Interviewed someone the other day, someone wanting to be a server. It was the first interview I'd ever conducted on my own and it was actually kind of nerve-racking for me; though I'm sure much more for him considering that while we're looking to clean up a bit in terms of the servers we have, we're pretty stocked full and he knew that coming in but I liked the attitude he had and the way he conducted himself so I told him that we're more than likely to lose a couple people in the next few weeks and he can give it a shot.
I shouldn't have wasted my time... It's great to have confidence and an upbeat attitude (it's not only great, for the most part it's necessary); but a false confidence, however, is absolutely annoying. He was a bullshitter, and a pretty good one at that, but when the questions about how to serve and about wine varietals, how to serve wine, etc. came up, he started fumbling his words and making excuses like not being trained properly in his past job (which was pretty much when I decided the interview was over, ten minutes in). Granted, the restaurant I'm running is not the usual waiting job; it's a wine cafe, and is very demanding on both the information side of knowing wine (we have no sommelier, so all servers must know their shit; we don't expect you to want to be a sommelier, but you've gotta know the fuckin' basics at least) and how to sell/pair with food/etc. But if you walk into a place that sells only wine and beer and while we have a menu, it isn't as large as most 'usual' restaurants...surely it's a hint that you'll have to be more than just an order taker. This ain't Denny's, no offense to any other waiters/bussers/restaurants (I have indeed worked at TGI Friday's before).
Case in point, and it may seem like a no brainer, but I learned yesterday that it is not: Get every single one of your ducks in a line, all of your facts straight, and dot your 'i's and cross your 't's before you even attempt to interview. Again, a great attitude and a handful of balls will go a long way, but eventually you'll have to get down to the nitty gritty and start spouting facts and knowledge of the job, and bullshitting only gets you so far. Don't even try it, don't even think about cutting corners... The weirdest, best advice that was ever given to me was 'if you're being interviewed, you're being dissected'. Unless you're lucky enough to have a shit-for-brains interviewing you...then be prepared to have every ounce of knowledge about the job you're interested in to be brought up and pulled out of you, and if you don't have it, expect to be thrown away.
This is more of a vent than anything...but I also feel that it's something that's taken for granted in today's society of having a great 'go-getter' attitude and all the other utter bullshit that goes with that and the rest of the motivational posters. Yeah, attitude is awesome and all...but if it's empty, then I'm gonna take the shy geek and simply whip some attitude into him as opposed to taking weeks to train and fill some dipshit up with knowledge, taking twice the time and effort. KNOW YOUR ENEMY!