Feeling overwhelmed can’t pass a test to work in Tesco

[Shar2508]

Hi there I’m feeling very overwhelmed and deflated just now. I have not worked since 2018 when I gave up my well paid job in social work to be an unpaid carer for my father who had a thermal illness. My father passed away earlier this year so I have a mix of emotions just now. I feel I really can’t return to social work as couldn’t cope with the pressure so I thought about taking a part time job in Tesco or sainsbury. Easier said than done I failed the online test, I thought it was about customer care so I answered with this in mind but I failed, I can’t understand it. Yet I go into Tesco and I’m met sometimes with the most rude staff. So thinking it must not be about the customer service 🤦🏼‍♀️
im thinking wow I can’t even get a job for Tesco so that’s affected my self esteem massively, really need the money with costs rising. I have not claimed benefits or anything and have not had any money since 2018 but we are family of 4 living of my husbands wage and it’s not working anymore.
Has anyone else been in similar situation? Is Tesco really difficult to get into or am I just stupid 😢

sharing my own experience in the hope it helps your confidence I had been out of work for 3 years after children I worked in a council office Previously, it was hard to get back into a job with such a gap, I applied for kfc failed the online test and felt so shit I couldn’t even get a job serving chicken and chips, one month later landed a great job with a bank which has led to so many progression opportunities and I’m forever grateful kfc said I wasn’t good enough 😊

It’s not you op. I don’t mind giving you a hand tomorrow answering the questions x

There are lots of jobs you can do with a social work degree that isn't social work. Look at jobs in organisations that support carers (if that isn't too close to home).

Hey there awww thank you so much funny my mum said the same along lines of do you really want to work for Tesco anyway. I think I thought it was a done deal and I never got past the first hurdle lol 😂 I am giggling a bit now.
i am so glad you have a great job now, so I think the saying what’s for you won’t go by you hopefully in my case also.
thank you, you have made me feel better 🥰

You need to look them up. They are tricky. They have answers they want ; sometimes to deal with it yourself and not refer it up to a manager. Others they want to see that you don't deal with it yourself but immediately refer to a manger.

They are ridiculous, and you are correct sometimes I look at people and think 'how did you get this job?' - it's all about doing your research first. Which is ridiculous in itself.

My dd failed the Asda one. She was looking for a PT job while studying. She had a first degree and was studying for a post grad and is now in a professional job. At the same time someone we know "passed" and started working there. She declared a disability of dyscalcula and was given a job on the checkout. She lasted 2 months and was let go. No idea what they are looking for

@Shar2508 I’m so glad it’s filled you with a bit more hope , your absolutely rite what’s for you won’t go by you, keep trying and looking and something suitable will come along wishing you all the luck x

These tests are weird, don’t think anything of it. I remember doing a few of them after uni, just looking for something to keep me going initially as I’d just moved back home, I ‘failed’ two of them - I think one of them was for Boots. But then got 3 other interviews and only went to one them at a department store and got a job that I took straight away.

Another one hear who failed the test to work in M and S but has a degree.

I laughed my head off - their loss!

Thank you so much ladies for the responses you have all made me feel so much better. I think I was having a bad day and then I sat the Tesco test and failed and i was like what 🤦🏼‍♀️😢
i will keep looking for something that suits me, I don’t want to work too many hours as I still have the kids who are going back to school soon and my mum is on her own now since dad died so I was looking for a job around 16 hours per week and nearby but I guess something will turn up 🤞 🍀 xxx

@Shar2508

Look on your local council page for catering assistants for schools. They’re usually 16 hours a week and it can fit round the kids too 👍.

I'll share my attempt to work for a well known clothing shop.

The manager asked me how my friends would describe me in one word. I said: "Off the wall".

I told ds14 when I got home.

He said: "Firstly, that's three words. Secondly, you haven't got the job".

I also got turned down by Tesco.

I am a well educated women with 20 years experience in communications

I’m sorry, that sounds like a nightmare. If it helps when I was looking for a supermarket job (wanted nights so I could work round one of my kids limited school hours at that time) I literally couldn’t get a job in any of them, I found the tests so hard as I just couldn’t figure out what they wanted. Then I got a job in the store/inside supermarket my friend was manager of and could do the job absolutely fine. At no point did I have to answer on the spot what I’d do if someone spilled ninja turtle acid all over the frozen foods aisle at the same time two people got in a gunfight in the next aisle and every single fridge broke down as well. Ninety percent of the time in supermarket work the answer was ‘tell the floor manager.’

You will find something. Maybe start looking outside supermarkets? If you drive caring is always good for flexible hours, although I found it very difficult work.

The test questions are usually centered around giving great customer service, but the main focus is on safety so always go for the option in each scenario where you would be doing the "safest thing" so if it says "a customer asks for help, and you notice a spillage on the floor, what would you do?" You will immediately be drawn to the answer of "continue to help the customer, and then return to clean up spillage"... This will be a wrong answer, the correct answer will be something along the lines of, "quickly alert the nearest team member, and stay with the spillage until slip hazard signs are displayed. Afterwards, continue to help the customer".

And then you'll get a job at Tesco and realise health and safety is non existent anyhow 🤣

Don' t assume all the staff in supermarkets are not well educated, most are like you OP, shit happens in life and its just a tempory anchor, l have worked in a supermarket , since my husband died as the hours were child friendly but was a civil servant for 13 yrs previously, and theres many l work with far better qualified than myself. l actually prefer the diversity of the staff where l work now compared to my previous job, so many interesting characters, we' ve have lots of airline staff juggling both jobs since Covid.

SJTs are set up to look for the personality traits and skills that the company have defined as important for the role, Tesco may not actually consider Customer Service the most important features. They may be looking for answers that pick out people who follow procedure rather than making their own leaps of logic, who are efficient and orderly, who can identify and react to health and safety risks.....

I failed every SJT I did for supermarket work when I was looking a few years ago.

I've seen reports on other sites saying there is a certai. way to answer these questions and they are tricky- so its not just you. But there should be other jobs at the moment that you could go for?

If it's any consolation op, the same thing happened to me at the beginning of 2020 - I was utterly overwhelmed and just flunked it, after my freelance business nosedived. I was also utterly demoralised.

About 6 months later I got a temp job in Asda to tide me over and a year ago I started with my current firm after

2 years on and I'm in a job I trained hard for (not retail) and am loving it. Don't feel too down. It sounds like your life has been really tough. You'll get there.

I worked at Boots years ago, then a couple of years later applied to work at a different Boots and failed the test that time 😂definitely don’t take it to heart!!

I passed the Tesco online test but my I was rejected without being interviewed. Those questions are awful and I basically answered to the opposite of my instincts(!). My understanding is retail is quite protective of management time, so I'd not put ask the manager first as the top answer for anything.

I had an interview with Sainsbury's which I felt went really well, only to get an email to tell me I was unsuccessful and not to apply again for at least 6 months!

It's really hard going out there and I think particularly for supermarket jobs, where a staff discount is a very attractive perk for many.

Hi I didn’t panic I was probably the reverse and quite confident while doing the test it was questions like you are busy picking orders to be delivered, you go to back of the shop to drop off a pick for customer delivery and it’s a mess so what do you do

1. start cleaning it as you see the colleague responsible for the back shop is busy in another area.


2. continue with what you are doing but check back when you have free time.


3. speak to a manager and tell them


4. spend a few minutes tidying up in back and then go back to your job.

so you are answer by saying likely or unlikely so I said likely for 2 and 4 and unlikely for the other two questions.
i did answer most questions like this and failed so I’m thinking I got it wrong with the way I thought things were done in a supermarket.
the reasons for me looking for this kind of work are that at the minute I don’t want to return to a busy, hectic social work job. I look back to 2018 when I was working flat out full time, coming home exhausted and grumpy, felt like I was missing out on my children being young and for my sanity I can’t go back to that. Im just looking for a few hours 16 maximum to tide us over until my children are old enough to come and go on own without stress of childcare etc. i don’t mind working weekend as my husband will be home so that’s why I was focussing on weekend supermarket jobs.
i want to thank each and every one of you for the replies and I do think that a lot of people are thinking the same as me that they have given up stressful jobs and have turned to supermarkets etc. I have just tried marks and Spencer’s and Iceland so let’s see what happens with those 🍀 🤞 but it was online interviews I had with both which I found less tricky than those questions from Tesco. I’m staying optimistic. Sending love to all 🥰

I don’t think for a minute that people in supermarkets aren’t well educated, I think on the lines that most are like me and fed up with stressful jobs while raising a family so are turning to jobs in shops etc to help with childcare costs ie working when husband home that sort of thing.
my mistake was thinking it was going to be very easy to get into a supermarket 😂 but I’m staying optimistic and applying for everything that suits me ie weekend working, nights etc.
Got a shock with the test as I focussed on customer care but I’ve obviously gone wrong somewhere so was feeling deflated plus it’s summer holidays and my kids although I love them dearly are fighting with one another and driving me a bit crazy plus it’s so hot xx

The selection process for some places screen out the "over-qualified" as the employers reckon they are "stop-gap" applications and people won't stay.