Brinker International Interview Questions
& Process

I applied online and the whole thing took about 3-4 weeks. The first interview was fine, the interviewer was really enthusiastic and made the company culture sound great, but she wasn't very polished. She said some weird things like looking for "a baby unicorn" which felt kind of offensive given my experience, and she told me I was "the first person smart enough" to turn a salary question back on her, which is something you should probably keep to yourself. Less than a week later, I had the second interview. She started by saying we'd get to my qualifications later and she wanted to know about my personal life first, which has never happened to me before. Then she asked "like how many people are in your household". The rest of the interview went okay, it was pretty straightforward. But that beginning really turned me off. I got rejected two days later, and honestly, I wasn't too upset considering how both interviews went, especially the second one.

Over the past few years, I've gone through 3 General Manager interviews. The process has definitely gotten more thorough and practical. Initially, my direct superior conducted the interview. By the third time, which resulted in an offer each time, the process had expanded to three rounds. These later interviews involved senior leaders from other regions who had no prior assumptions and could offer genuine, professional feedback.

It started off really fast with the recruiter staying in touch and giving me feedback after the first two rounds. It was multiple rounds of interviews, which is normal. On my last interview, they were late, but apologized and said they were squeezed in between meetings, so I understood. But as the interview began, their attention seemed to be elsewhere, I noticed typing and not looking at the camera, but I tried to make the best of it, maybe they were taking notes? But there were awkward silences waiting for their response, and it just threw me off feeling like I needed to fight for their attention. I understand multitasking, but it felt like they had more important things going on. Understanding how busy days get in this industry, I tried to make the best of it and remain optimistic after the interview, even though I left that interview feeling like my time was not as important as theirs and overall an awkward experience, which was not the case in the first two rounds. Then I heard nothing for two weeks, I sent followups, but never received feedback or updates before I got the automated email from a no reply that they had moved on with another candidate. I had a lot of high hopes for this position, they have a great brand and company culture, but was left disappointed at the radio silence for two weeks after such thorough feedback and promising two initial interviews.

The phone screen interview was pretty standard, although the interviewer was late and not very personable. I was really nervous and messed up the interview. It seemed like they didn't review my resume beforehand because they only asked about one job until I brought up the others. I also felt like I was judged for not having direct experience. If this is how the company operates, then I'm glad I didn't proceed. Nobody likes being rejected or feeling like they're a burden.