i applied online and had to do a very long online assessment, the next day i got an email saying i had passed and they would like me to go for an interview, all the dates were for three weeks later. i booked the interview, got an email confirming the time and date and location, but no info on where in store to go or who to ask for so i went to the pharmacy and the guy asked who was the interview with and i felt stupid saying i didn't know! he went off and five minutes later came back with another member of staff who left me in the canteen where members of staff were on their breaks, five minutes later another came and asked if i was their was their for an interview, i said yes, she said shed let the manager know i was there, a further ten minutes passed before the manager actually came to get me. the manager interviewed me and the assistant manager watched and listened. the maanger was nice and did try to help me with the questions if i wasn't sure what to answer but the interview seemed to be just a general competency interview with a few very difficult questions which didn't apply to my experience in my current job in retail for ten years like describe a time when you researched something for work to help with your job without being asked and what was the outcome- i work in a card and gift shop so there is nothing that id have to research! i have ten years experience in a busy customer facing retail environment and told them this and also that i love interacting and chatting to customers and am interested and eager to learn about the pharmaceutical side of things but felt like i wasn't saying the right things, it felt like they wanted someone with experience working in a pharmacy but the job is as a trainee pharmacy advisor so the point is that you don't have that experience, but i have loads of customer service experience which i thought would b an advantage, i was very smiley and happy and managed to answer all the questions with examples apart from the one above and one asking for an example of when i went above and beyond to help someone! competency based interviews are not good in my opinion as if you haven't experienced a particular situation youre at a disadvantage, why cant they ask what you WOULD do in a particular situation instead! then today i got an email saying thank you for apllying but as you haven't been able to attend an interview we will be unable to process your application further and another one giving me info on why i probably hadn't passed the online assessment when obviously i did and did have an interview! not good really