I applied through an employee referral. The process took 3 days. I interviewed at Talbots (Marietta, GA) in Apr 2016
Interview
Interviewed first with DM via phone then with another peer SM within the district in person. After scheduling the second interview with the SM (as instructed by the DM), a recruiter reached out to me and claimed that the process was being completed "out of order" and insisted she needed to schedule a phone interview - which was literally 30 minutes prior to my scheduled meeting with the SM. Interviews and meetings with DM and SM were great, very smooth and conversational. The phone interview with the recruiter was extremely awkward. She was short, borderline rude with her questions and was actually eating and chewing (loudly!) through the duration of the interview. Terribly unprofessional and left a bad taste in my mouth. I was not offered the position (though I wouldn't have accepted even if I was), and remained in my current role. In the months following I learned that the SM I interviewed with had left and have gotten numerous complaints from my customers who also shop there that the service has gone down-hill significantly in the past year. I guess I dodged a bullet! I would be embarrassed if a recruiter of that caliber (or lack thereof) was representing my brand to prospective team members.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about a time when you had to have a difficult coaching conversation with a sales associate and how did they respond.
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Talbots (Springfield, IL) in Mar 2024
Interview
I spoke with the recruiter via Teams, the District Director in person, a SM via Teams, and finally the RVP via Teams. Each Teams call lasted about 30 minutes and the in-person interview was about an hour.
I applied online. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Talbots (Beverly, MA) in Apr 2019
Interview
I was contacted by the corporate recruiter by email to set up a phone interview.
The recruiter called 20 minutes earlier than what was stated in the email. I answered the phone but didn’t know it was Talbots calling because the caller ID just showed a phone number. I said hello, the recruiter introduced herself, I guess the tone of my voice sounded a little surprised because she said “ didn’t you read the email I sent you about this interview?”
It was the standard corporate retail questions. She kept interrupting my answers and talking over me. I was told I would get another call 3 days later.
I never heard from her again, no thank you for your interest email, just ghosted.
I would expect a corporate recruiter to behave more professionally than this.
The position is still listed, 3 months later.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How have you gone above and beyond for a customer in the past?
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Talbots (Chicago, IL) in Nov 2017
Interview
I had four interviews and everyone was wonderful to speak with and meet. After every interview I had, I knew this was the job for me. I was getting offers from other companies and they were able to move the interview process along so I could get this job.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me the different ways you hire new employees?