I applied online. The process took 3 days. I interviewed at Marks & Spencer (London, England) in Oct 2025
Interview
Applied specifically for the food section but the questions might be useful for all customer assistant positions hence in this section. Submitted application on a Friday or Saturday night, had a right to work check on Sunday and got an email to book an interview slot on Monday. The system was pretty fast and the communication was clear. When I showed up, the person who was supposed to take my interview wasn't there so apparently a manager took it which was a bit odd. Going off of what everyone said here, I thought it would be a fairly straightforward and short interview with role-related competency questions. Which might have been the case if the interview was taken by the person who was supposed to take it. The manager though came with a chronological script of questions that they used to ask me questions. None of the questions were what was mentioned here and the interview took around 30 mins. It did feel like a conversation with a person you know as everyone says but there were no shop floor exercises or such.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
- Introduce yourself
- Why Marks and Spencers
- Any previous experience in retail.
- Give an instance where you accepted responsibility for something even when you didn't have to.
- How would you say you stand out from the rest of the people applying for this role and why are you the right person for it.
- Why Marks and Spencers food section
- What do you like about the Marks and Spencers food offerings, any particular product or cuisine or deal.
I don't remember them all but there were questions related to taking leadership, outstanding customer service examples, teamwork examples etc.
I interviewed at Marks & Spencer (Ealing, England)
Interview
Experience related questions were asked. Situational questions, Availability, right to work in UK, Shift timings discussed, Hours needed per week discussed. Benefits with employment told, Cash handling and till experience asked.
I interviewed at Marks & Spencer (Milton Keynes, England)
Interview
Initially went and the last candidate overran (i waited for 40 minutes extra) so my interview got moved to next week. Original interviewer wasn't available so a colleague performed it. They could not find the interview sheet so had to come up with questions on the spot and get my details again. I was a bit annoyed but I think the interview was okay.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What would you do if you have been given a task but a long queue is building up at tills, and there is only one colleague serving?
Quite informal, mostly asking about my reasons for applying to them specifically - I recommend looking at their welfare and environmental status, and the fact that their brand is associated with higher quality food
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Why would you choose to work at M&S rather than at another supermarket?