Interview Questions
1. Tell me about yourself.
Hello, my name is Swarali and I’m from India. I have completed my bachelors in hotel
management and catering technology back in India and currently I am pursuing Culinary
Management program at Humber college. I started working as an intern in Bake House Bistro
while I was still studying to explore the real world of Culinary Arts.
2. Describe a time when you faced a stressful situation that showed your coping skills.
I was working at Bake house bistro as an intern while I was still doing my bachelor's. It was a
small-scaled bistro with focus on in house sourdoughs, entremets, and macarons. After working
for 2 months, my pastry chef resigned, and they offered me the position. I felt very stressed
about accepting the position, but I saw it as an opportunity to learn something new and within
next month I was able to do 2-3 different flavours of Italian macarons every day.
3. Tell about a time when you had to manage your time effectively to meet tight deadlines.
I work at Planta Queen as a pastry cook. We got a catering order for an event at the last
moment, and they wanted freshly baked vegan cookies and cheesecakes. The order was
supposed to be delivered the same evening, so I had to prioritize my tasks and I started working
on cheesecakes to give it time to set in the freezer. My teammate stared working on the cookie
dough at the same time and I helped her for shaping and baking them. We managed to complete
the order in time because of the working as a team.
4. Tell me about a time when you set a goal and were able to achieve it.
Because of COVID, I was the victim of sedentary lifestyle. I was planning for my further studies I
Canada at that same time. When I received acceptance for my program from Humber, I decided
to work on my physical health and gave myself the timeline of 6 months to do so. I joined the
gym and eventually I started liking it because I started seeing the difference in not only my
physical health, but I was also able to cope with my mental stress. As a result, I started eating
healthy and before I was on my flight to Canada, I could do 180lbs powerlift.
5. Give an example of a situation when you had to go above and beyond the call of duty to get a
job done.
When I was working at bake house bistro, apart from pastry, I was also working as a front house
personnel in the evenings. At that time, our pastry kitchen was located someplace else, and it
wasn’t in a bistro itself. We ran out of specific macaron flavour and a guest wanted the exact
same flavours in bulk. In order to make the guest happy and satisfied, I drove back and forth to
the pastry kitchen and got the macarons from the backup even if driving was not a part of my
job description. At the end, guest was satisfied and so as the owner of the place for my efforts.
6. Considering your international experiences in Canada, India, and France, how have diverse
environments helped you achieve?
Working in totally different environments helped me grow within myself. When I was working in
France, I was away from home for 6 months for the first time. Working and doing everything by
myself was a challenge at first but I learnt it eventually. It helped me refining my cooking skills as
per the restaurant standards. In India, I was studying at the same time, and it taught me to
prioritize things and manage everything at the same time.
7. You received constructive criticism at any of the workplaces. How did you react to it?
I was working at McDonalds, and I was handling the drive through window at that time. The
timer for a car at the drive through window was 2.5 minutes. The food was not ready and
instead of parking a car, I let them wait at the window causing a line up in the drive through. My
manager had a talk with me about the same and I accepted my fault and assured her I won’t
make a car wait, thinking it would be convenient. I managed to keep my timer well after that and
received appreciation as well for the same.
8. How did you handle the situation about a difficult supervisor?
I work at Planta Queen as a pastry chef. One of the sushi cooks got promoted as sous chef. I do
not get along with her well as I feel she tries to pick me on everything. Instead of arguing with
her, I tried following all her orders but after a point I talked with my head-sous chef as it was not
helping for a good environment in the kitchen. My sous chef agreed to sort the issues.
9. Give an example where you had to handle other person’s job.
I work as a pastry cook at Planta Queen. As our wok line was short staffed, my co-worker who
was working on salads got shifted to wok-line. As I always preferred to help with salads
whenever I got some free time in pastry, I could jump in to help with salads as well as help them
with fryers. We were able to pull the Saturday-night service smoothly.
10. Tell me about a situation where you were having a bad day at work, and you managed to get
out of it.
I did my first internship at JW Mariott in my summer break while doing bachelor's. I used to work
for 10 to 12 hours a day. I was working 6 days in a row for a week, and it was busiest services for
that day as there were Indian cricket players staying at the hotel. While preparing a la carte
orders, I missed two orders consecutively. I realised that I needed a break and my chef about it.
My chef allowed me the same, I got out the kitchen and freshened myself up and listened to
music for 15 minutes in the fresh air. When I went back to the kitchen, I felt fully energized again
and did not any mistake for the rest of the service.
