Retail Store Manager

Totally standard question, but you want to look for people who are comfortable working in an extremely fast paced environment and enjoy helping people. You should also look for people with standard computer skills. (I say this because, even though basic computer skills seem like basic motor skills these days, you wouldn’t believe how many coworkers I had who did not understand how to work any of our point of sale software for the duration of their employment.)

For most sales associate positions, I don’t think those you hire need to have any previous experience in retail. I also don’t think, depending on your brand, they even necessarily have to have any real experience. We all start somewhere, and if the person you hire has the right natural abilities, it doesn’t matter what they did beforehand; you were going to train them anyway. Sometimes it’s even a bonus to hire raw talent because you can mold them into the perfect employee for your brand.

Regardless, though, you need to be looking for people who can multitask, move and think quickly, and are willing to do as much as it takes to please a customer. These are three critical features to a good retail worker. You cannot hire someone who doesn’t have all three of these.

This question is asked to determine whether you have an understanding of what a retail manager’s position is. Use this opportunity to speak about the retail management business and what you think would be your responsibilities would be. Read up about the position! Once the interviewer is convinced that you understand the role of a retail manager, your chances of being hired are good.

Some duties and qualities required of the retail manager are:

☛ Team leadership and team development abilities.

☛ Managing the hiring process: HR activities and employee training.

☛ Workplace scheduling – Day to day operations.

☛ Problem solving skills – Communications skills.

☛ Sales management.

☛ Product and project management – Professional qualities and prioritization.

Focus on specific experience and training in your career history. Identify things you have done that match the job you are interviewing for. Emphasize what qualifies you for this particular job and how you can add value to the job and company.

What transferable skills have you gained in your previous jobs? Look at the job tasks such as buying merchandise, customer care, and highlight your experience in performing these. If there are areas of the job function that you do not yet have experience in then highlight what skills you have that will facilitate learning and succeeding in these tasks. For example your ability to remain calm under pressure and listen carefully will help you in a customer complaints function.

You can alter this one if your prospect has no sales/retail experience. Overall, you want to look for someone who rightly recognizes moments and customers that require extra care, and that then go the extra mile to make these situations come out well. Ideally, your prospect was able to convert this rough situation into a sale, but I think pacifying an angry customer is equally as good.

Anyone who worked in retail and was a decent seller has plenty of these stories lying around, so you can assume anyone who either doesn’t have a story, or has one describing a not-very-tough situation is probably not a good fit for retail.

If you’ve altered this answer for someone with no previous retail experience, the main elements you’re looking for in an answer are: your prospect pacified someone who was upset (with them, with their work, with another situation), and possibly even turned the outcome in their own favor. An example of answer from a teenager you’re interested in hiring who’s only ever babysat before could go as follows:

The child I was watching was very upset because they could not watch television. Instead of letting them cry on the floor, I distracted them by singing a song in a funny voice and then convinced them to go outside.

This is a great question to jump into the interview with after you’ve exchanged pleasantries. As a hint, you’re not looking to hear in reply that they needed money. That’s the answer to why they started looking for a job. You want to know why they applied to your store in particular.

A future stellar employee’s response should tell you how they are personally invested in the brand. Keep in mind, the answer doesn’t have to be that they LOVE your products and they purchase everything from the store. (In fact – you may want to avoid these responders for a couple of reasons, the first, and most cynical being: you don’t want to lose a good customer.)

A great response can often be something like: “My mother shops here all the time, and I’ve always enjoyed being at this store. The sales people are kind and very helpful; the products are beautiful and high quality; overall, it’s just the type of environment and values that I think are important and would like to be a part of.”

That kind of answer demonstrates personal investment in the brand, an understanding of the brand, and an interest in growing as an employee. It’s probably a more developed response than you will likely get, but shoot for the stars and you’ll at least hit the moon, right?

The only way to tackle questions on the company and its business strategy is to research, research and research again. Read the company’s website, its annual reports and press releases. Search for and read any media reports and analyses on the company and its competitors. Visit one of the retailer’s stores – more than one, if you can – and get a feel for the ethos of the company, how its brand is being put across, its layout, its customer service etc. If you can, talk to employees. It’s also a good idea to ask friends and family if they’ve shopped there and what they think of the organisation.

All of this will give you valuable insights to draw upon in your interview. Aim to visit a competitor’s store too, and compare the similarities and differences that you notice in the same areas. Make notes as you go and think about the opportunities and threats facing the retailer, and what its strengths and weaknesses are.

☛ Numerical test. 30 minutes to do 36 questions. Statistics-based: interpreting data from tables and graphs. Calculator provided.

☛ Verbal reasoning. 30 minutes to do 36 questions. Given 9 passages of writing (about 3 paragraphs each) and had to answer four questions on each.

☛ Numerical similar to SHL tests, 35 mins: need to get 70%

☛ Given 10 minutes to complete a 15 question maths test without a calculator. This was pretty straightforward and included questions such as: "If you had a piece of rod 200m long how many smaller pieces of 20.6 cm could you get and how much would be left over". So long as you revise basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and long division then you will be fine.

☛ Shop floor trial

☛ What are your key strengths as a communicator?

☛ How have you sucessfully managed conflict?

☛ When was the last time your plans were disrupted due to an unexpected event? How did you react?

☛ Tell me about a time when there was an unpopular change in an organisation?

☛ How do you ensure goals are reached?

☛ How do you set vision and direction for your team?

☛ Describe a situation where you were:

☛ under pressure.

☛ able to influence someone

☛ creative

☛ able to plan something?

☛ for each of these: Why? How? What did you do?

☛ Describe a situation where you showed motivation

☛ Have you made any presentations? When? How? Why? Do you enjoy making them?

☛ Describe a situation where you demonstrated team work

☛ Tell me about a situation were you have had to stay calm?

☛ Tell me a situation that you had to take control of?

☛ Give an example of when you had to make a difficult decision. Explain all aspects of coming to this decision.

☛ What leadership experience do you have?

☛ How flexible are you?

☛ How do you work under pressure?

☛ Can you adapt easily to different people and environments?"

☛ How many hours per week do you expect that I would work?

☛ What are the typical shifts covered by this position?

☛ Are weekend/evening hours required?

☛ How flexible are the hours and the schedule?

☛ Do the hours vary weekly, or stay the same?

☛ What are your busiest times during the day?

☛ What is the busiest day here?

☛ Do you schedule people for primarily the same hours every week, or do they vary greatly?

☛ Are there extra hours available during the holidays?

☛ How far in advance is the schedule posted?

☛ How many sales associates are on the floor during a shift?

☛ Is there a supervisor on during all shifts?

☛ Who does your displays?

☛ What is your biggest selling item?

☛ Do you offer commission?

☛ Are the performance reviews done by the store manager, or does a regional manager come in?

☛ Does this company have a policy of promoting from within?

☛ How many full-time employees does this store employ?

☛ What kind of atmosphere among the employees is there at this store/shop/boutique?

☛ What kind of growth do you expect to see from this company over the next five years?

☛ Will I be a part of a team, or be working primarily independently?

☛ Will I have the opportunity to interview with the supervisor of this position?

☛ Can you describe for me a typical day in this position?

☛ How would you describe your company's management style?

☛ Is there opportunity for growth within the company?

☛ What do you like best about working here?

☛ What do you like least about working here?

☛ Would you change anything about this department?

☛ If I'm offered this position, how soon would you like me to start?

☛ How many applicants are you interviewing for this position?

☛ Is there a dress code? What would I need to wear to work?

☛ Do you have any additional questions for me?

☛ When should I expect to hear from you?

☛ Body Shop want someone who is going to deliver sales results and promote their values. Find out as much as possible about the products especially for the shop floor trial.

☛ Be prepared. Know the company and its competitors. Know the retail industry.

☛ Don't go in not knowing why you want to work in retail.

☛ Prepare answers to common questions in advance.

☛ Make sure you know exactly where to go for the interview.

☛ Interviewers were pretty friendly. You could make a joke with them.

☛ Come prepared to be confronted.

☛ Be confident!

☛ Ensure you have many examples to give in the interview – competency questions.

☛ Make sure you see if they're right for you!

☛ Not at all daunting so don't be at all worried. There are no questions designed to trip you up.

☛ The assessments were deliberately organised to put pressure on you time-wise. The point of most of the assessments didn't seem to be getting to the correct answer but seeing how you got there - so bear this in mind. One or two of the candidates tried too hard to impress and were very overbearing when it came to the group exercises - I'm not sure that this is what the assessors were looking for and it certainly didn't make them popular with the other candidates!

☛ The assessment centre was incredibly well organised, though at times the assessments ran over time which meant that scheduled breaks didn't really happen. It is a very very tiring and long day so be prepared! The assessors were not actually from BT but from a recruitment consultancy hired by BT. They did not have access to any of the information given previously to BT by the candidates so each person was essentially equal in their eyes at the start of the day.

☛ Questions I asked included:

☛ How do Lidl manage to break into other markets?

☛ Would we all start off as store managers?

☛ What's the staff turnover like?