How to Get a Job at McDonald's
With over 38,000 corporate and franchise locations, McDonald's is one of the largest employers worldwide. The fast-food chain hires seasonal, part-time, and full-time workers for many entry-level positions. Hopefuls can find McDonald's applications online or in-store. While those just entering the workforce are welcome, past work in foodservice can increase your chances of employment.
The McDonald's Interview Process
After submitting a McDonald's application, candidates usually hear back within a week. At this point, a manager calls the applicant for a discussion over the phone. This initial phone interview can result in an in-person interview. Plan to arrive early to your McDonald's interview to impress the staff and get a sense of the restaurant layout.
While the phone interview can also serve as an opportunity to make a good first impression, the in-person interview is a candidate's chance to shine. How McDonald's hiring personnel conduct their interviews depends on the individual store and district. Some types of McDonald's job interviews include:
Walk-In Interviews
In some cases, people pursuing entry-level jobs at McDonald's skip the application process. The restaurant advertises walk-in interviews at its location with a list of days and times. Candidates should dress well for McDonald's open interviews and bring an up-to-date resume.
Group Interviews
Group interviews occur if a McDonald's location has multiple jobs to fill quickly. These interviews are common for seasonal jobs and entry-level positions. When attending a McDonald's group interview, always be courteous to others and demonstrate strong teamwork skills. These qualities can help you look professional and stand out from the crowd.
One-On-One Interviews
Solo interviewees talk to hiring managers for an average of 15 to 20 minutes. Though McDonald's interviews are generally casual and low-key, job seekers should try their best to impress managers. Be sure to prepare for McDonald's interview questions and answers, dress appropriately, and bring extra copies of your resume.
McDonald's Interview Tips and How to Prepare
The best way to prepare for a McDonald's interview is to practice answering common interview questions. Remember to spend enough time going over potential questions and your responses. In addition to learning what managers look for in candidates, practicing can also help you feel more confident during your meeting.
What Can I Expect At a McDonald's Interview?
At a McDonald's interview, hiring managers choose candidates based on their resumes and applications. McDonald's open interviews are like regular one-on-one meetings, though they often become group interviews if enough hopefuls join the session. Expect hiring personnel to ask the same or similar interview questions to each individual of the group.
What Are Common McDonald's Interview Questions?
Because the company operates in food service, most of the questions you answer in a McDonald's interview relate to customer service, communication skills, and personal qualities. Come up with your own honest, concise answers and share examples of your positive traits. Some of the most common McDonald's interview questions are:
- Why do you want to work here?
- How do you handle stressful situations?
- How would you deal with an angry customer?
- Tell me about yourself.
- What are your biggest strengths and weaknesses?
When considering how to answer the above inquiries, reflect on the purpose of each question. Is the hiring manager looking for a person who wants experience or money? Do they want to hire someone who works well under stress? McDonald's interview questions and answers are your opportunity to show how well you understand the purpose of the job.
Emphasize Your Skills and Abilities
The different types of jobs at McDonald's require excellent food service skills. Since employees all work together, hopefuls must be able to work as part of a team and showcase leadership skills. Remember to emphasize your ability to communicate effectively with coworkers and customers.
Does McDonald's Hire You On The Spot?
The McDonald's hiring process can take anywhere from a single day to a couple of weeks. Some candidates report receiving a job offer on the spot, though most cases take longer. The timing usually depends on how quickly a store location needs new employees. As a general rule, it's best to wait a few days to call in or stop by the store and ask for an update.
What Should I Wear To A Job Interview At Mcdonald's?
When considering what to wear to a McDonald's interview, note that the restaurant is a casual eatery. What you wear should appear both professional and casual. Business casual attire includes buttoned shirts, slacks, khakis, blouses, and close-toed dress shoes. Some questions about McDonald's interview dress code you may have are:
Can I wear jeans to a McDonald's interview?
Be careful about wearing jeans to a McDonald's interview. If you do, make sure the jeans are clean and presentable. Dark denim jeans are a safe option as they can appear more professional, making them ideal for business casual attire. Clean straight leg, bootcut and skinny jeans are all acceptable to wear to a McDonald's interview.
Can I wear shorts to a McDonald's Interview?
Depending on the weather and temperature, you might want to wear shorts to your McDonald's job interview. However, make sure the shorts are clean and free of stains and tears. Avoid denim shorts and consider khaki shorts instead. Be sure that the length of your shorts hover just at or slightly above your knees.
Final Steps in a McDonald’s Interview
Some McDonald's franchises require training, drug tests, or background checks before offering a candidate a position. Successful employees fill out forms and provide proof of right-to-work, such as work permits or citizen status. There may even be a probationary period for each McDonald's worker.
Insider Tips
Video interviews with former McDonalds employees.
McDonalds Customer Service Representative Interview Video
Video Transcript
Interviewer: Please describe your job title and primary duties.
McDonalds Customer Service Representative: My job title was customer service representative. My duties include just taking orders. Not only just taking orders but ensuring that they actually get to the customer. They will first order, and I’ll see a screen where it tells me what they ordered. I will check it off if they got the food or not. They will time us to make sure we did it in a orderly manner. One when it’s slow in the drive-thru … Not the drive-thru, in the cashier in the front desk. They had you clean. Sometimes, if it was too slow, they just have you go into the drive-thru assisting the other person.
Interviewer: What was the work environment like?
McDonalds Customer Service Representative: It was busy. There was no down time. How it works is like you’re pretty much part of an assembly line. You’re the forefront. You’re the one directly interacting with the customer. You take the initial orders and give them back. The thing is you can’t focus on another coworker’s job. You have to focus only on yours. It not only so busy, but they built the system in a way that it works most efficiently when you make sure you take care of your job to the fullest extent because someone else is taking care of their own job to the fullest extent.
Interviewer: Please describe a typical day as an employee.
McDonalds Customer Service Representative: You get in there, you clock in. They have all this in the computer. Then, they give you a cash register, and you count the money in there. Usually, you make sure it’s like $100 or $120 because they are going to track how much money you’re making, or if someone tries to steal money, they’d know what’s up. From there, as customers come through, you have a screen of a series of little menu items, and you just click them, and then, as you make the order, you cash them out and then, you just wait in a little area where the food will just appear. There are other people working as well. Then you bag it up properly and make sure it’s not messy. You try to present it nicely, and you hand it to the customer and check it off. You just repeat the cycle over and over.
Interviewer: How would you describe the application and interview process?
McDonalds Customer Service Representative: The applications. McDonald’s are one of those guys who make you do it at the location to show that you’re willing to go out of your way to try to apply for this position. Once you do the application… What I did personally is I actually spoke to the manager myself after I finished it. They say just come back in a week or so. I came back and talked to them. Usually, they try to weed you out because some people never come back. You come back and you talk to them, then he schedules a formal interview with you. After that formal interview, it’s just like they take you to a little seat inside the restaurant and ask you a few questions, past experience, again how can you help the team grow. They put you in some scenarios and try to tackle them. Depending on your answers, they will give you the yes or no right there and then. They have a pretty high veneration rate. Sometimes, you have to show a little more effort because people come and go.
Interviewer: What should an applicant wear to the interview?
McDonalds Customer Service Representative: It was pretty much business casual. You know button up shirts, dress, loafers, or just dress shoes. Make sure and shower before. Keep the clean shave. That’s part of their uniform is clean shaven. You got to try to maintain that image.
Interviewer: What other advice would you give to a job seeker looking to gain employment?
McDonalds Customer Service Representative: Be ready to constantly work. There’s no off time until your lunch break. McDonald’s, as people know, is one of the busiest fast food restaurants in the business. One, you got to be ready to deal with a lot of people. Two, sometimes, people are going to be very rude. I don’t know why. There’s like this whole stereotyped associated with these kind of chains, but in the end you have your coworkers, and the environment is just happy in general.
McDonald’s Crew Chief Interview Video
Video Transcript
Interviewer: Please describe your job title and primary duties.
McDonald’s Crew Chief Interview Video: I was a crew chief at McDonald’s. There you have a little more responsibility than a crew member. As a crew chief, you have to look at some of the shift lists and try to work your up you way into management material and practice placing people in different spots. You also have to learn the different positions that you are available, to working with meat and the cook area, and then working with sandwiches called an assembly, and making all the sandwiches and understanding how to make them, and actually reading the screens and seeing, “Oh this is special. I have to make this differently,” and make sure you follow procedures. You also have to learn the front, which is a lot of drinks and different sort of milkshakes, and stuff like that, and orders like that. You also have to learn… Let’s see what else is there. You have to learn the register, which is actually really extensive because there’s a lot of different things that you need to know about. Someone wants something special or they just want an extra patty or something like that. You have to learn how to do that. You also have to understand how to ring people up, give correct change, and just learn a lot of positions. Even drive through is pretty intensive. It’s easier to do when you get more experience doing that sort of job.
Interviewer: What was the work environment like?
McDonald’s Crew Chief Interview Video: It was pretty quick. Some days would be slow. Some days would be pretty fast. During the day, it’s a lot quicker than the night. You’ll look at the clock once at 1:00, you’ll think it’s 1:00, and it’ll be 4:00, and your shift’s over with.
Interviewer: How would you describe the application and interview process?
McDonald’s Crew Chief Interview Video: The application production was, I believe, a three part application. You have to first go online. You have to first go to the store and ask for their online application. They’ll give you the code for the online application. You fill that out. They’ll go through, I believe, 2-3 weeks later, they’ll notify you if you’ve been accepted for the next step. The next step is just sitting down with one of the managers and just going through some questions. Some preliminary questions like, “Why do you want to work here?” “What brings you here?” “How can you make our team a better team with your aspects?” The third part is just you’re essentially hired, but then they have to train you, and if you don’t actually get the training down, they won’t hire you. Preliminary job but then once you understand how to do things, they’ll actually hire you.
Interviewer: What set you apart from other candidates?
McDonald’s Crew Chief Interview Video: I was really well developed, and I can actually understand how to do things really quickly. The other people who are with me took the training a little slower than I did. I was working, I started in the assembly in the meat area. Within two weeks, I was just like, I want to learn how to do everything else. I was really motivated and just really excited about learning stuff new. It’s not just applicable to McDonald’s, it’s applicable towards everything else in different situations.
Interviewer: How were you notified that you received the job?
McDonald’s Crew Chief Interview Video: For the first part, I was notified through a phone call. I usually go to McDonald’s very often, or I did at that time. That was within a week and a half, and then I did the interview within a couple of days. They were really quick about that. After that, it was a few days or so, they were like, “Okay, come in and we’ll see if you like this job, and good at it, and then we’ll hire you based on that performance.”
Interviewer: What other advice would you give to a job seeker looking to gain employment?
McDonald’s Crew Chief Interview Video: Be motivated. Just be willing to learn other things and not just be stuck in one position because there’s so much more you can do at McDonald’s than working in assembly, working up front. You want to learn everything. You want to be a very diverse employee.
Tyree says:
Do u have to work on saturday and sunday?
Kevin hanoi says:
Well, on the interview they are gonna ask you a lot of questions related to your personal life, school, etc. They want to know if you are responsable and a hard worker. Thats pretty much it.
Andre Levett says:
Nobody can technically force you to work weekends in the United States. Indentured servitude was made illegal many years ago. You have the legal right to refuse. But your client or employer also has the right to penalize or fire you for that refusal.
Angel k. says:
What do they mean when they ask about you’re strength and weakness?
Cierra says:
In applying for this job they will probally ask your hours, how long you plan on working with the company, about yourself and some other questions. If they ask you anything you feel is to personal (Ex: Where do you go to church ?) simply answer the question by saying, thats a very good question but i dont see how the question pertains to the interview.
jennifer says:
i have been trying to get at mcdonalds for a while they believe in hiring all family members only but i wish i could work one day.
Megan says:
Tyree, McDonalds is open on Saturdays & Sundays but if you cannot work weekends then don’t put them on your availability. They probably prefer you to be able to work weekends, but if you can’t then I’m sure they can find a way to work around it.
Angel, what they mean by “strengths and weaknesses” is things you are good at VS. things you aren’t so good at. This is also a way they can trick you: you don’t want to expose any weaknesses. Try to think of a strength that could be used as a weakness, such as “I think I’m too nice sometimes.” Hope that helps!
akiva says:
okay but how old do you have to be to get a job.
nita says:
You can be 15 and over, It’s okay if you do not have one as Maccas is a fast food restaurant that is known for applying young first time workers.
Za'Queisha says:
i think u have to b 16 and have a workers permit
Anonymous says:
Well, I’m going to be applying there in about a week.
But here are a few tips
1) Dress nice. You want to impress them
2) Don’t be nervous.
3) Try your hardest, and do good!
darnesha says:
what should you wear? do you think they would hire me if i don’t have a work permit?
Anonymous says:
What If you don’t have a Resume ?
nita says:
They won’t take that as an excuse, you have to make one.
brea austin says:
how much do i get paid a day and i week
michelle says:
I’m 16 n I have an interview Tomorrow… MONDAY ….. I never worked a day in my life …. They won’t as for a resume right just working pappers???
dayday says:
if they ask me why do i really want this job what do i say
Paige says:
i have an interview on friday, what should i expect ?
Nicole says:
I have a interview tomorow and im really nervous about what questions they are going to ask me.
I have a rough idea
– Why do you want to work for McDonalds
-What can you offer to mcdonalds
These are things i have just been told about Im 16 and my interview is with Joyce whitely.
Can somebody help me please give me advise.
Miss Amazingggg says:
I work at McDonalds.
as long as you say this in your interview you’ll be perfect:
when the costumers here with money in hand they expect to receive a high quality, accurate, clean, fast and friendly service.
Hope it helps.
for me it did. I’ve been in the business for 5 months and I’ve been offered a couple of promotions.
Paige says:
What should you wear to an interview? as a teenage girl
Robert says:
I have an interview on Tuesday at 5:30pm and I am a little nervous!
I am 16 years old and I am a male! I just was wondering what I should take with me?
I Don’t have a work permit and I wanted to know if that was gonna be a problem?
If you could give me some advice I would be very thankful!!!!
Thanks,
Robert
Anonymous says:
I submitted a resume and cover letter on a wednesday and got a call for an interview on the following friday. Im 16, this is my first job. Do you think that that is a good sign, and what will the interview be like.
tre says:
does mcdonalds drug test?
haylee says:
how do i handle a second interview
Denise says:
If you get called for an interview with Mcdonalds make sure you bring 2 forms of id required. Exp. Ss card state issued id or drivers license. Eventhough you have applied to a fastfood place doesnt mean you come to the interview dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. A good first impression is important. Any and every employer you are meeting the first thing they take notice of is your appearance. They consider that a reflection of how you will carry yourself on the job. I would highly reccomend business attire. you want to make yourself stand out. If you are not sure of whats appropriate to wear ask someone you know that is knowlegable. When you walk in there make sure to put your smile on. Let me say this again make sure you “SMILE”! They, look for that
because if you won’t smile for them then you certainly won’t smile for customers. They definitely want you smiling for their customers. Also give inteviewer eye contact when talking to them.One of the first questions they are most likely to ask you is.. “Tell me a little bit about yourself”.. And why do you want to work for Mcdonalds?.. One thing I did notice they don’t ask everyone the same questions. I believe it somewhat depends on what you put on your application. I have worked there twice and both times I got hired on thr spot. So pretty much if you go in for a interview you should knw your hiring status same day or fairly shortly because their fastfood if they need ppl they going to want you to start right away. My second time I put in a application on a monday and got called for interview on tuesday went to interview on wednesday wednesday started work on thursday. Basically if you go in there and talk to them like you have some sense and show them you want to work. You should not have a issue.
sahannabu says:
when they ask me why do i wanna work for mcdonalds, what do i say?
liya says:
People if u want a job, you have to have a resume. and good answers for questions. I am 17 and i want to get a job and money.
myra says:
i have an interview on tuesday and i wanted tips on wha questions i would be gettin ask .and another thing is i do not have my working papers i am 16 and this will be my 1st real job, pls help > if i do not have my working papers will that prevent me from getting hired ????????????????
carolina says:
if i filled out the application, who am i supposed to hand it in to?
do i ask for the manager?
i am afraid they might blow me off..
Katrina says:
I have an interview Tuesday at Mcdonalds…will I know the same day if I got the job?
shay says:
im sixteen.ill be seventeen next month.
and currently going from homeschooling to getting my ged. but i havent yet.
i have a 2 yr old daughter.who my mom is willing to watch.
i already put in my application.
and hes supposed to look at it today.
do you think if i went up there and talked to him and explain to him i really could use this job.
and just kinda put out there how interested i am. do you think thatd help me get the job??
savannah says:
shay:
im seventeen and im suppost to go in for an inteview tommorow. I put my application in 2+ weeks ago. my opinion is dont go up there, give it a couple days and if you havent heard anything then give him a call. Just say that you really are looking forward to getting a job but dont sound desperate, it might put off a bad vibe!
jessica says:
do they drug test you at mc donalds?
Aqua says:
Hey, I applied online and was wondering how long approx it would take on average to get a reply . x
Tarrr
Nel says:
I got my reply less than a week after submitting my application online
Alexus Adkins says:
i put in my application and less than twelve hours later they called asking for an interview.
ros says:
they contact me next day about interview slots
kairy says:
i submitted my application on wednesday and got a message today morning, friday for an in person intreview today at 4 it really depends on the store but i could say a couple days to 1-2 weeks to get back at u either through a phone call, email or message
Allie says:
It takes about two weeks for the applications to get to the stores Aqua
alonzo says:
what do they ask you???
missy says:
Hey i am 17years old an i did an application yesterday its it an good idea to go to meet the manager the next day since they hiring if u really want the job..
Wyatt T says:
well i applied and i got a job at mcdonalds, it was great i got money for gas and some extra for food and skateboards.
miranda says:
I have an interview tomorrow im very nervous……..but when they ask for two forms of i.d does that mean that you are hired on the spot?
Criz says:
I applied in the store 2 weeks and 2 days ago.. I called the manager 1 week after I put my application and asked the status of my application she asked for my number and name and said she gonna call me back in a couple of weeks…it’s been 2 weeks but haven’t recieve a call yet.. What takes them so long?
Brianna says:
I am so excited. I am going to be interviewed at 7pm.
Kitkat says:
I put in my application yesterday evening around 11 p.m. and I got a call this evening around 5 p.m. My interview is tomorrow at 6 p.m. I am 16 and In Arkansas. I do not have any working papers. I’m not sure how to wear my hair though?
Manijah says:
How do you apply online to McDonald’s?
Sienna says:
I have a interview tomorrow at 9:00 am. I am 15 and this is my first job, I am highly nervous and do not know what to expect but I feel I have what it takes to be a valuable candidate. I applied on the website and talked with Mcdonald’s A.I Olivia. It’s way easier to talk with her and answer the questions she asks. It took me about 1 minute to complete the questions in the text chat that Olivia communicated with me through. Right at the end she said I fit what they needed perfectly and she sent me the actual application and asked me to set up an appointment on the spot and now I have an interview in about 5 minutes of thinking I wanted the job. But if you want it fast and easy, I really recommend talking with the A.I on the website, it makes it so much faster and efficiant.
Angel Swatzell says:
I’m 15 and have an interview tomorrow. I’m scared that I won’t get the job because of my age so do y’all have any advice for me?
Siyasanga Siyotula says:
Yeah same here I am 15
Just calm down and relax to avoid over thinking thing’s.