I applied online. The process took 3 days. I interviewed at IHOP (Columbia, SC) in Jun 2019
Interview
When I got there, the hostess went to grab a manager. I was taken back to a booth and waited for the manager. She basically asked me questions like "Why did you decide to apply for a hostess position at IHOP?" "Why did you choose IHOP?" "What makes you a great fit to our team?" "Why should we hire you?" then when I was done with my first interview at IHOP, they told me to come back on Friday for a second interview. When I got there for the second interview, it took a while for them to grab the other manager. She told me that she had heard from the first manager that she had enjoyed speaking with me. The second manager basically asked me the same questions. Then she went to get the General Manager and that took about 15-20min, she asked about my transportation and availability and I had to sign multiple papers and she had told me that I could start July 1st. Mind you, I was interviewed on June 28th and then June 30th. So I started the next week.
Interview questions [5]
Question 1
Why did you decide to apply for a hostess position at IHOP?
I applied through a staffing agency. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at IHOP (Tucson, AZ) in Nov 2025
Interview
The interview process entailed of the Manager giving me a rundown of what to expect working there and ensuring if I was okay with all the listed duties, I wasn't asked many questions.
The interview process was straight forward. I went in, asked for an application, filled it out, spoke to the manager, and I got the job within a few days. One of the questions I asked was if they did direct deposit, and they don't, they give paper checks instead.
The process was swift, and they got back to me in a short amount of time. The store manager was kind and friendly. It is like the usual food service industry interview process.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
A few were 1. What was my previous work experience. 2.Availability
Hostess applicants have rated the interview process at IHOP with 1.7 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 66% positive. To compare, the company-average is 63% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Hostess roles take an average of 6 days to get hired, when considering 100 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at IHOP overall takes an average of 5 days.
Common stages of the interview process at IHOP as a Hostess according to 100 Glassdoor interviews include:
One on one interview: 47%
Skills test: 11%
Background check: 8%
Presentation: 7%
Personality test: 6%
Drug test: 6%
IQ intelligence test: 6%
Other: 5%
Phone interview: 2%
Group panel interview: 1%
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