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There is a lot of questions on the application that don't seem too relevant to be honest.
Obviously hours of avail., Personal Information, Work experiences, references, and education are all important. But when you are hiring for a seasonal position at minimum wage and you are reviewing applications from individuals seeking that position asking them about their career goals, emergency info (are you expecting them to have a medical emergency during the interviewing process?), and information about previous employment by your company (you should already know whether or not you have hired this person, unless you have an obscene employee turnover rate) might be a bit much for just the application. Have you ever decided to interview a person based off their career objectives listed on the application. I sure hope not. I don't even understand how the answer to that question is relevant to getting a position at your business, are you looking for someone to tell you their aspiration is selling shitty products to cheap-ass customers, or that they are passionate about keeping shelves well stocked with product? Or are you looking for someone who shows ambition, "I want to be an astro-physicist". How does that help them to do the job at hand? How does that make them a good candidate for employment in the retail industry? Is there a law that requires you to have emergency contact info prior to an interview(I'm not a lawyer, that would be the only reasonable explanation to have it required on an application)?
I'm writing this as someone who worked in retail for three years, had to deal with countless incompetent co-workers and am wondering how using the same employment techniques as my previous employer can yield any better results. I'm interested in hearing from the manager/owners perspective.
p.s. sorry for the run-on sentence(s) and any grammatical errors(I'm sure there are many).
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On October 27 2011 03:25 Darkdeath3 wrote:Show nested quote +On October 26 2011 11:17 Sufficiency wrote:
Oh by the way, what OP describes happen in other places too. My English teacher said in class once that she was at an interview session for hiring HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS (she wasn't getting interviewed; she was observing someone interviewing other people). A lot of applicants did not have any interview skills whatsoever, including:
Q: Why do you want to become a teacher?
A: I donno. I need a job? I have the opposite problem my interview skills are at least grandmaster but my resume is somewhat lacking. Hopefully i will get a real job soon.
I interviewed someone today with a good resume but totally lacked personal/interview skills. She spoke so softly I could barely hear her throughout the interview.
I have to say, even if someone has only a little job experience if they're good at interviewing they're pretty much going to get offered at least a seasonal position.
And both of the people I interviewed today could barely answer basic questions...
Tell me about a time you had a difficult customer you were ultimately unable satisfy, tell me about a time some sort of theft occurred during you shift, what did/could you do to prevent such a loss, describe a person you had difficulty building a good rapport with, tell me about a customer service experience you're most proud of.... basic retail questions. I word them differently during the interview, of course. I have a migraine from work.  But those types of questions are essentially what I ask.
Seriously, I'd rather them make something up than say "I don't know, this/that has never happened."
On October 27 2011 04:14 WritersBlock wrote:
There is a lot of questions on the application that don't seem too relevant to be honest.
Obviously hours of avail., Personal Information, Work experiences, references, and education are all important. But when you are hiring for a seasonal position at minimum wage and you are reviewing applications from individuals seeking that position asking them about their career goals, emergency info (are you expecting them to have a medical emergency during the interviewing process?), and information about previous employment by your company (you should already know whether or not you have hired this person, unless you have an obscene employee turnover rate) might be a bit much for just the application. Have you ever decided to interview a person based off their career objectives listed on the application. I sure hope not. I don't even understand how the answer to that question is relevant to getting a position at your business, are you looking for someone to tell you their aspiration is selling shitty products to cheap-ass customers, or that they are passionate about keeping shelves well stocked with product? Or are you looking for someone who shows ambition, "I want to be an astro-physicist". How does that help them to do the job at hand? How does that make them a good candidate for employment in the retail industry? Is there a law that requires you to have emergency contact info prior to an interview(I'm not a lawyer, that would be the only reasonable explanation to have it required on an application)?
I'm writing this as someone who worked in retail for three years, had to deal with countless incompetent co-workers and am wondering how using the same employment techniques as my previous employer can yield any better results. I'm interested in hearing from the manager/owners perspective.
p.s. sorry for the run-on sentence(s) and any grammatical errors(I'm sure there are many).
I work for a corporation. They provide the applications. It's considered policy to always have an emergency contact on file. We have a lot of stores so I consider it very helpful to know whether they've been employed by our company before. Come on - this is obvious.
Btw, my company doesn't have "shitty product." For children's retail, our price points are considered extremely good given the higher quality. This is a very competitive retail market. Think about it, where would you go to buy children's clothing that washes well and will last at least 1-2 seasons? Kids don't grow nearly as fast once they hit a certain age. Kids need clothing that will wash well and look decent after so many washes. There aren't too many specific children retailers. The quality of places like walmart and target aren't that great for the price points they try to hit - especially stores like target.
Honestly, besides department stores, parents aren't left with many choices.
People keep commenting about how this is just some shitty minimum wage job - but it's not.
Do you all think I'm making a career out of this? No, I won't manage this store forever. When I'm done with college I'll leave. However, this a great opportunity for me to have a stable income (granted, I'm not making min. wage) but the people we hire part time absolutely have the opportunity to get promoted. They could become managers, stay a couple of years, just like me. So that's why I have to put some effort into hiring someone who gives a shit.
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On October 26 2011 17:38 Torte de Lini wrote:Show nested quote +On October 26 2011 11:42 JeeJee wrote:On October 26 2011 00:21 Torte de Lini wrote:On October 25 2011 23:46 Myles wrote:On October 25 2011 23:40 Torte de Lini wrote:On October 25 2011 23:06 Cuddle wrote:On October 25 2011 13:48 Porcelain wrote:On October 25 2011 13:38 SuperbWingman wrote:
I love the ones that respond to "What made you interested in applying for our company?" with "Because i need a job." Just no effort or thought put into it whatsoever. laughably weak. Ugh! I hear this SO MUCH too. : / You'd think people would know better. It's common sense, right?! While I do agree that "Because I need a job" comes of rather arrogant I believe in answering these questions honestly. The job I am at now asked me during my interview why I wanted to work for them and i answered: "I'm looking for a job in this city, I want to move here with my family, I want to stay in the same business as I'm already in and I heard good things about you." Maybe not an ideal answer to that question to make them want to hire me but I'm not good enough of a liar to pull off some "Oh, this job is sooo inspiring and all I wanted as a child was to work with engineering quality..." so I just go with the truth. There's a fine line between being sincere and still properly representing yourself. The question is a way of finding out why you want the job more than someone else. You listed generalities and although they're not looking for you to lie, they're also not wanting to know your personal reasons why you want the job, but rather what makes this job different from any other job? If there is no difference, then you clearly have find no importance in getting this job over another and the person will probably wish you the best of luck in your endeavors. You don't portray much by saying that you need a job in the city and want to move here. It's a retail job, it's not different from a million others. They want the job because they want/need money. The best answer I can think of without being complete bs is 'get my foot in the door'. I get what the OP is saying, but I feel you're taking this a bit far. If you go for a retail job, and they expect more then common sense to fill out a app, promptness, and a good attitude, well I don't know what to say except good luck finding employees to work your minimum wage job. What you're selling is everything. How can you ignore a very important factor? I'd rather sell video-games than children's clothes (no offense). That alone is plenty of reason to say why you'd like the job. Types of consumers, I like being in a job where I can talk comfortably about the product with people who are familiar with ______. etc. etc. You dismiss things too quickly. I'm not saying the make a cheer and jump for joy when prompted the question, but lazily listing the obvious is just fucking stupid. I disagree with this. It's a minimum wage shit job. I'll be surprised if anyone ever woke up excited going "oh boy I get to count inventory, open boxes and stack shelves today!" I don't even know how you'd BS for a videogame selling job. "I'm an avid gamer and so I'm interested in selling games"? That makes no sense, being a gamer =/= selling games; it's not even remotely related. "Being a gamer, I can suggest good games that customer might enjoy, feel like I'm helping out fellow gamers etc"? This also makes no sense. This might say why you can do this job better, but not why you'd WANT to do the job. Completely different things. I fully agree with what Myles wrote about candidates just having common sense, promptness and a good attitude. I like how you assume minimum wage = terrible job. Ends =/= means? As for selling video-games: "I know quite a bit about video-games given it is a hobby of mine, so selling video-games is something I'm comfortable because I know the materials/products and inform myself on my own accord with the products via gaming blogs and/or trying the game myself" Difficult, I know. You'd want the job because you're in a space you're comfortable with knowledge-wise and you can relate more with the customer.
I don't assume anything, just stating facts that were given to me. I'm sure there are minimum wage jobs that are great and are a bundle of joy to the employees. Retail is not one of them.
Again, that response shows why you might be able to do the job well, but not why you'd want to do it. Playing videogames and selling videogames are worlds apart. It's like applying to RIM because you have a smartphone; it doesn't mean you are even remotely interested in manufacturing.
Plus, all I really got from that response is that you're afraid to step out of your comfort zone. I'm not saying it's a bad response, but then I wouldn't ask such a question to begin with, so the point is moot.
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Porcelain, if you give us a whole list of screw-ups that you've seen from applicants I would be a huge fan... I for some reason absolutely love reading about the failures of others. Ahhhh what have I become...
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Yeah I'm well aware the corporation supplies the application but that doesn't mean you should read much into the answers for those fields. Does your corporation not maintain a database of employed/previous employed workers at their hr office. Come on - this is obvious.
And Being from Canada were we don't have the company you work for, I can't attest to the quality of your children's clothing, but I would be surprised if it wasn't manufactured in a sweat shop in Asia(as to my knowledge a vast majority of brands are.
I would love to hear the qualities of the job that don't make it shitty, because it is as you have already stated minimum wage(I think the inference is that the fact that it is minimum wage with low chance of promotion makes it a dead end and overall shitty job). That being said I've never been one of the people with the attitude of minimum wage = minimum effort(I've worked with the type before they are a piss off, I'm sure you've hired them before too so you know what I mean).
I don't think anyone was under the impression you were making a career out of it. Some people do make careers of it though so I'm interested in the thought behind the process.
I understand where your coming from, your desire to hire competent employees. What I don't understand is the frustration you get from having shitty applications submitted(on a side note is there a policy against hiring someone under the age of 18?, and do you not hire high school students, it seemed like you were only interested in college students. If your looking for a good long term team member your usually better off finding a hard working motivated high school student, you'll likely have them longer and they will value the job more). Are most of your applicants walk ins, if so do your cashiers use the gel pens(might explain the large number of applications filled in in gel pens, that blew my mind that people would do that). It sounds like you are doing your job very well, but maybe have weird expectations. The position you are searching to fill is one that is searched for by people with little to no work experience(for the most part), but it seems like your expecting the applications to be coming from people with massive experience in applying for jobs and going through the interview process. A final question to you actually believe in your product after working there for a long time, do you hear good reviews from customers? I found that after the first few years I had a pretty good understanding of what was shit and what was good but you still have to fake it and sell the shit(consider hiring good actors/liars =p).
P.S. I'm not trying to be offensive towards you in anyway but it seems like you were on the defensive in your reply(maybe it was the migraine) either way don't read into it the wrong way.
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^ correction: apparently you do have locations in Canada I'm just unfamiliar with them
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EPT
