Mass group interviews for retail jobs

[Toastytoad]

Can anyone help me understand the current lean towards mass group interviews? DD is 19, has had one retail job that she stayed in for 2 years. She left when she moved to uni but is now looking for another PT job as she’s realised the difference between the life style she wants and the life style she can afford. We thought this would be easy as she has experience, reputable high street store, worked there for a good chunk of time and good references, but every interview is 30-60 interviewees. What is this about? How do you navigate these interviews? I recruit fairly frequently at work (not retail so maybe that’s the difference) and can’t imagine how you spot someone in that situation? I appreciate the job market is rubbish for most young people looking for jobs just now but any advice?

Why is it so hard for people to find their first job now? There are still loads of shops, pubs, cafes round here. A fair amount of self service tills but still a reasonable amount of staff around. Is it that there are more people rather than fewer jobs? Older people tending to be in the work that young people used to do and not moving on (as not going off to uni or a different job)? Something else? I walked into a job straight away after my GCSEs without any of this crap.

I don't agree that the quieter kids can easily shine in these types of situations. Yeah, if you are really loud and obnoxious then you might be weeded out but if you are generally naturally quieter, you're unlikely to be noticed above the naturally more outgoing candidates in a room of 40+. I'm all for faking it in interview type situations (and have done some of that role play stuff with my DC) but when all around you are also doing that then it's much harder to outshine those who are naturally starting at a higher level of confidence.

Don't get me started on some of the online quiz things they make people do too. 'What would you do if you notice lots of food will be out of date by the end of the day and it's not selling?'... umm, whatever the company policy is on this, that I presume I will be told if I get the job? There are always obvious wrong answers but others that could equally be valid depending on what the store policy on that stuff is. I guess those weed out people with no common sense at all.

This has turned into a bit of a rant but it's just depressing.

This has been a thing in retail for at least 30 years

In this kind of scenario, if advise wearing something that will stand out, like a bright coloured (but still professional looking, obviously) top or shoes. Being visually memorable is going to help a lot here.

But none of this is anything new, it's been like this for at least 15-20 years now.

I'm a huge introvert (to the point that I need several hours alone each day if I want to function) but I still managed to get noticed in several group interviews (and pass them). Being naturally quieter isn't a bad thing - most employers want a mixture of people from confident extroverts to quieter introverts who are happy to speak out but who are equally able to go off and work alone with needing tons of direction or interaction.

Thanks, it definitely feels harder than we expected. Her previous job (think well known high street fashion retailer) was a simple face to face interview. I worked for M&S as a student years ago (25+ years) and the interview started as a big group and we were reduced at each round until there was a few of us left for the face to face round. That makes total sense to me. They took us through various scenarios and environments and they saw how we handled each section. This is v different. This morning she had one, 45 of them in a room, lasted less than a hour a few ‘raise your hand’ questions (and she did give an answer). She recognised some folk from previous group interviews. I guess if 45 is the shortlist then I can understand the challenge from the employers POV. Just trying to understand so I can help her out a bit. Good luck to all the other young peeps trying to navigate all of this.

The inability to get driving lessons due to demand and cost and the inability to get a place to live for the same reason hasn’t though. If it is so bloody hard for them to even find the ladder never mind get a foot on it then you can’t deny it is tough for them. It is like the Hunger Games. And before they even get to compete they have to deal with A I sifting through their details on indeed and sites like that. They then get ignored after numerous applications and feel deflated and fed up and I don’t blame them. It genuinely wasn’t as hard when I was their age. It just wasn’t.

This isn’t anything new. I had one of these group interviews 20 years ago for a student job in a department store.

I remember thinking it was ridiculous at the time. I think it’s just to save the recruiters time when they have a lot of applicants.

I had this feedback many years ago for a graduate job. We were doing one of those scarce resources group exercises, and everyone went bonkers and wouldn’t compromise. I gave up - and my feedback was, you wouldn’t be able to give up if you were negotiating with unreasonable people in real life. Which is absolutely true and was a good lesson. Still irritating AF though. Empathy with your DSD!

I went on one for an IT graduate position in the early 80s. We were put up in a hotel, team exercises making bridges out of lego etc. Many One 2 ones and a meal with copious wine. At the dinner, they even asked what we thought of the film "Life of Brian".

They are training, interviewing and assessing them all in the one session.

It's obviously cheaper, and they want to see how the candidates react with other people as it's a public facing job. They might well do role plays where one is customer, one is worker etc.

I've been to a few interviews like that for retail/hospitality/call centre. This was decades ago so I don't think it's that new of a concept. For 'lower skill' vacancies.

PS IT was called DP back then

We have done these style interviews for people with little experience (fresh out of Uni) for 15 years plus in our business. It’s very common.

Means you only need x number of staff for a full day can review and interview multiple people easier. If you do 30-60min face to face interviews with 30 people that’s a lot of time / effort for the company.

Most of the time we are just looking at personalities and problem solving skills as we don’t expect people to have alot of knowledge in our field. It’s all is this person a right fit.

Those types interview have been common for some jobs for years

They are not interviews as such, I know them as ssessment centres. I worked in graduate recruitment a long time back and we used these as interviews are not always effective at weeding out those who say the right things but can't do the job.

Large‑group retail assessments are designed to filter for a type of behaviour, not for skill, and that’s why your daughter keeps getting lost in the crowd. They’re not really “interviews” at all - they’re behavioural stress‑tests built to identify people who naturally perform in noisy, competitive, highly social environments. What employers are really resting for are group dominance signals, such as who speaks first, who appears to organize the others, They are looking for this kind of social confidence because retail floors are noisy chaotic environments and they want people with high energy levels who can stay upbeat when dealing with strangers. Many employers believe that an outgoing personality is best for retail roles. At the same time they want staff who will follow the rules and take instruction without argument.

Unfortunately this can mean that the quieter and more reflective personalities get sidelined. They are being filtered out and no-one sees their strengths. Your daughter may be better suited in one to one interviews like call center work, libraries, admin and the like.

I had a mass interview for a major crafts retailer. Was supposed to be 12 of us, 4 teams of 3, choose an item to make for an occasion (mothers day and Easter were coming up), cost it, put a price on it as a child or adult activity in store etc.

Fell flat as a pancake when only 2 of us turned up. But we were taken out to the floor with big trainee badges (that we had to make ourselves) and let loose on customers with a staff member hovering nearby - which was THE best way to find if you could do the job of approaching people. Other lady walked out after 2 difficult customers. I got the job. Lasted a year, not enough shifts.

Yeah I was going to say I did this for my first job in a cinema 20 years ago - but it was about 8 people in a group, not 60! I agree with OP that it's almost impossible to stand out or get any measure of someone in that sort of setting - and if they do it's likely to be the loudest voices who get heard.

It seems a really weird idea when so much work has been done in HR about conscious/unconscious biases as in a group setting like that people will end up focussing on those they perceive as being 'like them' - either that or the best looking ones.

It's all very well saying it's a way to find the 'go-getters' or 'people who will fit in well' etc. but most organisations (or indeed any group settings, like friends or whatever) are far more successful with a wide mix of different personalities, skills, experience, etc.

A company comprised solely of alpha-male leader types is just going to turn on each other and not get any actual work done because they are all posturing to be the boss! I thought we were trying to move away from the homogenous, give the job to one of the lads, type hiring.

I can see how it might be useful as an initial weeding-out type thing (as a pp said, those people who think they are too good for the job or have just turned up so the job centre doesn't suspend their UC!), but not as the only process.

Sainsbury's interviewed me like that 25 years ago.

I had some of these when I was entering the job market 25 years ago. It’s not really new. If they have a few of the same position to fill, it makes sense. She needs to figure out how she can stand out but in a positive way.

I did something like this for my first post-uni job (about 22 years ago!)
It was for a recruitment consultant role, but I ultimately declined because it felt too sales-y for my liking.

There was a group activity and a bit of role playing. It didn't bother me at all, and was actually fun in parts, but i can imagine someone shy/on the introvert scale would hate it tbh (then again, they'd probably hate the kind of jobs that would hold these styles of interviews, so maybe thats the point).

It wouldn't bother me having to do this again although highly unlikely Id need to

This is not new. My daughter had these at New Look and Tesco in the early 2000’s.

Maybe they aren’t “stuck” there, maybe they actually enjoy their jobs.

It's all very well saying it's a way to find the 'go-getters' or 'people who will fit in well' etc. but most organisations (or indeed any group settings, like friends or whatever) are far more successful with a wide mix of different personalities, skills, experience, etc.

But that is exactly what they're looking for.

They do a big group interview so that all the follow-up interviews aren't filled with the same type of person - it saves a whole load of time. I had about 30 in my group interview, then about 10 of us went on to the second round. I'm fairly sure we all got offered jobs but in different departments and working different shifts depending on our availability.

lol, no, they're definitely stuck there 😂they moan about it constantly but stay either because of the hours (around school) or because it's easier to stay at their stage of life than faff about finding something they hate even more.

It's called an assessment centre and they've been around for about 30 years.