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My interview experiences and tips (1 Viewer)

jessj95

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I thought I'd share my experiences for anyone who is looking to apply for any christmas casual positions and gets asked to an interview.

My first christmas casual interview was at Village Roadshow (movieworld, seaworld, wet'n'wild), for a retail sales assistant in one of the gift shops. We were asked to go to Outback Spectacular. When I arrived, I stood in a long line for about an hour before I was seen for a brief interview that probably took about 5 minutes. I was asked how I would deliver a good experience to people in the park, and about my availability and past experience. I stated that I had over 3 years retail experience as well as a wealth of volunteer experience, as well as full availability. I did not get the job - so unfortunately I can't give too much advice as to what would make you successful for this role.

My next interview was at Rebel Sport. This was a group interview. There were 14 people applying for the position/s and there were about 5-6 managers/workers there to facilitate the activities. First we had to be paired up with another candidate, and then talk to them for 5 minutes and work out what is was about them that would make them suitable for a position at Rebel. We then had to "sell" our partner to the group. I would suggest in this activity that you are as outgoing as possible and try to make some little jokes to make you stand out from the rest. Next, we were split into 2 groups of 7 and given the NASA task of choosing which items would be most important in space. This was a really obscure way of distinguishing the leaders from the followers, however, it was very successful as it was clear to me after the task who would be suitable for the job. During this I would recommend again being outgoing and voicing your opinion, especially by trying to be a team player, like saying "so are we going to put oxygen as #1? Does everyone think that's a good idea?" etc. The final task was to be put in teams of 3 and choose a product in the store to sell to the group. I took the lead with my group and decided that we would sell a range of dumbells due to the fact that they are very versatile and would be easy to sell. I basically blurted out all their uses and benefits and when presenting the other two team members basically read what I had said off their sheet. So when it got to me, I didnt look down at my sheet once, and just started talking about why they were great, like I actually knew what I was talking about, rather than just reading off a sheet which anyone could do. This made me look more personable and knowledgable which is what they would have wanted to see. I am yet to hear whether I got this job or not - I'll keep you posted :D

Finally, tonight I have an interview at Smiggle. I was phoned yesterday and asked a series of questions like "why do you want to work for smiggle?", "what is good customer service?", and "talk me through a shift at your previous workplace?". This brief phone interview determined my eligibility for a group interview, and I was successful. I will post again on how the interview goes this evening.

Best of luck in your job finding endeavors!
 

flashtrick

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Wow, never knew companies had group activities for employing. That NASA task sounds fun.

I'm not experienced in job interviews, but I've always heard that it's WHO YOU KNOW that helps land you the job. Like, become I regular or a friend of the manager. Then one day, casually bring up that you're looking for a job.
 

seremify007

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Most places have group activities as it's a good way of seeing how well you interact with other people whether they be coworkers or customers.
 

jessj95

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Wow, never knew companies had group activities for employing. That NASA task sounds fun.

I'm not experienced in job interviews, but I've always heard that it's WHO YOU KNOW that helps land you the job. Like, become I regular or a friend of the manager. Then one day, casually bring up that you're looking for a job.
Yeah they are a new thing I think, quite a clever way of seeing how people interact with others and work in teams, because at a serious one-on-one interview you never really experience that.
It usually is about who you know which sucks :(
 

Crobat

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I'm wondering in Group Interviews is it good to actually keep mundane conversation up? During my GI with EB Games, there were a lot of people who were simply talking for the sake of talking, even though nothing of value was being shared and it was very clear they were just rambling. I'm a person who just can't deal with mundane conversation, so of course I wouldn't do it, but I'm wondering if that stuff is actually any good to do?
 

-may-cat-

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Half of all that you do in retail is engage in conversations that you legitimately do not give a fuck about. The ability to prattle on mindlessly while giving the illusion that you care is an important one.
 

jessj95

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I'm wondering in Group Interviews is it good to actually keep mundane conversation up? During my GI with EB Games, there were a lot of people who were simply talking for the sake of talking, even though nothing of value was being shared and it was very clear they were just rambling. I'm a person who just can't deal with mundane conversation, so of course I wouldn't do it, but I'm wondering if that stuff is actually any good to do?
I am exactly the same - I can't pretend to be interested in things I don't care about, and to be honest I don't even try to pretend I am. I can only speak from experience, and I think it depends on the job and the interviewers. At Smiggle there were a whole bunch of people putting on a super friendly talkative facade that I could see right through, and I can imagine those were the ones that got the job because the interviewers were like that too. However at the Rebel interview the interviewers were a bit more serious and looking for actual skills rather than who could speak the most words per minute.

Either way my best advice is to be yourself because if you act one way in an interview and get the job, you'll be expected to behave like that everyday at work, and that wont last long lol.
 

Chronost

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Any retail job you would want to show your outgoing,and don't look moody, just look energetic. They want to know if you'll be able to keep on that fake smile or energy for many hours into the shift.Mundane talking goes both ways,it's not bad to go "what year are you guys in?" or "which uni do you guys go to(if it looks uni dominated)"etc,starting a conversation within the group to spark talk shows initiative and such, however randomly talking to someone next to you doesn't show much but doesn't have to be fake either,sure they're talking for the sake of it,but i don't mind striking a conversation with someone,it does spark interesting topics sometimes!(and sometimes nowhere)

For casuals availability actually goes a long way,especially if have times that most don't(say during school times, during school periods),this is more for jobs which like to take in cheap high school student labour(Fast food,Supermarkets). This way uni students have a good chance instead.

Being a team-player and communication skills tend to rank at the top for any jobs that requires interaction with customers,experience is taken into-consideration but jobs like that can really be learnt within a few weeks(all the regular things),usually as long as you have more then a few months experience it tends to have a declining value after that.

(words from my manager,half of it)
 

alphabetafeta96

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The place where i got my job only asked if i was free to work on weekends/how i was getting there/if i was employed how long would i stay

2 minutes later I got the call to say I had the job.

From my experience it seems like for the most part employers with small businesses make employment decisions more so on their gut instinct and first appearances. Not sure if anyone else agrees?
 

Chronost

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The place where i got my job only asked if i was free to work on weekends/how i was getting there/if i was employed how long would i stay

2 minutes later I got the call to say I had the job.

From my experience it seems like for the most part employers with small businesses make employment decisions more so on their gut instinct and first appearances. Not sure if anyone else agrees?
Alot of it really is just your availability,especially when they need workers to start soon,anyone can really be trained for these kind of jobs, it doesn't take skill or anything,flexibility is what these businesses want, and I think that's what makes us attractive(in that sense).As long as you look like someone decent, they'll take you.
 

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