To hate the phrase 'Just get a job at Tesco.'

[LemonSherbetFancies]

Aimed at unemployed people?
As if it's that straightforward and easy to just walk in, ask for a job and start the next day.

@Whatwouldscullydo

What is with all this testing though? No disrespect to supermarket staff but I can't see that the standard of staff has improved

This applies to alot of places really. I'm probably covered in my own comment but certainly despite the very long winded and random recruiting processes you don't get the expertise at all any more.

You used to be able to walk into a shop and ask about a product and staff would know all about it and part witg all the info you'd need to know.

Now as you say you cant even fund a staff member most the time. And no one knows the answer to any questions. I dont blame blame staff , but I do question why a recruitment process would include free trials and psychology tests the actual employment lacks enough training to be able to do their jobs as well as they hope they should be able to.

All this e- learning stuff may look the part but it lacks the face to face interaction and discussions that would lead to follow up questions etc

If you are going to place your staff in a position where they will be verbally abused and possibly even threatened or assaulted ( retail is no picnic let's face it.) Then the least u can do is provide in depth training beyond a few FAQ u could find on the website and how to use to use the tills.

That's it, isn't it? Jumping through multiple hoops at the recruitment stage then little to no training when you get the job.

I dashed into Sainsbury's tonight to do a quick shop. I had to stand there and wait while two members of staff were deep in discussion moaning about something before one of them noticed me to validate my car parking ticket. Minimum spend to get free parking is £15 but he didn't even check what I'd spent.

I think back to my M&S days and somebody's arse would have been kicked if a customer had been ignored like that.

It actually makes me really sad that standards are often so low now. I think back to the M&S and John Lewis and another big independent department store in the town where I grew up. They were bloody great with such great customer service. Now if and when I do get good customer service it's unusual rather than the norm.

I don't think it's necessarily that employees are dreadful or lacking initiative. I think the management structures of places like chain stores, or high street banks, don't allow the customer facing staff to show any initiative. I was in my local Tesco one day and heard a supervisor shouting and giving off to a staff member for her behaviour. Her behaviour was to help out with the customer service desk because there was a queue and she had completed the duties she was assigned to. The supervisor was screaming and red in the face, and the customer she had served was saying how helpful she had been, but the supervisor didn't care. As far as she was concerned, the employee had shown a bad attitude because she had made a decision without referring to management.

You well

What's the point on having a manager and not letting them.manage they have all the responsibility , all the shit, they take the hit when head office are on the war path but have to run their shop and lay out their shop a certain way, as if a customer base in some posh upmarket end of a town populated with those aged 40 and up will have the same demand on products and services as down town next door to universities and pubs.

Yy

Not you

Sorry typo

@bp300

I had an interesting group interview with a bank. There was six of us and we were asked a question. One girl gave an in depth answer. I disagred with here and said the opposite. Between the two of us we had pretty much covered all possibilities so the other four didn't have much to say. Myself and the girl who spoke up both made it through to the next stage of the interview despite the fact that one of our answers must have been wrong. The people who said very little didn't make it to the next round of interviews.

Yes, it's really silly. I got feedback that I hadn't spoken enough at one of those group discussion things. I didn't want to talk over other people (as I tend to do in real life!) and I think I spoke the appropriate amount, but it seems they just want people to speak a lot, whatever they say and even if they dominate the conversation and don't allow others a chance.

Maybe all the testing and those stupid questionnaires are sifting out the people who would be good at the job and what is left are the people who need the training.

I have had experience working in one of the big supermarkets. I have stacked shelves and a bit of customer services.
I couldn’t pass the questionnaire of any of the supermarkets to get past the first level.
Either it is my age (although dc who did do a customer facing role in retail didn’t get past the first stage either)

Or the fact I don’t have any A levels or a degree. Neither has dc although a friend of dc’s does have a degree and one of the. big supermarkets really wanted to employ them as a driver. It had to be explained a few times during the interview that they couldn’t drive. Dc can drive and does drive a big van
Friend couldn’t understand why dc hadn’t got to the interview stage.
It is though they go out of their way to pick the most unsuitable candidates. If you have a driving job available why interview someone who has said they couldn’t drive.

@Bythemillpond

I have applied for a job as a care assistant. I didn’t get any of those jobs either

Is your part of the country particularly short of jobs?

@wellthatsunusual

There is still care work available.....

WitchesGlove you posted this in response to me regarding my comment about how applying for a job at Tesco isn't a guarantee of being successful in your application. But I don't understand what you mean by it? Applying for a job as a carer doesn't mean you'll be successful in that application either.

I mean in some places, there are loads of vacancies... many have said it’s easy to get a job in care

I've never been more grateful than I am now to have a job at Asda. I've worked there for 4 years, and they've looked after us throughout the pandemic. People look down on this type of job, but we were very lucky.

I mean in some places, there are loads of vacancies... many have said it’s easy to get a job in care

I'm sorry, I still don't see what this means in response to my comment that not everyone who applies for work at Tesco is successful in securing employment. Were you referring to me as a job applicant? I'm not job hunting myself, I have been in the same job for several years and I'm lucky that currently it is very secure.

I suppose what I meant is that it's the nature of a recruitment process that not everyone who applies for a particular vacancy will get it. Care homes and home care companies turn people down too. Otherwisee there would be no such thing as recruiting, we'd all just present ourselves to the company we want to work for and start work.

That's no reason not to apply, obviously, if someone doesn't apply they definitely won't get a job.

WitchesGlove I am in the South East. I wouldn’t think there was a shortage of jobs but for our family we are either too old or too under qualified

It's so worrying isn't it. Now is certainly the worst time to be unemployed.

@wellthatsunusual

I don't think it's necessarily that employees are dreadful or lacking initiative. I think the management structures of places like chain stores, or high street banks, don't allow the customer facing staff to show any initiative. I was in my local Tesco one day and heard a supervisor shouting and giving off to a staff member for her behaviour. Her behaviour was to help out with the customer service desk because there was a queue and she had completed the duties she was assigned to. The supervisor was screaming and red in the face, and the customer she had served was saying how helpful she had been, but the supervisor didn't care. As far as she was concerned, the employee had shown a bad attitude because she had made a decision without referring to management.

This was my experience of retail in a large newsagents company, small store. I wasn't allowed to deviate at all from the 'script', not allowed to leave my assigned job to help a customer, not allowed to think for myself or make a decision based on the information in front of me. The damned tills wouldn't even work before a pre set time. As someone who'd worked in independent hospitality places, I was constantly in bother for giving good customer service when I did stuff without thinking, or getting yelled at by customers if I was just the mindless drone I was supposed to be. And as the customer facing staff, you take the flack, those that did complain higher got the usual spiel about more training and then you got a bollocking anyway. The customers and the customer facing staff are the ones taking the hit, and as long as the tills are still ringing then no one really cares. Very frustrating and yes, I developed an attitude of not caring after a while, because it was just hassle. Chain hospitality places I've worked at have been the same. These companies offer the moon on a stick to customers, and then prevent their staff from delivering with policies and punishments for the staff. I remember a few comments on here on a thread that discussed this issue, saying they didn't believe that these companies don't listen to feedback from their staff - ime they don't, they're not interested, the staff are nothing but a cog in a wheel and the customer little more.

There must be tough competition for Tesco jobs at the moment. I literally walked in and got a job there when I was between career jobs. I still had to do online forms etc but they went straight to the manager I had spoken to. And later on when I was between jobs again and wanted part time hours, I just went back for a stop gap.

Maverickess I wonder whether this has anything to do with how bad the customer service in these stores has become.

Yes, you are being unreasonable and judgemental. People are employed based on competence and suitability to meet the company's requirements. For some people this is an easy thing to qualify for. For others it is not.

For someone who finds it hard 'to get a job at Tesco' as you put it, to judge those who do not, is just as bigoted as people who judge those who are incapable.

That said, those who judge others who find getting work at the bottom end of the employment spectrum difficult, usually do so out of ignorance, as they rarely understand how much competition there is at the bottom of the market, and how easy it is to select well from such a large volume of applicants per job, while those who do not succeed tend to resent the process of being judged unworthy, and do not ask why or how do I increase my chances or bring more value to an employer.

I worked for a while for a major high street music retailer. Just pricing stock and standing at the checkout. Nothing major, and I was in my early 20's.

We used to get literally 1000 or more applicants at Christmas or the Summer Holidays for 4 positions. An advert was posted in the window and in the local free papers, and people would come to the front checkout and ask for an application form.

We would wright A, B or C in the top RH corner of the application form and give it to them, based upon the first impression that the staff member had of the individual asking for the form. A form that was returned with a C on it was binned. The other two were sorted into A's and B's.

Bottom line is, right from the get go, the very first interaction, you are being judged. The company's opinion was, if their existing staff didn't find you presentable or immediately likeable, the odds were high the buying public would not do so either, so you are no good as forward facing staff. Harsh, but real life is harsh, and it is often better not to confront people with the harsh realities of life that face a petulant outburst in front of customers on the shop floor because someone had their fragile ego bruised.

I failed the pre-application questions. I have three degrees. Getting a job at Tesco isn't that straightforward.

@bitheby try again and answer the opposite of what you deem to be the logical answer and you’ll probably pass. Even when my son’s friend showed me the answers I genuinely couldn’t fathom how they could be correct. Luckily, I wasn’t trying to get a job there as I’d probably be fired in the first week, you have to make sure you use no initiative.

The Tesco one isn't about logic. It's about honesty.

The test was put to their employees anonymously to get their responses, and the grading of the answers is based on that.

Unless your son's friend @Berightback works for head office, he won't have the 'right' answers. He'll have one of several combinations that would be deemed a pass.

@bidenswingwoman thanks for the explanation, that clarifies how they the test is genuinely unfathomable to a lot of people who haven’t worked in retail. The answers my son’s friend came up with (and passed) largely focussed on, dropping your assigned tasks and completing your colleagues job, if they asked for help. Then once you’ve assisted your colleague, continue with your own assigned tasks and never seek assistance for a manager. To me this jut doesn’t make sense?

@ElliFAntspoo

Yes, you are being unreasonable and judgemental. People are employed based on competence and suitability to meet the company's requirements. For some people this is an easy thing to qualify for. For others it is not.

For someone who finds it hard 'to get a job at Tesco' as you put it, to judge those who do not, is just as bigoted as people who judge those who are incapable.

That said, those who judge others who find getting work at the bottom end of the employment spectrum difficult, usually do so out of ignorance, as they rarely understand how much competition there is at the bottom of the market, and how easy it is to select well from such a large volume of applicants per job, while those who do not succeed tend to resent the process of being judged unworthy, and do not ask why or how do I increase my chances or bring more value to an employer.

people are employed based on competence, i sometimes wonder after going for an interview that lasted 3 hours. i had been doing the work for twenty yrs & could do it blindfold,..didnt get it,it was given to somone who worked in a film rental shop. ( thats going back some yrs)

It's very arrogant to say this. I worked at Tesco for a few years, and I was told how lucky I was to get the job as they had 25 applicants for each position.

And the job would not suit many people - if you have anxiety around people, can't deal with conflict, or find it hard to be on your feet (for stock replenishment tasks), you would likely find the job very difficult. I was so tired at the end of the day, and I was only in my early 20s. It really winds me up when people look down on supermarket workers.

And morons (always tory mps) who appear on talk shows saying they did a google search and found thousands of jobs just then, without taking into account they're so out of touch they dont realise 80% of those are not actual jobs or cons with another 15% far beyond your experience. Funnily enough not everybody is carrying around decades plus experience and qualifications in machince fitting polishing design flying PIFFBGBTHDHSGSGFBT Stage 100000000000 as seems required for anything with a billion variations.

The other 5% get the thousands and thousands of applicants.

Somebody on our local history facebook posted a newspaper page of jobs in our local newspaper from the 60s the other day. Honestly amazing, so many interesting jobs you could just start, jobs for life, part time helping people 2 hours a week or up to 70 hours, your choice, anything they were willing to let you have a go at-going to sea, working on farms etc. and 0% fucking bullshit.

@bitheby

I failed the pre-application questions. I have three degrees. Getting a job at Tesco isn't that straightforward.

If it is intended to screen out people who are not suitable for their work environment and it works, it is doing exactly what it is intended to do. If one fails the test it is because one does not respond the way Tesco wish an employee to respond. Simples.