Before I start, If you're wondering what to wear to the interview, especially if you are a woman, wear black slacks, a nice blouse, closed-toe shoes and pantyhose. Yes, pantyhose. It shows you are professional and they'll like that. It's what I did. :)
I applied online through Snagajob.com, not really expecting them to get back to me, because that website isn't very accurate. To my surprise, two weeks after applying, I got a phone call from the hiring manager to join a group interview. I had never experienced a group interview before, so that made me nervous. I prepared myself though by looking at common interview questions the HM may ask and practiced my answers. It really does help to be prepared, I can't stress that enough!
At the interview, there was at least 14 other people with me to be interviewed. We gathered in a room, and sat down in rows of 5 . We met the Hiring Manager and her assistant who was there to take notes of our answers. They were both very nice and put us at ease almost immediately. They talked to us about what type of people they were looking for and what positions they had available. We were asked to introduce ourselves, where we came from (work wise, I mean), why we left there, and what we would offer to Kohls. It was pretty easy. After that, she introduced us to the store manager, who was also very friendly and easy going just like every other employee there. She explained that if we succeed in this interview, we'll be passed onto him, the store manager, to do a one on one interview.
Then the HM started to ask us the interview questions. It was optional to answer and if you wanted to answer, you could raise your hand. I don't know if this is how your group interview is going to be, but this was how mine was.
She asked a total of four questions, but I can only remember three:
- Describe a time where you had to change your priorities at the last minute and how did you handle it?
- Have you ever had a conflict with a co-worker and what did you do to solve it?
I didn't raise my hand once as those two questions above didn't apply to me and the other question that I can't remember, (It was a scenario, I know that) everyone was practically repeating each other with their answers. Word of advice: DON'T DO THAT. If you want to answer, make sure your answer is DIFFERENT than the other person who answered before you. Since it was optional to answer, you had time to think about what you wanted to say. But many of the candidates in the interview clearly didn't think things through and said, "Basically what so and so just said" and then attempted to make it sound different by adding something else that wasn't very relevant. It seemed to me they were trying too hard in the interview to impress the HM. Other candidates, however, had good, solid answers.
Before the interview was over, the HM asked the fourth question we had to answer no matter what:
- What is a strength of yours and what is a weakness you can work on?
She then let us ask questions about things, she answered them, then thanked us, told us the interview was finished, that she already knew who she wanted and that she'll contact us within a few days to have a one on one interview with the store manager.
Personally, I thought that because I didn't raise my hand and let the HM know what I was all about, that I wasn't going to get a second interview.
I was pleasantly surprised, because three days later on a Sunday, I got a call to have a 1:1 with the store manager that following Wednesday.
I was taken back to his office and he discussed with me my availability, the rate of pay, and whether or not I was staying with my current job. He was genuinely friendly and proceeded to ask a few standard, easy, questions:
- Why should we hire you here at Kohls?
- What do you want to do in life?
and like in the group interview, the priorities question.
After that he explained they'll be offering the job positions the following week, he thanked me and I went on my way, receiving a job offer a few days later.
It was all a very easy process, and all you need to do for it is to prepare yourself. Dress nice, research the company, what they're about, what type of questions they ask, and you're set. Good luck! :)
