings you here?” “How can you make our team a better team with your aspects?” The third part is just you’re essentially hired, but then they have to train you, and if you don’t actually get the training down, they won’t hire you. Preliminary job but then once you understand how to do things, they’ll actually hire you.
Interviewer: What set you apart from other candidates?
McDonald’s Crew Chief Interview Video: I was really well developed, and I can actually understand how to do things really quickly. The other people who are with me took the training a little slower than I did. I was working, I started in the assembly in the meat area. Within two weeks, I was just like, I want to learn how to do everything else. I was really motivated and just really excited about learning stuff new. It’s not just applicable to McDonald’s, it’s applicable towards everything else in different situations.
Interviewer: How were you notified that you received the job?
McDonald’s Crew Chief Interview Video: For the first part, I was notified through a phone call. I usually go to McDonald’s very often, or I did at that time. That was within a week and a half, and then I did the interview within a couple of days. They were really quick about that. After that, it was a few days or so, they were like, “Okay, come in and we’ll see if you like this job, and good at it, and then we’ll hire you based on that performance.”
Interviewer: What other advice would you give to a job seeker looking to gain employment?
McDonald’s Crew Chief Interview Video: Be motivated. Just be willing to learn other things and not just be stuck in one position because there’s so much more you can do at McDonald’s than working in assembly, working up front. You want to learn everything. You want to be a very diverse employee.
More McDonalds Interview Videos:
Related Links:
McDonalds Application
McDonalds Manager
McDonalds Maintenance Worker
McDonalds Cashier
McDonalds Crew Member
PDF Application
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