I applied online. The process took 2 days. I interviewed at Marks & Spencer (London Colney, England) in Oct 2024
Interview
Applied online for a Temporary Christmas Operations Sales Assistant role at the London Colney store. The online application consisted of a CV upload and then personality test and retail scenarios test which took about 30 - 45 minutes in total to complete. This was all fine.
I was then invited to an in-store interview at the London Colney store and had a really poor candidate experience for the following reasons -
1. My interviewer spent at least 5 minutes trying to find an available meeting room for my interview and it became clear that a meeting room had not been pre-booked.
2. I was told very early in the interview by my interviewer that she had no roles available but would ask one of her colleagues if they had any roles available. I'm not sure why I was brought in for a interview for a role that outlined specific hours, if this role was no longer available, it would have been helpful to have been informed about this in advance.
3. I was asked to complete a pre-interview task and arrive early in the store to identify 3 things which I felt would improve the customer service in store, my interviewer didn't ask me about this during my interview, my interview consisted of being asked about 3 scenarios in the store and reconfirming when I was available, and that was it. I wasn't even asked why I wanted to work at Marks and Spencers. My interview ended up being a maximum of 10 minutes long and felt both rushed and disorganised.
I came away from the interview and have now withdrawn my application following my experience today. I would not recommend this to anyone looking for temporary work for Christmas. A real shame as I love Marks and Spencers and shop online and instore regularly but will not be applying for roles with them in future, following my experience today.
Interview questions [3]
Question 1
You have 30 minutes remaining until the end of your shift and you've been assigned a task of laying out/shelving t-shirts by your manager but can see the queue building up at the tills, what would you do in this scenario?
How are you with digital technology as you will be required to use technology in the store and for your role to help customers in store and for restocking, deliveries etc..
It was an alright interview - not too tricky
Questions like
Tell me about yourself
Describe a time where you worked as a time
Describe a time when you had to meet a deadline
What do you know about Mark's and Spencer
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Marks and Spencer
I applied online. I interviewed at Marks & Spencer (Truro, England) in Jul 2017
Interview
There was an online application. Then I was invited to a one on one interview in the store. I was asked a few questions about retail skills and experience and then I was asked to role play helping a customer trying to get clothes and shoes.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What would you say is important about customer service.
Hi there, thanks for taking the time to share your review about your interview experience with us! We're pleased to hear that you had a positive experience.
Marks and Spencer
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