Officeworks (2 Viewers)

[Collin]

Might be getting a job at Officeworks. Anyone else works at Officeworks as a computer/electronics salesman? Could you describe how the job is.. etc. Also, if some of your knowledge was slightly lacking, would they 'train/teach' you onsite.. or would you be required to be an expert on absolutely everything relevant to the job or else you won't pass the manager interview? Cause my computer hardware/digital cameras knowledge is adequate but you also need networking skills or something and I'm not so sure mine is upto scratch with that.

 

[Panda Bear]

woah woah woah slow down there egg head lol

congrats on getting the job!

yeah i work at officeworks i got the j ob last um.. year?/month..

you should remember me saying it in another thread lol

ill tell you that later.. but all i can say about your department aka "techworks" is a stressful one..

more later or if anyone else is working there, u can reply lol

 

[breaking]

whenever i go into officeworks, there's like nobody in there and the staff are always fucking around, lol - seems like a mad job

 

[Panda Bear]

oi!

 

[Panda Bear]

alrighty

for one, they don't train you ... they put you in that department if you know computers to a relative degree.

what you need to know more about is printers imo. customers tend to come in to buy fax and printing machines...

generally, they don't train you that well at all.. they train you to a point and then they let you learn on the way..

techworks is a very hard department to do genearlly speaking because 80% of the calls we get from customers and those who come in store come to buy some electronic equipment, hence me being at POS direct them over to techworks...

they can be 3-5 people working at a time, and when more customers come in, that's where trouble starts.

we had 1 phone call every mintue for techworks in 3 minutes, and this was in the morning, half the team wasn't even on yet therefore there was a lack of personnel available to do the job. 3 customers were on hold.. i would suspect they weren't happy for that long wait lol

one the senior techworks guy had to explain to a lady on the phone for at least 15 mins the difference between DVD-R and DVD+R and the uses of it e.t.c.

 

[Collin]

Hmm shit, sounds difficult.. remember mate, I haven't got the job yet! The employment chick will probably hook me up with a manager interview soon and that's what I'm worried about. What kind of stuff does the manager ask you? He/she'll tend to test out your electronics knowledge out a bit right?

Printers will screw me up, not the best with them. The employment lady did mention there was an emphasis on networking though.. hmm. I guess I should just go and research up and try to bridge most of my gaps before the interview.

BTW How does the pay in 'techworks' compare to other departments.. like cash registering etc?

Also, what's POS?

 

[Sarah168]

POS is Point of Sale isnt it?

 

[Collin]

POS is Point of Sale isnt it?

What does that mean? I've been working in retail for 5 years now, but my boss has real bad english so she never uses these terms lol.

 

[Sarah168]

As in the point of transaction...the act of you scanning the thing and them paying u and u giving them the reciept! LOL

 

[theone123]

EFTPOS dont remind of this term?

 

[Collin]

Nah, remember my current bosses don't use any of these terms because they have terrible English and working in a small business there's not really a need to use these terms like 'POS' ever.. so I never learnt any of it. Only knew what EFTPOS did and how to use it but never knew what the acronym stood for, btw.

 

[Panda Bear]

POS = Point of Sale, think of it as being "the point where the 'sale' is being made" i.e. where trading is being processed

have you been interviewed by the manager AT ALL yet?

 

[Collin]

POS = Point of Sale, think of it as being "the point where the 'sale' is being made" i.e. where trading is being processed

have you been interviewed by the manager AT ALL yet?

Nope, not from ColesMyer, that's why I need info on it!

 

[Panda Bear]

no i mean the officeworks manager

edit: reading again.. i think you answered my question already?

 

[Collin]

Okay I got a manager interview on Thursday at 9:30am.

This is what I'm gonna do:
- Polish up my resume, emphasising computer skills/experience
- Dress professionally (employment chick didn't really specify, but I guess it has to be atleast casual business wear)
- Speak eloquently and focusing on eye contact too

Now for all the people who work for ColesMyer (especially Officeworks.. such as you PANDA!!!!!), what kind of generic questions do they tend to ask you?!!? You know, the kind of ones like 'Why do you want to work for Officeworks' or perhaps 'How do you deal with a difficult customer' etc.?

Also, what's the setting like? Is it just you and the manager alone, or is there also perhaps some assistant writing down stuff etc. I'm just nervous about this cause I really wanna get this job. Oh and the position I'm goin after isn't actually 'techworks' but called 'business machines'.

 

[theone123]

interview esp with the manager i think, is easier than the group interviews.

 

[Suvat]

Techworks is dangerous territory, every time a stationery person like myself wonders in there I barely make it out alive... customer after customer asks me all these techy questions I can't answer and as usual, a specialist is nowhere to be found when you need them...

 

[perfectionist]

Now for all the people who work for ColesMyer (especially Officeworks.. such as you PANDA!!!!!), what kind of generic questions do they tend to ask you?!!? You know, the kind of ones like 'Why do you want to work for Officeworks' or perhaps 'How do you deal with a difficult customer' etc.?

Hi!
i work at Target..in my interview the lady who took the inertview asked me Where i worked previously, What I do in my spare time, Which subjects i liked in HSC, which ones i disliked most, What do i wanna do in the future...

that's all about it...just make sure u back up whatever you say...but anyway..u shudn't have a problem, since u've already had 5 years work experience.

Good Luck!

 

[_Bushra_]

did everyone know that bigw is cheaper then officeworks?! who would have thought? i was reading the paper and they had those compare columns up...

 

[Panda Bear]

Now for all the people who work for ColesMyer (especially Officeworks.. such as you PANDA!!!!!), what kind of generic questions do they tend to ask you?!!? You know, the kind of ones like 'Why do you want to work for Officeworks' or perhaps 'How do you deal with a difficult customer' etc.?

Also, what's the setting like? Is it just you and the manager alone, or is there also perhaps some assistant writing down stuff etc. I'm just nervous about this cause I really wanna get this job. Oh and the position I'm goin after isn't actually 'techworks' but called 'business machines'.

alrighty. generally yes the manager asked me that question such as "how do you deal with this and that". he gave me 2 questions that were ones you had to think about. its not hard, but the only advice i can you is when you give the reply, don't give it as a "selfish" answer, answer the question like you were from third person and you got no idea about the situation.

say for example the quote "can you put words to action"?. think yourself as not being in the situation and go "oh yeah, that's easy ill do this and that". approach it like that and you'll be fine. coz if you think and think and think about these 2 scenario questions, i don't think it shows through that well.

one more thing, reply on your OWN experiences. these 2 scenarios are based on your own experiences

its you and your manager alone. sorry to make you nervous but yeah, i was actually more nervous about the group interview than the 1-1 interview coz i've been told i got some charm to my voice :-|

business machines IS techworks. It used to be called business machines but its known as techworks now.

perfectionist gave you some advice, but they don't ask any of that in the officeworks interview but thank her anyway lol

@Suvat: hell i agree. although i know computers to an extent. i hate old bags asking all these questions about this one particular device. i mean go fucking read up about it and have some knowledge before asking over and over again.

@Bushra: yes Big W have lower rates than officeworks/coles myer. coles myer have SDA and represent the employees very nicely that's why we got such a good pay. mind you, i love the pay officeworks gives me