Buyers Administration Assistant
Interview process
The initial video interview was a link which I had to record my own recorded response to a series of questions that the Arcadia Recruitment Team sent me beforehand. I had a week to record and perfect my answers to the questions and the video was to last no longer than five minutes. The first set of questions were about why I wanted the job, my art and design background and why I would make a good candidate for the role. Next I was asked about where I find my fashion inspiration from and how I would model to key looks/trends for the summer 2013. Finally I was asked about what I understood the role of a BAA to involve such as daily tasks, e.g meetings and who I would be liaising with.
Most difficult question
The most difficult question I was asked was to provide an example of a difficult decision I have had to make and how I dealt with it.
Interview tips
I would advise to really research the companies current business plans such as expansions or expiring leases so that you can show you have current and up to date knowledge of what is going o with the company.
Experiences at the assessment centre
At the assessment center I was in a group of three and we started off by carrying out a group exercise. It was a scenario task where we had to imagine we had crashed on an island and as a team we were only allowed to choose five items from the wreckage of our aircraft to help us to survive. This task was all about listening, communicating and compromising and being able to put forward a good argument as to which items should be chosen. Next I was in a one on one interview and was asked scenario based questions as to how I would cope in different situations as a buyer, e.g time delays, difficult situations. I was also asked to give examples of times when I have displayed qualities such as leadership skills and communication skills. After this section of the interview I presented two trend boards to another assessor and explained how I though they were relevant to the Arcadia brand and described the different styles and elements of the trends. Finally I took a short maths test of seven questions.
Interview steps
Interviews:
- Phone
- 1:1
- Group / Panel
- Senior Management
- Video
Tests:
- Numerical
- Personality
- Verbal reasoning
- Psychometric
Other:
- Assessment centre
- Group exercise
- Background check
- Presentation
- Competency based questions