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?

This is brilliant advice. I was very quiet and shy as a teen but had to go through a group interview for a retail job. Having a “role” in a group task helps, e.g time keeping or looking out for the quieter people to make sure everyone has space to talk - these are the kind of people skills they are looking for.

How does one speak up in a group setting without interrupting? Because I'm in my late fourties and I still can't get this right.

In retail, most customer interactions are one-to-one, so a group setting is testing social skills that are irrelevant for that role.

Someone autistic will probably be meticulous about stock rotation in a way that the staff at my local Lidl really really aren't (putting the new stock in front of the old stock instead of behind it so that the last couple of items go out of date before they sell, so wasteful, and so frustrating when I want to buy them and realise that the Use By was yesterday).

Just echoing others that say it’s been that way in retail for years. 15/20 years ago I had interviews the same as that for w.h smiths, the Disney store, Asda, toys r us etc
I also think they’re terrible but nothing new unfortunately.

I suppose it depends on the retailer. It’s a long time since I’ve been in retail so will bow to superior knowledge but when I worked on the shop floor at a Saturday job in Next we were a team, yes interactions with customers were 1-2-1 but the group of us working had to work together as a team, communicating as to where staff were needed most and yes that did require speaking up and teamwork. I acknowledge that absolutely not all stores are the same and perhaps team work isn’t always necessary.
As to how to avoid interrupting you pick up on tone and when someone is coming to the end of their point you pick it up and run with it, so they can be tailing off and you can cut in with something like “absolutely hear what you’re saying and I fully agree, perhaps we can take it further”. No one gets in right all the time but after a few interviews you should see what other people are doing and how they cut in, there will surely be someone who does it politely and you can emulate them. You don’t have to be rude doing it.
OP wishing your daughter luck.

Customer interaction may mostly be 1-1 but you often work as a team within the store (so produce are a team, frozen are a team, bakery are a team) and you need to be able to speak up and communicate well in this settings. There are also often situations where you’re dealing with x and something else happens and you have to be able show you can prioritise.

You don’t need to interrupt but be firm and grab a train of thought from someone else - so when they finish, don’t wait for a massive gap but speak up at the end of their sentences.

I would say that this isn’t new.
Every job I have had from 2006 (when I was still in college) onwards had been at least part group interview. They just got more extreme as I got more experienced. The Toys’r’us graduate program interview was the best part of a day and involved passing balloons along a chain without using your hands!
I was glad to have the experience when I was your daughter’s age (and younger) to tackle this. She just needs to make sure she is heard, sharing ideas, confident and friendly…without being too overbearing or bossy!

I'd encourage her to look for other roles. Care work, leisure centres, tourist attractions and smaller businesses could all offer work plus a better recruitment process.

I remember going for an interview with a well known high street shoe retailer in the 90s in London when I was young and I was really appalled that it turned out to be a group interview.

I simply sat back and watched the daft group exercises without taking part that day as I had decided I would not want to work for that company.

I think it is lazy and disrespectful and employers who do this should be named and shamed on social media so consumers can avoid them until they change their hiring practices.

I had an interview for Sainsbury’s like this way back in 1997. I left. Got a job in a pub.

I've recruited several teens and people under 25. I am looking for a specific knowledge base in them which very quickly becomes apparent in their CV or covering letter and if they don't have it I move on, even if they sound like Einstein. Let's say for argument's sake I run a riding school so I need staff that ride and are comfortable with horses. I always specify that in the advert but I still get inundated with applications from people who have never ridden a horse or groomed one, but they love animals and had loads of posters of horses on their wall as a child, so it would be their dream job.

And then there are the ones who openly admit they have no knowledge of horses and no interest in them, but tell me all about the cafe they worked in last summer holidays. Then they say they'd be prepared to learn about horses if I gave them a chance, which I should, because they'd be really good. Well gee, thanks. How can I refuse an offer like that?

But in generic retail jobs where there is unlikely to be much to separate the applicants, all CVs from youngsters with little or no work history will look roughly the same. Their exam results will vary but all the covering letters (written largely by AI) will ALL mention the same things. I've realised they run the job description through AI and you get the resulting response with all the things you asked for in the advert.

If I mention wanting a 'can do' attitude or good time keeping or strong people skills I'll get 50 emails that all say 'I have a 'can do' attitude and strong people skills. My time keeping is good.' It gets very tedious.

They will all have a 'passion for' something or other related to this job, even if the job is packing plumbing parts or mopping the floor in a restaurant. They'll waffle on about their hobbies and somehow try to relate them to the world of work, because it's all they have to go on, bless them. It's very hard to say anything that stands out.

They'll talk about being confident, enthusiastic, diligent, team players etc, etc and I can absolutely guarantee you that most of them won't be any of those things. Most of them will be monosyllabic twits who, once in the role, will announce they have anxiety or ADHD as a reason for why they can't do anything properly and who can't leave their phones alone for 20 minutes. There is very little to take from the generic CV of a kid who hasn't yet had done much, to help you sort out which five to interview out of a list of 200.

There's only one way to put any of those claims to the test and that's to meet them. But you can't interview 200 kids or you'd never get any other work done.

Group interviews with team exercises and question and answer sessions, role play etc are a great way of seeing who rises to the challenge and performs under pressure in front of other people. Who can sit and listen and not fidget or get bored, who can manage to not look at their phone for the duration of the group session. The interviewer will be looking for subtle things in candidates which might not be immediately obvious. They might be wanting to hear how clear your speaking voice is, see how you cope with eye contact, that sort of thing. See who arrives early and who is late. Set you up in scenarios such as 'here, would you like to take this chair?' to see whether you say please and thank you or just mumble and grunt. See who comes with a list of prepared, well thought out questions to ask, if invited to do so.

You'd think that the most assertive people would get all the offers in that scenario, but not necessarily. It will depend on the role. Sometimes the recuiter might be looking to weed out the over-confident 'ooh ooh, pick me' types. They'll know specifically what qualities they are looking for. It won't just be a confidence contest.

The other thing they will probably do is give the candidates some sort of questionnaire thing to fill out with a paper and pen. This will look at their literacy levels, hand writing, spelling, comprehension etc without them being able to rely on AI, spellcheck or anything else.

This has been common for some places for
pver 20 years. Asda used to have magic sessions not as many as 50 though but then it could depend how many positions there are available. There was never just one job available! It let’s them see who works well
in a team and what everyone’s people skills are like. I guess it saves time as if they interviewed 1-1 then you’d have wasted time by the % that are no shows this way it saves time/money. They do get a lot of wasted applications as these are easy/no qualifications jobs to apply for!

I’m definitely an introvert, but I am also a natural leader so I am generally heard and take charge in a group scenario. Being introverted doesn’t mean you have to get lost in a group, and if you do that’s probably an issue to an employer.

I’d experiment with different outfits

suit
slogan t shirt that says HARD WORKER
sainsburys staff top (eg if applying at Asda, gives an impression you’ve come from your current job)

In my experience its done to weed out the intelligent, the driven adults who the hiring teams are afraid will rock the boat. Employ those who say the right thing, last a couple of months until they fail probation or quit because its too much like hard work. Rinse and repeat. I may be a tad cynical though after years of retail.! 😂

I mean, not many employers want people who will rock the boat - I'm not sure that's exclusive to retail, lol.

But you're not wrong really - retail is dull and monotonous for the most part and they do need people who will just get on with it.

What do you find disrespectful about it?

Retail positions get hundreds of applicants, who often all have very similar CV's in terms of experience - it would be absolutely ridiculous to offer them all an interview so a group session is the quickest and easiest way to whittle down the numbers to something more manageable.

What a load of garbage. World has gone mad.
I could understand it if they are opening a new store possibly and had a large number of jobs to fill.
It actually is questionable what criteria they are looking for and whether it relates to customer service skills or whether they are looking for managerial ones ? Not related to the job.
Some consultant thought this up and got paid too much for doing it. Or it is an idea borrowed from America. Ie. Don’t feel we value you too much, there are loads of you we could choose from etc.
Awful.

I haven't read all the replies but this was how I jad interviews back in 2005-2007 for retail. They will be watching who is taking the lead in the group activities but that they are also engaging with their "team" asking for other opinions and feedback.

I used to make sure I grabbed the pen when it was put down for the group stuff. I got every job I went for. Because they can't watch everyone, they will be watching the ones who are coordinating the group most.

I work in retail and have been a hiring manager in similar situations in the past, group interviews but usually max of 30-40 people. It happens because often there’s no recruitment for a while then suddenly there’s a need to hire people in various different roles. Often people would apply for roles that either they weren’t qualified for or perhaps didn’t quite understand what they were, so the group interview actually opens up more options than just the job you have applied for.

I can only speak for the company I work for, but in terms of the group assessments, it wasn’t always the person who was the loudest that stood out - we would always look for people who could work as part of a group - those who showed leadership in keeping an eye on the time, organising resources, as well as making sure everyone was included. Equally if your daughter didn’t feel she was able to contribute at all, it’s possible she didn’t score highly. Even just being chatty and friendly to other group members counts - we want people working in retail who can and will talk to customers! It also helped us understand the level of English spoken by all candidates - and it’s not to say not having good English would mean you weren’t offered a job it’s just matching the right skills to the right role.

We would always, always have a 1-1 interview as well as the group interview. I don’t think it’s fair not to have that, when candidates have given up their time to be there, and we wanted to understand from them why they wanted to work with us! If this isn’t happening I can only suggest your daughter makes a point of trying to chat with the interviewers if she can - trying to come up with a question to ask at the end, just showing a little bit of confidence and initiative can go a long way.

As much as it’s a tough jobs market, it can be hard to recruit good people, too, and she should feel valued as a candidate and employee. I’m sure she will find something with the experience she has - good luck and keep us posted, will keep fingers crossed for her!

Its scary and ridiculous. Back in the 80s I could just walk into a shop including a chain store and ask for a job.

Dd had an ordinary 1:1 shortish 30min interview for a sainsbury's job back in 2023.
Agree she should try the small independent places.

It's been like this for over 30 years now in retail - it's not remotely new.

And yes, there are loads to choose from - retail positions frequently get hundreds of applicants, all with similar levels of experience, so the easiest and fairest way to whittle the numbers down is to meet everyone in a group scenario and decide from there who will progress to the next stage.

@timtamsarebetterthanpenguinsproblem is they still get it wrong more often than right judging by my experience, hence huge turn over in staff in retail. There's lots of 'coaching' available ( online and RL) that people use, but once in the job its quickly apparent that they have acted it out and its not reality. I know this is teenager topic but it effects all.

I'm just not sure that group interviews are the reason for the high turnover - I think that's just down to the fact that it's retail and for many people it's a stop gap job while they look for something else, or because the hours fit their needs at that point in time.

I've worked in shops where we've had the group process and ones where we've had 1-1 interviews and the turnover was pretty much exactly the same either way.

My son had this when he was in the UK over 20 years ago. He said there were people with quite serious university degrees there too.

I did one of these yonks ago. For topshop. It felt a bit manic and disorganised. There was so many of us we barely fit in the shop and they didn't have enough chairs. We had to do a role play but because there was so many of us we were literally getting seconds each. Some people were not team players and would talk over others so it descended into the loudest voices/boldest characters. It felt like they wanted a certain type of person and look. There was also no heads up that it would be this kind of interview and all last minute notice.
It wasn't for me.

I did get a job as a retail assistant at a department shop, nice quick sit down chat. Was far more the environment that suited me. Helping ladies find outfits/bras after surgery/cancer. That role needed my quiet calm and understanding. Not some bold Russel brand in your face characters that toyshop wanted.

So I wouldn't avoid those interviews they are all different but I'd see them as experience and practise rather than a real shot. I really don't feel they are the best way to interview but I guess quick for the retailers.