I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Waitrose (London, England) in Jan 2018
Interview
Lenghty interview process, group interview and one to one, online testing, phone interviews, quick turn around time. Probing on some questions, hard to read interviewers and scored interview. In a loud opperations enviorment not great place for an interview
Excellent, personal, friendly interview that I felt was setup to help you succeed. Mostly competence based questions with some role specific questions. Plenty of opportunity to ask questions and gave me a very good impression of the company and its people culture.
Quick initial application online, followed by invitation to complete questionnaire & situational judgment task. Results received from task, measured against Partnership values, then invited to fill in full application. Once job advert closed, resourcing contacted via email to schedule face to face in store interview. A further email from resourcing gave a question to prepare for during the interview- treated more like a presentation; give detail!
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
An example of a time you’ve lead a team to be successful.
I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Waitrose (London, England) in June 2018
Interview
Online assessments which include situational reasoning and why you would want to join JLP which took around 2 hours to complete.
Emailed around 1 week later inviting me to interview with no specific details other than time of interview.
Arrived and shown to staff room, then on to 1st part of interview which was conducted by a store manager and team manager. Very clinical and 1st part felt like a tick box exercise.
Behavioural style type interview with questions around experience.
Once completed no opportunity to ask questions and no further details on role.
2nd part was a panel observing 4 of us discussing and putting together an action plan on what we do in a situation where store was short handed, shelves empty and queues building up.
Finished with a Q & A on the task.
Advised those who had completed 1st part could leave now.
A couple points to note:
2 candidates were internal therefore I believe myself and the other party were there to make up the numbers.
No rapport or opportunity to ask questions at any stage.
For a business that prides itself on customer experience perhaps they should look at candidate experience.
I certainly didn't feel excited by the brand or opportunity after the interview and no wonder some of the reviews are about how poor the management culture is in Waitrose.
Email to say I hadn't been successful with no feedback offered.