During and post-interview
During the interview
Be alert and enthusiastic on the first meeting and maintain a high level of eye contact. It is often the candidate who has shown the most interest who is successful.
If you have any reservations about the role or the company, try not to show them at first interview. You may uncover information afterwards that overturns your reservations, but by then the interviewer may feel that you weren’t sufficiently interested. You can always turn down second interviews and job offers at a later date.
Don’t worry about having interview nerves to some degree. It’s only natural to be apprehensive in an important situation. Nerves are healthy. What you need to try and avoid is debilitating fear, and if you’re fully prepared, this won’t be an issue.
It is best not to ask very detailed questions about terms and conditions, holiday entitlement etc at the first interview, your recruitment consultant will clarify these at the next stage. If the interviewer opens a discussion on salary, indicate a range rather than a specific salary, so that your options remain open for negotiation.
Depending on the seniority of the role, be prepared to clarify or discuss some of the following areas of your career to date:
- Dates and length of service
- Where you fitted into your organisation’s structure
- Why you chose to pursue a career in retail
- Reasons and motives for leaving your previous role
- Specific examples where you have made a commercial contribution to the business
- People or situations you have found challenging, why you found them challenging and how you dealt with them
- Examples of innovation or thinking outside the box
- Examples of dealing successfully with challenging team members
- Examples of dealing successfully with customers - either directly or via process improvements
- Examples of coaching, mentoring and developing others
- Examples which illustrate strong planning skills
- Evidence of budget management
- Evidence of commercial awareness - do you know the turnover and square footage of your store/area, how it is performing against targets on last year and on last month, your average transaction value and how that compares against target and other similar sized stores in the company?
- Are you aware of the commercial issues facing your store/department/area at the moment, what problems are you having that affect your profitability and how can you overcome these?
- Your key areas of strength
- Where you feel you match the job
- What challenges or ‘stretch’ there may be in the job for you
- Current ‘hot topics’ in retail
Ask questions
Your recruitment consultant will advise you on the format your interview will take, but you should also devote some time to thinking about all the possible questions you might ask. Remember, this is an opportunity for you to make sure the company and the role are in line with your career aspirations. Prepare the questions that you want answered and ask them during the interview.
Always ask open questions; those beginning How? Which? Where? Why? When? This will encourage the interviewer to provide you with additional information. Typical questions might be ‘Why has the role arisen?’, ‘What are the main priorities in the role during the first six months?’, ‘If I am appointed, how will you judge whether I have succeeded at the end of my first year?’, ‘If I am successful in the role how could my career develop in five years time?’
The close
If you are interested in the position, enquire about the next interview stage. However, avoid talking about salary specifics as this is something that your consultant can discuss with you, or the potential employer, at the second interview stage. It is important to thank your interviewer for their time and offer a firm handshake.
Finally, after the interview contact your consultant to discuss how the interview went and give your feedback. If you are successful, and called back for a second interview, be prepared to answer in-depth questions about your career and achievements. Your Hays Retail consultant will be able to offer you detailed advice and information relating to your interview and your circumstances.
