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Sears Interview Questions & Reviews

Getting the Interview  413 Interviews

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Interview Experience  400 Ratings

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414 interview experiences
Updated May 20, 2013
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Cashier at Sears

Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Phoenix, AZ (US) May 2013 – Reviewed May 24, 2013 New

Interview Details Well I received a call back a week after from the HR for a interview. The first interview was held by head cashier, the questions asked were: What brings you to sears? Why are you planning to leave your job? How you handle bad customers, good customer service, what can you bring to the team? then after that there is a second interview with the store manager, she also asked what bring you to sears? what can you bring if hired? what job experience do you have? and what do you expect from a manager?

Interview Question – what do you expect from a manager?   View Answer

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Softlines Merchandising and Pricing Lead at Sears

Declined Offer – Reviewed May 20, 2013 New

Interview Details I applied to this position after coming across an online posting. I had just come from essentially the exact same position for another very similar (though larger and better performing) company. I wasn't terribly enthusiastic about the position, having had experience with this level of management and the stress/pay/life balance ratio, but I thought I would give it a shot and see what they were all about.

Sent my resume and was contacted the following day by the store's HR manager. (As a matter of interest.. later that day, another Sears store in my area called me for an interview as well.. I assume they saw my application online somehow? It seemed to bother both locations that I was contacted/speaking to two stores...) HR left me a voicemail on my cell telling me a day and time I could come in for an interview. They did not ask me if this would work for my schedule or invite me to call back if it wasn't a suitable time.. just.. "This is when your interview is. See you then, bye."

I arrived for my interview and asked an associate where I could go for it. They vaguely pointed to a door down the aisle and gave me some short general instructions. They didn't walk me back there or let anyone know I was there.. So I essentially just had to barge into the HR office of a company I don't work for, which felt uncomfortable. Once inside the office, there was no one at a desk or anything to greet me, so I awkwardly took a seat and waited for someone to walk by. I said excuse me and let them know who I was there to meet and my name. The Assistant Store Manager I was supposed to meet, I was told, would not be doing the interview after all and I was passed on instead to someone at an hourly level (in the same position I was interviewing for). I had to wait for her for about 30 minutes. In this time I noticed how dirty the back office area was and how unprofessionally everyone was dressed. There was a stack of papers with confidential employee information sitting on the side table next to the chair I was sitting in.

Over the next two hours, I met with the department lead and finally the ASM i was initially scheduled to interview with. They were both extremely professional, polite, and invested in the interview. They did have a scripted interview form that they worked off of, and they wrote down all my responses. The questions were all behavioral format (tell me about a time when you...). If you have interviewed for a retail position ever, you should be familiar with these questions.. nothing was unexpected or terribly challenging.Still the conversations were not stiff and I felt I was able to give them a sense of who I was. I sensed that the Manager was very interested in me, and she appreciated that I could keep up with all the retail management jargon. (This is probably the thing that got me pushed through all these interviews.) She asked me to come back two hours later to meet with the Store Manager. I had nothing going on so I agreed.

I expected the SM interview to be more or less a formality, at that level they don't usually waste time on you unless you're being considered seriously. But he asked me some challenging and involved questions about my knowledge and experience. Again, he was very professional, polite and knowledgeable. He asked me for my previous supervisor's name and wrote it down which made me a bit uncomfortable, since all relevant information is on my resume/application. Frankly, I expected him to make me an offer at that time. But he told me I could expect to hear back in two days.

Three days later he called to let me know I was still being considered but that they were interviewing other candidates. I was entertaining an offer from another company at this point so I was kind of unconcerned.

Three days after that, he called an extended an offer to me, for 50 cents lower than I made at my previous company where I held the same position, and less than I told him I would accept the position for. That said, it was clear to me that this was a great starting offer for this company.. and he told me he had done all he could and fought to be able to offer me as much as possible due to my experience. I asked him to take a day or two to think about it and he politely agreed.

Ultimately I decided to accept a position with the other company, because the schedule and stress level were just 100% more agreeable for the same salary range. However, the process was pretty pleasant and everyone I met with was very nice.

Interview Question – Very standard behavioral-style questions. Pretty straightforward.   Answer Question

Reason for Declining – The people seemed great and my skill set would have been a great match for the position, but at this time I just wanted to move on to something a little different. Retail at store level carries with it a lot of stress for leaders, and the schedule is always bananas. Pay is notoriously bad and just generally not worth the headache.

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MCA at Sears

Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Greenwood, IN (US) Sep 2011 – Reviewed May 14, 2013 New

Interview Details The hiring and interview process starts with applying online either at home or at any computer terminal in the store. After a week or so, you should receive an email telling you of a time for an interview with one of the managers or leads. If you do not, try calling the store and inquire about your job application to the store. The interview process can take anywhere between one to three interviews with mine taking the latter number. If you apply for a certain position but feel like you could work other positions, you can state so in the interview.

Interview Question – Do you think you can work [insert job position here]?   View Answer

Negotiation Details – There wasn't much negotiation available. You can't negotiate pay rate, but you can negotiate the days that you can or cannot work due to travel or school restrictions.

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MCA at Sears

Accepted Offer – Interviewed in Brooklyn, NY (US) May 2013 – Reviewed May 14, 2013 New

Interview Details Pretty simple, I applied online and then like 2 months later got a call for an interview. The person in charge of the clothing department interviewed me and asked about my academics (i'm 16) I was hired 2 mins afterward

Interview Question – how will you benefit the company?   Answer Question

Negotiation Details – none

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Sales Associate at Sears

No Offer – Reviewed May 08, 2013

Interview Details Got a call within 5 days of applying. It was a face to face. Asked the basic questions such as why would you like to work for our company? After the interview the interviewer said they would call me back within a week. It has almost been a week and just waiting for their phone call.

Interview Question – What is your greatest weakness?   Answer Question

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Cashier at Sears

Accepted Offer – Reviewed May 12, 2013 New

Interview Details Two interview. One with a manager, another one with a bigger manager.

Interview Question – What will you bring to the company that will help the growth of the company?   Answer Question

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Receiving Associate at Sears

Accepted Offer – Reviewed May 04, 2013

Interview Details They hiring process is a very smooth process that is not that difficult at all it is usually seperated into two interviews. One will be with a particular department manager and then another one will be with another manager andf they will give you a tour of the store and all the areas.

Interview Question – Not really any difficult question   View Answer

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Cashier At Sears at Sears

No Offer – Interviewed in Portsmouth, NH (US) Apr 2013 – Reviewed Apr 30, 2013

Interview Details Interview questions were based solely on selling skills so they could figure out how well you would be able to strong arm customers into signing up for their credit card. Was told you must meet a certain number of credit apps per 1000 in sales or you would cease getting hours.

Interview Question – Tell me about a specific time when you talked someone into buying something?   Answer Question

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Receiving Associate at Sears

Accepted Offer – Interviewed on Morrow, GA (US) Apr 2013 – Reviewed Apr 27, 2013

Interview Details I applied to sears originally for cashier position online not too bad there were 65 questions on there but pretty quick short questions and got called the next day offering a receiving associates position and I agreed to it after they briefly described to me what they do. That same week on a Friday I had the interview first with the receiving sales lead and then I thought I was done but he had told me he enjoyed listening to my responses and that he was going to see if his supervisor approved of me .....then his supervisor interviewed me minutes later lol but both interviewers were fair and were friendly except for the first one lol but I guess cuss the supervisor was only working there for six months as he told me in the interview.

Interview Question – the 2nd interviewer had the hardest questions but only hard if you had no experience .....like discuss a time you had to deal with a irritated customer and how did you handle it ?   View Answer

Negotiation Details – my offer was just 7.25 hr no negotiation ...only 25 cents less then what I was making at mcdonalds so wasn't really a big deal to me only about 9 dollars less a week then what I use to make at mcdonalds so ......

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Loss Prevention Associate at Sears

Accepted Offer – Interviewed on Anderson, SC (US) Apr 2013 – Reviewed Apr 22, 2013

Interview Details Completed online application, retail simulation, and two or three assessments...had one interview with department head and store manager, then I was called for a second interview which was basically to let me know that I had gotten the job. After that I completed a background check and drug screen, and some onboarding online paperwork.

Interview Question – There wasn't really anything out of the ordinary. I found the retail simulation to be irrelevant to my position.   Answer Question

Negotiation Details – There wasn't much room for negotiation except my start date.

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