Green Siren
Central, TX
Female, 26
After working all day in a cubicle, I'd spend my nights as your friendly, neighborhood Starbucks barista! I remembered your name, made each drink exactly to your specifications and did it all with a bright smile. I've served celebrities, worked both drive thru & cafe stores, worked every holiday and have kept the customers from knowing about all the craziness that goes on behind the scenes... until now. Ask me anything.
We remake the order.
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I dressed business casual (nice slacks and top) because I wanted to show my manager I took the interview seriously. She dropped other candidates who showed up in jeans and tshirts. Again, my manager was my manager and all managers are different.
I think it took about half an hour and she mostly asked me why I wanted to work for Starbucks, my experience and how I could apply it to the job, what I thought of their communtiy service policy (my manager really loved it) and then posed a lot of scenarios to see what I thought I'd do. For instance, she'd ask, "There are two of you working. You're on register and the drip coffee needs to be changed out, tea needs to be made, there are dishes piling in the back, you are running out of cups and you have a line out the door. What do you do first? Why? What do you do next? Why? Say the third customer in line starts yelling because you're taking too long, how do you respond? Why?"
I don't know if there are right or wrong answers to this, but since I'd already worked in a coffee shop I had an idea of what order things need to be addressed in. Part of me thinks it's just a baseline to see if you can grasp the idea that while customers are really important to Starbucks, so is quality and you can't sacrifice one for the other.
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In my store, tips were bagged and dropped in the safe every day and at the end of the week, one of the shift managers would count them and divide them. Starbucks had a recording process for it so that no one got screwed. Then she would split our tips into individual bags, put them into the safe, and we'd have to request them from the shift manager on duty.
So yes, they aren't given directly to the barista immediately, it took awhile, but I always got them.
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You have a lot of options, and you really have to know what's best for you. If you want milk, get a milk based drink (latte, cappucino, frappucino). If you want a lot of caffeine, get a cup of regular drip coffee and add an espresso shot. If you like sweet, get something with a lot of syrup in it or add more (trust me, we've seen 24 pumps of syrup before so it's not going to freak us out).
Starbucks has such a wide variety of customers, it's hard to suggest something. I'm more than happen to recommend but I don't know anything about you... Do you like/hate paricular flavors? What do you usually drink from restaurants or pick up at the grocery store?
Some of my personal favorites aside from straight tea or coffee (keep in mind I dislike too much sweet): a steamed soy milk, hazelnut white mocha (1 h, 1 wm), coconut creme frappucino, passion tea lemonade (no syrup) and I really like the Refreshers (no syrup)
Also reference http://starbuckssecretmenu.net/ to see if there is any drink in there you like. However, DON'T ask for it by the name on the "secret menu" (really, there isn't a secret menu that Sbux maintains, I still have no clue what a Double Dalmation or a Fruity Pebbles is) and just order it by the listed ingredients. Example:
For the Mexican Hot Chocolate (http://starbuckssecretmenu.net/mexican-hot-chocolate-starbucks-secret-menu/), order a hot chocolate with soy milk, 1 pump mocha, 1 pump white chocolate mocha, 1 pump cinnamon dolce and add cinnamon powder yourself. (I'm pretty sure it's Starbucks policy not to add any powders while steaming milk).
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I think the first part of your question has been answered previously but I'll answer it again just to make sure. Getting hired at Starbucks is like getting hired at another customer service job, if you have good people skills and, in Starbucks case, prioritization skills and a specific store needs you, you'll probably be hired. Now, the specific store needs are the problem. Most stores only hire 3-4 times per year and received hundreds or thousands of applications. If you are a student and can work nights, apply to a store that is open late. Starbucks has a minimum of 4 hour shifts so you need to have AT LEAST 4 hours available from when you can get to the store after class. I worked one job until 5 pm, then worked at Starbucks from 5:30-close most nights. Also, weekend availability helps. The longer-term staff is going to get the better hours, so you have to be willing to work the crappy hours until you've been there awhile. Also they probably won't be willing to hire and train you for you to only stick around for 2-3 months, so if you're willing to stay longer you have a better chance.
TLDR; Matching available hours + people skills = hired
As far as networking, it depends on the store. Some store managers will ask the opinion of the other baristas and managers, others won't.
I'd probably go into the store you want to work at and, especially if you are already friends with the staff, ask them about their manager. Does s/he like to have an applicant come in check on their app? Does s/he ask for others opinions when hiring? This is heavily dependent on the individual SM. I've said before, mine really diskliked when people dropped in and she definitely did not ask her staff for opinions. Other SMs are very different, but best you can do is ask the people who work at the store you want to be at.
It already REALLY helps if you actually know the baristas. I'd have people ask me questions about getting hired, applying, etc all the time, which is fine, but I was more likely to make the effort to find out the answer for someone I already knew and liked rather than some John Doe off the street I'd never met before.
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It may be that none of the stores need new employees, that your hours don't match what they need, or that there are better applicants than you. There is advice above for the interview but sometimes the reasons you don't get hired are out of your control. Just keep gaining work experience and be the best employee you can be and when Starbucks needs someone, maybe you will be the best applicant at that time.
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Sorry it's been almost two years since I worked there and no longer have access to the documents. Additionally, I believe the health benefits may have changed with the Affordable Care Act.
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