5 top hospitality interview tips to make an impression

You’ve applied for the job, your interview is in the diary and now it’s time to get ready. Feeling a few nerves? Completely normal. An interview means meeting new people and talking about yourself, which isn’t something most of us do every day.

The good news is that you don’t need perfectly rehearsed answers to make a great impression. A bit of preparation can help you feel more comfortable, show what you’d bring to the team and make the conversation feel much more natural. Whether you’re applying for your first pub job or taking the next step in hospitality, these pub interview tips can help you walk in feeling ready.

What should you expect from a pub interview?

A pub interview is a chance for us to get to know the person behind the application.

Your experience matters, of course, but working in hospitality is also about how you approach people, work alongside a team and respond when things get busy. Depending on the role, you might be asked about previous experience, why you want to work in hospitality or how you’d handle situations you could come across during a shift.

And remember, the conversation works both ways. You’re finding out whether the pub, team and role feel right for you too.

So, how can you prepare?

1. Get to know Greene King before your interview

One of our first interview tips is a simple one: spend a little time getting to know us.

You don’t need to memorise the Greene King story or arrive armed with facts and figures. Instead, understand what attracted you to the role. Have a look at the pub you’re applying to, read the job description again and explore what life at Greene King is like.

It’s also worth learning about our values and behaviours. They shape how we work together, from delivering a brilliant experience for our customers to supporting the people alongside us.

Then think about where your own experiences connect. Maybe you enjoy meeting new people. Perhaps you like the buzz of working as part of a team, or you’re looking for somewhere you can learn and progress.

That gives you something much more useful than a rehearsed answer when somebody asks, “Why would you like to work here?”

2. Think about the experiences you want to talk about

You never quite know where an interview conversation will go, but having a few examples in mind can make answering questions much easier.

For a pub or hospitality job, think about moments when you’ve helped someone, worked well with other people, solved a problem or stayed calm when things became busy.

They don’t all need to come from another hospitality role.

If this would be your first pub job, you might have examples from school, university, volunteering, another industry, a sports team or something else entirely. Transferable skills count. What matters is showing the interviewer how you approach situations and what you learned from them.

If you sometimes struggle to know where to start with an answer, the STAR method can help. Think briefly about the situation you were in, what needed doing, what you did and what happened afterwards.

You don’t have to announce that you’re “using STAR”. It’s simply a handy way to stop a good example disappearing somewhere halfway through the story.

3. Let us see the person we’d be working with

Here’s one of the most important hospitality interview tips we can give you: don’t get so focused on saying the ‘right’ thing that your personality disappears.

Pubs are people places. Customers remember how you make them feel, and great teams work because people bring their own personalities, strengths and experiences to every shift.

So talk to us like a person.

If you love getting to know customers, tell us. If you enjoy being part of a team when the pub is buzzing, explain what you like about it. And if you’re completely new to hospitality but eager to learn, there’s nothing wrong with saying that either.

At Greene King, we want people to feel they can be themselves at work. Your interview is a good place to start.

4. Bring a couple of questions of your own

Eventually, you’ll probably hear: “Do you have any questions for us?”

Try not to make this the moment you suddenly forget every question you’ve ever had.

Before your interview, think of one or two things you genuinely want to know. You might ask what a typical shift looks like, what the team is like or what training you’ll receive when you start.

If you’re thinking further ahead, you could ask about development and progression too. Hospitality can take you in plenty of different directions, so it’s worth understanding where the opportunity could lead.

You certainly don’t need a long list. One thoughtful question that matters to you is far better than five you found online the night before.

5. Give yourself the best chance to enjoy the conversation

Yes, enjoy it.

We know that can sound ambitious when your stomach is doing somersaults ten minutes before the interview, but try to remember that nobody is expecting a flawless performance.

Give yourself plenty of time to get there. Check where you’re going beforehand and bring anything you’ve been asked to bring. If it’s an online interview, check your connection and make sure you have somewhere comfortable to talk.

Once the interview starts, slow things down. Listen to the question and take a second to think before answering. If you don’t understand something, ask. If you lose your train of thought, start again.

An interviewer would much rather hear your genuine answer than watch you battle your way through something you think you’re supposed to say.

What makes a good pub interview?

There isn’t one type of person who gives a great hospitality interview.

You might be naturally confident and chatty. You might be quieter but brilliant at listening and making people feel welcome. You could already have years of experience behind the bar, or be looking for your very first shift.

What matters is giving the interviewer a sense of who you are, why the opportunity interests you and what you could bring to the team.

Prepare enough that you don’t have to worry about the basics, then let the conversation do the rest.

Ready to put these pub interview tips into practice?

The best interviews aren’t about having a perfect answer ready for everything. They’re about getting to know each other and seeing whether there could be a great fit.

Across Greene King, our people help make the moments that bring customers together, and there are plenty of ways to become part of that.

Take a look at our latest pub jobs and you might soon have an interview of your own to get excited about.

Good luck. We’ll be rooting for you.