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?

18 years ago I applied for another supermarket chain. Invited to a tasks day. Tasks were solo or in groups of 4 (8 people on the event). One of the solo tasks was to blow as many balloons in a certain amount of time. I cannot blow up balloons.

Then got a call 2 days later to see if successful or not. I think there was some interview after. I didn’t. Was it the fact I was unable to blow up balloons? The other 7 could.

Saw the other candidates (under 21) working over the next 2-3 months when I was shopping. Then didn’t see them. Can’t say if they left or changed shifts etc.

Many employers chose the wrong people to work. They cannot cope and leave. Mainly it’s the younger ones. In my jobs, during my training or when had new starters, I can usually guess which ones were going to leave after five mins. I didn’t discuss my opinions with others which ones are going to leave

These are local charities - one for learning disabilities/autism & the other mental health.

You could try approaching local charities to see what they offer or approach the supermarkets themselves - of you go through the customer service or recruitment rather than individual branches you are likely to get a better response.

The support for the work experience & in the first few weeks of the job comes through the government Access to work grants.

Sounds like things haven't changed in the 20 years since I worked for Asda.

The interview process was ridiculous. 2 interviews and a group session - including a task to design an ad campaign for a new cereal like we were on the fucking apprentice.

It was for a job pushing trollies about in the carpark. That requires a person to have 2 legs and functioning eyesight and absolutely nothing else.

This still happens with jobs that aren't advertised - supposedly something like 40% of jobs are never advertised anywhere and go to personal contacts/ through word of mouth (no I can't remember the source of the statistics though).

I got a couple of jobs like that but huge customer facing supermarket chains probably don't allow for that and have to make some kind of show of open recruitment processes rather than anything that looks like an individual abusing their position to hire personal favourites for eccentric reasons or straight out nepotism!

Apparently, job applications are legally permitted to ask for information such as applicants' gender and marital status, but years back, I applied for a position as a general store employee, such as till work, shelf stacking, etc., at a well-known supermarket.

On the application form, it stated: Religion, so I left it blank as I'm an atheist.

I got an interview, and she asked why I'd left it blank, so I told her it has nothing to do with the job description. She kept pushing and pushing, so I snapped ''I'm an atheist, but what exactly has that got to do with filling shelves and operating tills?''

Then I walked out smack in the middle of the interview, and I've never applied to supermarkets ever again!

I was called for an interview before Christmas at a supermarket to be a "festive friend".

I passed the online test

My interview questions were;

Tell us about something brave that you have done

Second question was tell us about being curious

What hours could I work, the job was only from 1 to 24 December - I was available all hours

However, I was interviewed with another person at the same time, their father worked at that shop. This person was given the job.

I was disappointed, I had previous retail experience

A case of who you know, not what you know !

I think for me I got on so well with these interviewers (neither were HR, I would be working for/with them direct). Having good rapport and a half decent CV was enough to get you a job offer back then. I think modern style interviews came from Corporate America rather than some organic British trend, and as I’m not a fan of Corporate America it figures I’m not a fan of these methods being used for all and sundry jobs.

I've done (and passed) two psychometric tests for retail jobs.
Ridiculously involved and unnecessary.
And quite frankly, much harder and less relevant to the roles than the ones l did when l was with the police.

Surprised by I'd go with something like 'i was head girl at my secondary school or I didn't learn to swim until I was 18 due to not living close to swimming pool'

Why? If you’d been in my Asda you’d know what I mean. Don’t be so offended on their behalf- they GOT jobs!

I'm not offended on anyone's behalf - your comment was disgusting.

How difficult can a retail job be?

I had a Saturday job in Woolworths. I wrote a letter saying I wanted a job and had an interview. I had a "twilight" training session on the tills and was let loose that weekend. And that was before barcode scanners (supermarkets had them), I had to enter the price into the till and had to calculate the change.

How does it need to be any more complicated than that? If people have GCSE English and Maths, what more do you need?

There's really no need for AI and assessment centres.

If retail is so easy, why do so many people quit?

I often wonder how the people in supermarkets where I live got the job. It might be my imagination, but I think there used to be lovely people working in supermarkets thst you could chat to, who were helpful. Now they are all young and inefficient, throwing baskets about with crashing noises, hogging the aisles having long chats. Truly I feel like I’m walking through their social meeting, while the shelves are patchily stacked. Horrible downgrade supermarkets have gone through.

It doesn't help when people look at you like you're just an idiot. I worked in ASDA for years after university and the number of comments and snotty looks you got from people was insane - like you had to be a complete moron because you "only worked in a supermarket".

People's attitudes towards retail staff absolutely stink.

It's bullshit all about letting you know your place in the hierarchy - right at the very bottom. Interviews for professional jobs are IME far more relaxed than anything my teen has to put up with. My last interview was over a very agreeable lunch in Borough Market where we mostly talked about cycling (interviewer had Strava-stalked me).

Excellent! In my youth I walked into a record shop and asked if there were any part times jobs available. They asked me what was currently number one in the charts. I knew the answer got the job. I feel so sorry for especially younger people trying to get any sort of work nowadays.

Blondie ‘Heart of Glass’ before anyone asks😂.

I’m going to tell my UC work coach about this thread as it’s exactly the issue I’ve had ! In total I’ve had 31 interviews and not got any of the jobs as I can’t get past these kind of interviews. I’ve applied for literally hundreds of jobs and not even got an interview and they keep saying im being difficult !

If they don't ask you any questions they don't have any cover when you take them to an Employment Tribunal for unlawfully discriminating against you on the grounds of a protected characteristic.

I suppose it goes further. Once they've asked you a bunch of irrelevant questions, they then have to try to interpret them to see who would make the best shelf stacker. Talking about making a rod for your own back.

Entry level retail jobs are easy. They just are. You stack shelves, you push trollies, you sit at a till and push a few buttons.

People quit because such jobs are boring as fuck and because mostly they are filled by kids and students who move onto different things.

It's easy in that it doesn't require much brain power, however I have just spent 6 hours solid on my feet pulling, pushing and carrying heavy shit around as fast as my legs will allow. 6 hours is about as long as I can manage, I honestly don't know how people do it full time. Staffing has been cut to the bone, you have to be fast and use your initiative or the whole team falls behind. My whole body is knackered. Then there's the shift patterns, we are lucky enough to not have night shifts but we are still open 6am to 11pm 7 days a week so the hours can be really shit. It's not all pottering around chatting to customers, there is some graft involved.

Simple:
. The rudeness, horrible attitude that customers have. These people need to understand that their behaviour is causing this
. Been given less hours than expected. Had newbies that were told they will have 22 hours a week then get 12. Left to as was given 22 hours at another job
. Being given the crap shifts. 4pm-10pm Saturday anyone?
. Bullying from management. After 17 years of working for a supermarket, I was bullied by the store manager that I had to leave. I was crying all the time
.

When I worked for a supermarket, this was my tasks. Doing a 7-3 shift.
. Put out fresh delivery including helping out on produce if usual colleagues were off. Then put overs (rotating them) in the back
. Put out bread or cakes out
. If short staffed on checkouts, did a tea break cover
. Reduce today’s date stuff
. Long life code checked stuff (cooked meats, yoghurt, cheese etc 3-4 days advance)
. Go through the overs to check dates

Then in between if no staff available did food courier picks when they came up on the headsets

I did about 16k steps each day. One week when the systems went down and got more deliveries - I did. 23k steps a day.

Supermarkets expect staff to do more with less staff, burnout.

In my civil service job I am not so pressured

Yes its definitely the customer

Definitely

Hope that was sarcastic enough.