To wonder how anyone gets a job in Tescos

[Tootsey11]

Ds20 has been applying for jobs over the last few months and has applied twice to our local Tesco store, most recently for Xmas staff. For the second time he has been rejected, not even getting to interview stage. We cannot work out what he is doing wrong.

He has 5 Gcse's, 6 A levels, is willing and able to work, and can take a variety of shifts, so fully flexible.

Can anyone give me an idea of what he is doing wrong.

One of them - can't remember if Tesco or Morrisons had ....

You notice a colleague continually not pulling their weight. Do you:
a) Have a word with them
b) Ignore. It's nothing to do with you
c) Do extra yourself.
d) Tell your Manager.

The answer they wanted was c) Do extra yourself.

A good manager would have noticed the situation. So both manager and colleague are failing, and you as a new employee are expected not only to turn a blind eye but do extra.

These tests really are unfair on prospective candidates, once faced with a real scenario no one would act in the same way to the tests. Fail and you can't have another shot for six months. Yet you do see some employees and wonder how on earth they passed.

I did 6 a levels years ago. It's really not that unbelievable. If people really think that's enough to put employers off (not sure why) then he could just mention the last 3

OP- DD has just got a job at 16 at a well known national bakery/sandwich chain. They are actually really good employers, she is on a good wage (considering under 18s can be paid little over £4) and most importantly her manager and the team are lovely. She applied to lots of places but started out with places she liked to shop in herself or were easier because they were very local. Your DS just needs to keep applying to places and get some experience on his CV- he will get employed if he is persistent but honestly, exams mean nothing for an entry level job like this.

He needs to look at his CV and stress the skills applicable for a job, so time keeping, commitment, working with people and under pressure etc. So, if he was able to get himself to college, on time and can happily use public transport to do so- stress that. If he has 100% attendance- stress that. The same with social skills eg. Years of being a scout or whatever and helping out with younger children or any extra curricular or voluntary work which shows being able to work with people.

GCSEs and A Levels in themselves do not really show a capacity to be a good retail worker- although most people I know had retail/bar jobs which helped us financially through degrees/post grad etc. We also learnt many skills from our teenage and student jobs which are skills for life. I have continued respect for front facing staff (I am now a senior Child Protection social worker) and what I learnt from them. I worked in shops, restaurants and call centres from aged 14 upwards until getting my first professional job. I was able to do so because I could show I was reliable and could work with people/arseholes. No one gave a crap about GCSEs/A levels/ first class degree

Sit with him and see how he is answering the questions. He needs to make sure that customers are his focus, and safety and being flexible.

@willstarttomorrow thank you for the advice, few things there you mentioned he can add to his. He had 100% attendance at college and was never late to school or college in 8 years. He is a very quiet person and part of me does wonder if he has asd. He desperately wants someone to give him a chance and has stated what was the point in getting qualifications.

He shouldn’t get disheartened. He should expect to apply for a few and eventually he will be successful.

Voluntary work is useful to add skills to cv and to improve confidence. Charity shop, care home, school.

I haven’t read all of other users responses on this so apologies if this has been suggested already but he should ask Tesco for feedback on his interviews. It could be something as simple as interview technique, answering competence based questions etc, all of which are skills he can then work on if it’s something like that. Hope he has success with his job search soon, I know how deflating it can be x

The problem is it is not a normal thing to do so if you see it on a cv it creates doubt as to whether he is being genuine and that can be enough to decide you won’t bother with him. It could however also create some intrigue and they might put him through to an interview just to find out more. My advice would be to explicitly mention it in the cover letter

This is absolutely not a Tesco question. Also there's no 6 month wait in Tesco, if you fail you can apply again straight away. I've seen people try a few times before they pass, I believe either Aldi or Lidl have the 6 month rule but I don't know of any other supermarket that does.

Lots of tangential discussion here which does nothing to help the situation - for example the number of GCSEs or A-levels, it's in the past and it is what it is.

Look forward to see what can be done to make the next shot successful.

I personally like the suggestion one PP had about your son going in and asking to see the manager. Shows some get up and go. Explain what's happened so far. Manager will likely brush him off saying to apply online as usual, but that's a good opportunity to ask the manager if they would be comfortable having their name used as the person that your son knows who already works there.
That may be the breakthrough needed.

Good luck.

I know ds tried to apply to TKMaxx but failed on the questionnaire and they said he had to wait 6 months before trying again.

It seems to me that Tesco will not employ your son. Rather than endlessly nitpicking over a job he won't be offered, how about some positive action to improve his employability?

You will already know that your choice to live rurally is limiting your son's opportunities. Can you help with lifts when needed? Can he cycle?

Try saunsburys! DS1 applied on Tuesday, interviewed on Thursday, offered Friday, starts Tuesday.

Op is more intent on whinging 'its not fair' rather than taking on board what's been said. Its not fair but it doesn't change the system and the fact that her son has to compete with a bunch of other people who have straightforward CVs that don't have questions that arise from them.

Maybe they're receiving more applications with retail experience.

A lot of people are applying for Christmas work on top of their jobs.

Primark are always good for giving school leavers without experience a chance.

It's probably a bit early for Christmas staff everyone is broke, hopefully he finds something soon.

Ops son was filtered out by the questionnaire.

And tbf that questionnaire is tricky. As I said previously my dd failed at that stage too but got a sainsburys role via CV instead.

Oh give over!

It's it's not its

HTH?

Quite a lot of job applications now involve online applications and screening tests. I helped DD quite a lot with her first job applications and was actually shocked at the time and hoops involved just to get to an interview. This was for minimum wage weekend retail jobs. I think the one for M&S had 70 questions or something crazy and they are also renowned for employing family and friends. It is worth persisting and essentially when answering the questions keep in mind the company ethos, job description and essentially just tell them what they want to hear rather than what you really actually think.

What are his A levels in OP?
He sounds very bright. How about getting a job in coding?