Teavana Barista Interview

Interviewed Jan 2011 in San Francisco, CA (took a day)

This was my first job interview ever in my life, so needless to say, I was nervous as hell even applying for a simple Barista job. Anyway, I received an e-mail from Teavana's Human Resources telling me that they're interested in interviewing me--to go to a linked website and select an 45-minute interview time slot for the following week. Got a confirmation e-mail with information about the interview, including the fact that there were going to be two Hiring Managers present. No surprise there. The interview was at a relatively quiet lounge area at the mall, since the new store branch wasn't fully constructed yet, so I didn't meet anyone else (nor did they offer tea samples like I hear some locations do). I got to the mall early, and headed over to the interview spot five minutes before my scheduled time.

From the moment she introduced herself and told me to wait the extra five minutes awkwardly in a seat across the seating area from them, until the end of the interview, the main interviewer of the two (the General Manager of the location; the Area Manager just sat there most of the time) maintained a stiff persona. The questions she started with already gave a clear hint of the aggressive sales pitch interests of the store. It was random question after question--didn't seem like they cared who I was (I didn't get the "Tell me about yourself" question), but rather just wanted to see what kind of personality I had relative to sales techniques. Seemed a little condescending, too, or maybe that was just her technique for the interview to see how I'd react to cold customers. She was quick to interview me about sales techniques that I wasn't able to make it clear in the beginning that I was primarily interested in the Barista position (to observe and get used to their technique first, and would work my way up). Plus, the application online combines the three positions together into one application (Team Leader, Team Member, and Barista)--that was a little confusing. At one point, she told me that Baristas also had sales intentions. "Really?" I asked. "I thought I remember reading on the ad that Baristas didn't have sales intentions." She responded with surprise--ERRK, minus points! I realized later that Baristas are INDIRECTLY involved in sales, but it wasn't a blatant, initial responsibility. Whatever. They really just want sales people, it seems. Got the rejection letter the following morning. Oh well, not surprised. Didn't feel too bad, anyway.

I was a bit flustered during the interview, but I can't say I wasn't expecting the possibility of them being so aggressive. I'll consider the interview "average" anyway.