Retail Interview Questions & Answers

It was a relaxed face to face interview with the store manager and a department manager. They wanted to know more about my personality and experience to see whether I would be a good fit. They were both friendly and made me feel at ease. More specifically I was asked about previous management experience, why I wanted to work at the company and what I thought I could bring to the role.

I was asked to walk around the shop floor and pick 3 good things and 3 bad things about the store. This was a good exercise as it made you think on your feet and gave them an insight into how I thought.

Make sure you understand the core values of the company. They are key to how the company is run and the products designed and sold by Decathlon. In the interview make sure you let your personality shine through. The company wants passionate and energetic and it is important this comes across in the interview.

There was no assessment centre, I had to complete an online application. Once I had passed this stage I had a short telephone interview before being invited in for a face to face interview at the store.

First step was psychometric tests including numerical and verbal reasoning.

If you are successful and pass the psychometric tests you will be invited to the assessment centre. Before the assessment centre they send you a personality questionnaire. This is very long (mine took an hour).

The assessment centre was with approximately 8 other candidates and involved 3 group exercises and an interview which lasted approximately 1 hour. The interview is partially based on your experience and CV but a lot of questions are based on the results of your personality questionnaire. For example, if it came across in your questionnaire that you do not make decisions they will ask you about decision making.

When have you implemented a change?

Be aware of the time - take a watch.
Make sure you express your views, particularly, in the group exercise.
Be prepared for a long interview at the end of the day.
Read up on the company and its values.

There were 4 parts to the assessment centre.
1. Interview
2. Group exercise - decision making regarding various scenarios.
3. Presentation - regarding a store scenarios - making decisions and discussing strategy. You have an hour to review the information and prepare a presentation. You then present the presentation.
4. Single exercise - you are given a scenario by one of the interviewers and asked to respond to several questions.

The initial phone interview lasted around 40 minutes, including time at the end for me to ask questions about the role and the company.

The first questions were biographical, ensuring the details on your CV concerning your education were correct and up-to-date and then more practical questions about your available to start work.

The second part of the interview was based around Amazon's leadership principles and was a similar format to the competency questions asked by many graduate recruiters. It is good to use the STAR framework when answering (Situation, Task, Action, Result), in order to guide the interviewer through your answer logically.

There were also business-related questions relating to Amazon and its competitors, so it would be useful to do some background research about the company and current issues in the retail industry.

Talk about a time when you have made an improvement to a process.

The leadership principles are an absolutely key part of both the recruitment process and careers at Amazon - make sure to familiarise yourself with them before both your telephone interview and the assessment centre. Try to think of an example answer for each of the principles and structure your answer around the STAR framework.

Do some background research about Amazon, its competitors and the retail environment in which it is operating before your interviews, to enable you to offer informed answers about business-related questions. Although it seems obvious, also ensure you are familiar with Amazon's website, including all product categories, postage policies and additional services. This will help you to speak confidently about the company under pressure.

2 x one-to-one interviews (CV and competencies)
Group exercise
Individual exercise and presentation

In the second interview, the relaxed theme continued. It was a run through of my CV and family history along with a few pressure points where I was pressed.

At Aldi we don't use trade unions. How do you react to that?
I don't think you've got the grit to dismiss someone. What do you think?

In the group interview, just give off a focused impression. You need to be a cool operator and, more important than anything, listen to what everyone is saying.

In the debate session, be prepared to argue your point convincingly - whether you believe in it or not you must be able to sell an idea or at least build a coherent argument with sound reasoning without being overbearing on the other candidates.

For your presentation, choose something original that nobody else has. They don't want to hear about the rich boy's gap yah to Thailand, they want to see a part of your character through an interesting insight into your life.

MOST IMPORTANTLY do your research thoroughly!! They'll spot you a mile off if you haven't done it, a couple of hours a day for two weeks should do the trick,

The group interview was surprising - there were no verbal or numerical reasoning tests despite spending weeks preparing for them. The interviewer told us that they liked to shake up the process a little so that we didn't believe everything we read online. At the start we were asked to prepare a list of the horrendous things we had heard about Aldi - which went on to being told it was that and much worse. Following that, we had 2 minutes to plan a 1.5 minute presentation on anything we liked. After that, we had to use a Matrix to plan within a group, then say who contributed most and who contributed least. After that, we were asked to debate - one group had one opinion and the other side of the room had the opposite, then we were asked to switch our roles and argue the opposite side. There was time for Q&A at the end. Be aware - Aldi as a company operates as different companies depending on which part of the country you're in, so interviews may well be different everywhere.

Application was very straight forward - CV and cover letter. This was followed by a phone interview, a 5 minute (pre-recorded) video interview and an assessment centre.

The phone interview was quick and not too detailed at all - very straight forward. The video interview was 5 questions e.g why do you want to work here etc. - You have a minute to answer each.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Such a difficult question to answer for someone still at uni that has had little or no experience in actual workplaces.

Really know the company inside out. The whole business as well not just the UK and know what direction they are going in. They have subsidiary companies in the Nordics so be sure to mention them. Also be confident and display that you really would like to work for DC - an exciting and innovative company.

Day begins with basic introductions.
Then moves into a group task (teams of 3/4 join to solve a real-life business issue and create a presentation to give back to 2/3 interviewers).
This was followed by a personal presentation everyone had prepared (presented to 2/3 people).
Lastly there was a 3 on 1 interview which lasted an hour (1 candidate 3 interviewers).

Initially we had a 30 min phone interview about general interview topics (e.g. why M&S, why food etc), which got more specific to M&S towards the end.

At the assessment day the questions were a lot more related to the food industry, including the technical side involved.

We had to do a group task first, followed by a role play exercise, presentation and then two interviews.

The role play exercise was difficult, as you were addressing a 'client' who had worked with the company for many years, so you had to keep them on side but at the same time be strict with your outcome.

Learn the company ethos and bring it in as much as possible in the interview. Keep up to date with current food trends and issues, so that you can relate to what the company is currently facing.

For the role play it is difficult to prepare for but keep in mind the professionalism you'd expect from someone working at the company.

The group exercise involved the 8 of us being given 3 different topics to discuss in 45 minutes. They all had a similar theme but each one had a different issue, e.g. relocating a factory, supply issues etc

For the (unseen) presentation we were given an hour to prepare for but this included having to write a maximum 2 sides of A4 summary which they assessed you on later.

A very relaxed atmosphere with me and one other person asking questions.
The questions were to do with times you have shown certain qualities. You must provide examples which, then show that the example worked. For example customer support, I have called people asking for them to send data in, then to prove I was successful in my task you say that you received the data.
I was asked 'why marks and spencers?'

The most difficult question in my opinion was 'What other organisation do you feel is on par with M&S, and why?' I wasn't sure how to answer it. Do you quickly say a company, answering the question too honestly? Take your time, but still be name a company? Or say there is none?

There is no right answer, but it was certainly one that I wasn't sure how to answer 'correctly'.

Research the interview questions! I found them online.
Be positive in the role play.
Make decent notes for your presentation.
And make sure you fit in well within the other candidates.

Be calm. They were very nice. I hate assessments, but this couldn't have gone smoother. They provided food, drinks, gave you a tour of a store nearby etc.

Group Discussion- Everyone in my group was very nice. I was very nervous going into the day, but this certainly calmed me down. The task was to go through a pack for 15mins, in the pack was information on a fictitious company, closely resembling M&S. You were told the store had a few issues, and that it was nearing christmas and that you had an extra 30 staff you had to choose where to put them. Also for CSR you needed to pick a charity out of a possible 4.
This was all very easy and was not about being right or wrong, but how you work in a team. MAKE SURE YOU LET PEOPLE TALK, AND TALK YOURSELF! NOD, SMILE AND COME TO A MUTUAL DECISION.

Then was the presentation. You had an hour to read another pack, on the same pretend company closely resembling M&S. You could make changes to the store, but you were told a new christmas range was coming in, and you had to set it up etc. This was very easy in ways, BUT, watch your time! The hour seems like a minute! You present to one person. It is not daunting, but you do have 10 minutes! And it feels like an hour.... Make sure you have all your points on one sheet!

Then was a role play. You were given 10mins to read a pack, understand the situation, then get into character... A worker in the store comes in, isn't happy he has been called in, is a little negative, quiet, etc. You must tell him that he is to re-design the womens range layout, and you must give him his feedback. Be motivational, but make sure he knows you are the boss. I felt I may have been too stern.... oops

Then the interview. The easier part! I know myself, and so interviews are fine! I don't know pretend store workers and companies, so those can be challenging. Just make sure you look up all possible questions, have an answer for them, smile and be polite. Thats all.

The lovely staff members were very welcoming.

The interview was made interesting by other exercises that not all recruiters do, it
wasn't too formal as people are dressed in sports clothes which made the atmosphere more appealing to me.

I was able to learn about the company and it was interesting to see their core values, what they can offer and what I can possibly be a part of.

Being asked to compare yourself to a cartoon was quite tricky.

maybe make sure more people attend the assessment day.

Some staff members were more involved than others, so it would of been nice to have spoken to them individually as well. Other than that, I don't have any other advice - the morning was a pleasant interview!

It was made fun with different activities which appealed to me and the
group exercises were fun and interactive.

My initial telephone call was from a member of their personnel staff. I went on to do a one to one interview with my 'to be' department manager the following week which lasted about thirty minutes. From here I returned the next week to complete CRB check forms, payment details and carry out my induction which went on for the whole days work, and payed.

Why do you deserve this job?

It's difficult to answer this question without feeling like you could disrespect others. I answered it by saying how motivated, enthusiastic and hard working I was, explaining that I had this from years of working in certain roles and experiences.

Be confident in yourself by going over your experiences from things and what you gained from them, make sure you speak clearly and dress smart. Don't ever rely on chance, do your background research on a company before you talk to a representative from it.

More is less, if you don't know something don't make it up, look interested and ask questions, it shows you're interested and WANT to do better for yourself AND the company.

It was a one to one, friendly and easy going discussion on the company role for the most part. The rest was them asking how I'd fit in with that and what I thought I'd benefit from working with them. It was one of the better interviews I've had in my experience.

The interview was done as part of the assessment centre. The lady who conducted the interview was lovely, but unfortunately I don't feel that enough questions were actually asked in order to show fully the skills I have which would have made me an ideal graduate on their programme.

When have you had to change your approach?

Be yourself, and try to be as confident as possible.

The assessment centre was mostly enjoyable, despite the obvious nervousness that most candidates will feel. The staff were friendly and offered advice and assistance and were happy to answer any questions we had.

I find it difficult being put up against other candidates, as I feel I need to be slightly competitive, but not show off.

The first task we had to imagine we were a store manager and prioritise certain tasks, then there was a one on one interview, followed by a role play and finally a group exercise.