AIBU to find supermarket job interviews oddly demanding and irrelevant?

[Unlisted]

I am a so called professional who has just had enough of one restructuring after another. I have handed my notice in.

I want a part-time job in a supermarket not as a manger but as a shop floor/warehouse worker.

Last month I had to do a psychometric test I kid you not, and was emailed to say I was through to the interview stage and I had to book an interview. All of the interview slots however had been taken in spite of the email only having been sent fifteen minutes before!

Having complained I was offered an interview but for a store a little further than I wanted.

There were three of us, we were given a little tour, then a group exercise, a small Functional skills test, then individual interview.

The questions:
Hobbies etc
One thing others would be surprised about me.
What would I do if I won the lottery.

Seriously, what bearing would these answers have on how I could do this job?

What would you say to the question about something someone would be surprised by me. I had absolutely no idea.

What answers would you have given?

What are they looking for? What answers do they want?

Agency don’t tend to interview because if your shit they just simply never get you back

when employing someone it can be a nightmare to get rid of so they are very cautious

That’s what probation is for. Interviews don’t guarantee you’ll be a good fit, but work history might.

I think those questions are weird as hell, almost cult like. The irony is that most people I see working in supermarkets can barely even be bothered to grunt hello!

Could I ask who the charity provider is? I’m disabled, and job hunting is challenging as it’s difficult to find truly disability-friendly jobs/employers.

This is what I don’t understand. I see people working in supermarkets who I can’t understand how they passed the interview when I didn’t. I can’t visualise them answering in a way that made the hiring manager say yes to them and no to me, especially as the branch I was temping at had no issues with my work. My only conclusion would be my age, I’d be 30 years or more older than most of them.

As a student I interviewed for Christmas jobs with M&S and John Lewis.

M&S was individual and kind of as you describe with the slightly irrelevant questions and then a role play where I had to upsell ready meals 😂. it was all very odd. At the end of the interview she told me I had the job and let me pick a set of hours.

John Lewis was a group task and it made sense of the M&S one. We were in 8s, I think? And only me and one other person were able to hold a conversation, make eye contact, smile, pretend like we cared about the tasks. I think the weird questions are to check you are capable of talking to customers somewhat eloquently? More of a soft skills assessment than really caring what your answers are?

Supermarkets mostly want people who will just do their jobs without any fuss or drama. If you’re too forward thinking or show too much intelligence they won’t be interested.

I’ll have to take it as a compliment they didn’t want me then 😂

I'd be an anaconda. Be able to dislocate my jaw and eat a whole cake.

Aren't the questions to find out how you would answer rather than the answer itself ie can you understand the question.
I heard of one employer asking candidates to write a few sentences on their journey to their interview mainly to see if they could actually put a sentence together as completing a paper form was part of the job.

Same! I always assumed they got the staff at my Asda by driving a van round the magistrates court and the mental hospital.
Who knew they are so carefully selected..

Interviews for normal, usually MW jobs, (as opposed to high flying careers), didn’t used to be this complicated. There were no rigid tick box lists. I was offered a job in publishing once, even though I’d never worked in publishing, because we talked about our grandfathers. Another because we both did crafts. I know it’s because jobs are on the internet instead of your local paper so everyone sees it and applies. Younger ones probably take it in their stride but for older people it can seem so alien. I dread the tell me about a challenge you had, because I don’t really have one, i go in, do my job, leave, forget I have it by the time I’ve left the building, unless I make it up I suppose. Maybe they want to hear about my previous cancer or the fact my ex became an alcoholic. They were pretty challenging 🫤 Anyway, I’m glad I’ll never have to interview again.

What a disgusting comment why do you think you're better then others

If you weren’t made to do all this there would be nothing for HR to do to fill their time and then horror of horrors they’d have to sack themselves. Remember you aren’t an employee but a colleague just like the CEO😂

Surprise - third nipple
Lotto win - have it removed

😂😂😂

THisbackwithavengeance

I can’t remember when I have laughed so much.

oncemoreuntothebeachdearfriends

Hilarious response.

That is vile.

They have two sets of people to see today and I will find out this evening.

I don’t think that I have a hope in hell as I was completely unable to answer the one about what would surprise people about me. The answer is absolutely nothing. I said I was an open book.

I feel it was a complete waste of my time.

Maybe some of the customers they are trying to communicate with lack similar attributes. Sarcastic & passive aggressive communication styles are known to be a barrier in communication. 😉

They could easily write an appropriate competency based interview for the role. All those questions tell me is that the people running the interviews have no training in interviewing.

Questions like -
Give me an example of a time you have dealt with an agitated person?
Give me an example of a time you have had to seek further assistance in order to help with somebody's enquiry/ problem?
Give me an example of a time you have helped someone with communication challenges?
How would you respond to being asked by a supervisor to do something that you weren't trained/ authorised to do?
Etc etc.

God, why can't they just give people an interview slot like they used to? Why make it so impossible? It does nothing to weed out better candidates. It would just put you off shopping there

Well it shows that you think supermarket jobs are beneath serious interviewing practices and that you struggle to think ‘big picture’.

It’s a job dealing with the public, who are unpredictable. Your responses show you can think on the spot, chat about anything, be friendly and smiley even when put on the spot, can think creatively, can adapt and respond to any random question - or that you cant and you get flustered and grumpy.

To answer those I’d say people would be surprised by my vintage teapot collection or that I performed on stage as a child or even just that I read two books every week. If I won the lottery, I’d set up a charity for food security/healthy eating classes/young mums.

You don’t even have to tell the truth, just think fast and be interesting and friendly.

Was it Asda by any chance??