What Hopscotch wants in a driver
Hopscotch is expanding, so we’re looking for drivers. The job is simple: Guided by an app you install on your phone, you collect food from restaurants and deliver it to customers. Anyone with a working vehicle, a valid driver’s license, and a smartphone enabled with data and minutes can get the hang of it after a few hours’ training.
Despite this seemingly low bar, finding drivers we are enthusiastic about hiring has been difficult. This has made me think more deeply about the qualities so many applicants seem to lack. If you’re interested in working for us, here are a few tips that may improve your chances.
- Speak standard English
There is only one question we ask in all our interviews: “Tell us a little about yourself.” I don’t put much weight on the content of the response as a disqualifying factor (although an interesting answer might give you a leg up). Short of confessing to a crime, there’s not much you can say that will rule you out immediately.
We ask the question to hear you speak. Partly, I want to know if you sound friendly and polite, but mostly I want to know if you can construct grammatically correct sentences. This requirement alone probably disqualifies more than half our applicants.
Don’t get me wrong: I love to hear Bajan. The parsimony of the dialect, and the endless verbal ingenuity of average Barbadians, are enough to delight anyone. If the words flow from the pen of a capable writer, like Eric Lewis, they rise to the level of art.
None of this negates the fact that Hopscotch drivers need to be able to speak English, not least because some people with whom they interact aren’t Barbadian. Even if they all were, reserving language for our customers that you wouldn’t use with your friends in a rum shop is a sign of respect.
2. Make an effort
Obviously, an interview is an interaction that a job seeker should view as important, because if we don’t like them, they won’t get the job. That means it’s also an opportunity for us to see how they approach such situations. Specifically, do they notice that some interactions call for different dress, speech, attitude, demeanor, and preparedness than others?
Clearly, not everyone does. People have sent us single-line emails to the effect of “I’m interested in the job” — no preamble, no resume, no phone number. Interviewees have turned up in flip flops, with torn jeans hanging off their behinds. Some applicants never bother to Google “Hopscotch Barbados” before they come, and have only the vaguest idea what the company does. One guy kept calling me “buddy” throughout our meeting.
I appreciate that most people applying to be a driver are just looking for a job— any job. I’ve been there. I remember sending out 100 CVs, each one an elaborate pretense that I gave a damn about some particular company, when all I really wanted was a salary from anyone willing to provide it.
But even then, as a teenager looking for a summer attachment or a university student after a first placement, I understood that the application process was a competition. To notice that there are other applicants is to grasp that appearing to care just a little, even if not setting you apart, might at least keep you in the game.
Suffice it to say that if you can’t be bothered to turn up to our interview with shoes on, I can’t trust you’ll care enough about our customers to try to make them feel important.
3. Be on time
Punctuality is an example of making an effort, but it’s worth discussing separately because it says more about a person. It’s also particularly important in a job that involves transporting food on demand to hungry people.
Merely recognizing that showing up on time is worth attempting, in a country where everything happens late or not at all, is a recommendation. Punctuality also requires that you figure out where you’re going, and give yourself enough time to get there. This speaks to your ability to plan. And if you can’t avoid being late, calling beforehand shows pragmatism (acknowledging you’ll be late before you actually are) and thoughtfulness (respecting someone else’s time enough to give them a heads up). These are all qualities worth having.
If you’re late and don’t call, you probably won’t get a job at Hopscotch.
4. Ask a question or two
It’s unlikely that Paul and I will discuss, unprompted, every single item that an intelligent person might be curious about. If you really have no questions at all after we’ve spoken for several minutes, I will begin to wonder if you simply don’t care, or aren’t very smart. We won’t hire you in either case.
When I say “smart,” I just mean being able to think on your feet and make justifiable, common sense decisions. Delivering food is simple, but the world is unpredictable. We need people capable of handling new situations, without hand-holding.
What I’ve said above suggests that if you can manage to show up on time in an ironed shirt, speak English, and be mildly pleasant, you are already well on your way to getting hired. It’s depressing that these are criteria that most applicants can’t meet.
