Four Seasons interview questions

Screening through HR followed by Front Office Manager. Should you do well, you will interview with higher department heads, usually ending with General Manager. If you get to the General Manager, this is more of a welcome to the Hotel introduction type interview.

I applied to Four Seasons and received an automated interview invitation about a week later. I was excited to bring my experience and passion for guest service to a culture that I felt would value my contributions. I arrived twenty minutes prior to the interview window and waited until noon to visit with a human resources representative; a three hour wait. Miscommunications were likely the cause, and regardless of the wait, I was excited for the opportunity. I was the last to be seen among the applicants. Immediately after I was brought into the office, I was taken into a supply room and was seated near the door, which was left ajar limiting privacy. Immediately, the interviewer questioned my desire to step down from a higher level position and into a basic front desk position. Though the question was understandable, the HR representative posed it abrasively, did not give me full eye contact and kept glancing towards the open door. I felt immediately unwelcome. The questions that followed included my reason for leaving my previous position, and the interviewer's expressions were anything but neutral. Instead, s/he interrupted me frequently with counter questions posed with the same level of assertiveness; as if s/he were looking to retort to my answers instead of listen. I expressed that I felt we got off on the wrong foot, to which the interviewer quickly interrupted to clarify that s/he was only screening me so that I may be deemed a good fit for the "Four Seasons culture". The interviewer then quizzed me on my knowledge of the company and culture, interrupting to correct words I may have misused or misinterpreted. I felt I was in a losing argument, not an objective interview. My own credentials aside, I was made to feel inferior to the position for which I was applying- which is most certainly not what I imagined the "Four Seasons culture" to champion. Regardless of the validity of my candidacy, I felt like I was in a hostile conversation. The interviewer then clarified some details about the position and asked me if I had questions before saying my application would be reviewed as necessary and the company would go from there. The whole conversation lasted barely five minutes. It was, surprisingly, my worst interview experience of my career.