I applied through an employee referral. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Panera Bread
Interview
I applied to Panera twice and never got a call or anything like that. Then, several months later, my best friend that has worked at this particular Panera referred me to her managers because she knew I was desperate for some part-time summer work. I went in one day to talk to one of the managers, who found out shortly that I was only wanting to work for the summer as I'd be going back to college in late August. I had a friendly, brief chat with the manager but he ultimately told me he wasn't looking to hire a temporary worker. However, he called me a few days later saying he in fact did want to hire me, as he thought I had a great attitude and was very bright from the short meeting we had. So I didn't ever get formally interviewed. From what I've heard about the interview process here though, it's like any other retail or food industry interview for a sales associate/cashier position. Very laid-back, conversational, etc.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
As I said, I never got formally interviewed. When I did talk to the manager, all he asked me was if I'd ever worked before and where I go to college. And then we ended up talking about my college for like 5 minutes since that's coincidentally where he also went.
Initial call interview was standard. Asked about my background and experience in my previous sales roles. I ended up passing on the next round of interviews to pursue other roles
I applied online. I interviewed at Panera Bread (Elk Grove, CA) in Jun 2024
Interview
Went in for my first 20 minutes interview with a team manager, who was reading off the questions from a paper. Questions were fairly easy I would say. I was scheduled for a second interview with the GM, but at my second interview, I didn’t interview with a GM. My second interview was with a team member from the Flynn group, which took about 15 minutes and similar interview questions as the first interview. She really liked me and wanted me to meet the GM at the third interview. Third interview came and it took over 30 minutes for the GM to come out and interview me. He was very unprofessional as he was talking to employees in the middle of me talking and had to take a call in the middle of our interview. Then he came back and said they are currently full staff and will not be hiring but will keep my resume. Overall, the interview was a joke and time wasting.
Easy interview that felt comfortable and was not intimidating. Definitely felt easy. I was nervous and it went well. Definitely do not worry if you’re preparing for their interview. You should just prepare answers to basic questions and that will be sufficient.
