Life // How to ace a job interview at Debenhams (Or how I did anyway!)

*Updated - Added a few answers in and more relevant information 17/7/14

*Updated - March 2016

* Debenhams interview process has now changed slightly, the telephone inteview remains*

Hey!

So I didn't really know whether or not to do this post, because obviously I'm not a career expert or anything and what worked for me to get this job may not necessarily work for you, you have to genuinely want it!

That being said, I was researching the job role (Sales Adviser) when I was applying and I was looking for what sort of things I'd have to know about the role and what questions they would ask me during the interview process just so i could be a little more prepared and I would have loved for someone to have written this blog post or something similar for all the information I needed to be in one place and easily accessible rather than on 5 different forum posts. I couldn't find one so I'm writing it for people in the future who will be in the position I was in, so lets get started!

Applying

I got the job of Lingerie Sales Advisor on December 4th 2013 and had my first shift on December 9th 2013. My shift was 9am - 4pm and I had my induction 9am -1pm. Usually it's a full day induction where you get till trained, account trained and just basic job training but as I was a late candidate, my training was significantly shorter, If your an early applicant your training may differ to mine, I'm not going into detail on training at all, this post is just about the applying/interview process. I had to go through 3 stages to get the job, which were: 

1) Online application form - where I basically saw the job listed on Indeed.com and then applied for it. There is a short questionnaire/application test (for lack of a better word) where they ask you basic interview type questions, if you pass that you get moved onto step 2.

2) Telephone interview - where someone from HR phoned me and asked me a few details about myself, National Insurance number, DOB all that legal stuff and then some more job related question/typical interview questions such as "Why Debenehams" and so forth. 

3) Finally, one on one interview - which is basically the Telephone interview but repeated by a store manager in your chosen store and face to face. 

Usually there is a group assessment also which would be after the telephone interview but before the one on one, which entails a group of hopeful employees, you go around the store having a browse, then you all sit down and introduce yourself's and so forth. I don't know much about this bit as I didn't do it but there's a heap of information online and it's always best to read up on what to do as just because I didn't have it doesn't mean you wont and you want to be as prepared as possible. I don't think there was time for me to do the group interview considering I was a late starting Christmas temp so it wasn't really needed. The whole process of applying to my first shift was around 1 week to approx 5 days.

Online application

I found the listing on Indeed.com and I am actually subscribed to them and also have the app on my phone. Its a jobs website that you type your post code into and it finds jobs in your area and they send you emails when jobs come up so its really handy, I was applying for lots of jobs at the time but really wanted the one at Debenhams as it was closest to me and it seemed a nice place to work compared to others I'd applied to, which is probably why I got it, because I was determined.

I thoroughly read the job listing/description and then signed up to Debenhams jobs to apply online. Once you get to the application process it asks you a lot of basic things like gender and age then some legal things like whether or not you have any convictions, your ethnicity, your right to work in the UK and so on. You will also need to prove these through documentation later on, so there is not point in lieing.

After those basic questions you get the awkwardly worded common sense questions such as "why do you want to work for Debenhams?" (because I need money, duh - seriously though, do not say that haha!) "How/what will you add/bring to the team?" and "Who are Debenhams customers?" and "When you're upset or annoyed, how can people tell?"

With these questions do not lie about your experience, they will go back to them in the interview and expect near enough identical answers or proof of previous experience so you'd only be screwing yourself over if you lied, plus 1-to-1 interviews usually get people a little nervous, I know I was, so if they catch you off guard and ask you about your experience and you've lied, chances are you'll go blank, if you've previously lied about it, so best to tell the truth. 

Just make sure that it comes across clear that you know Debenhams is the right choice for you and that you are right for them. Make sure you show that customer service is very important to you, also make it clear that they would be making the right choice employing you by showing your knowledge of the store offers and services like customer accounts/store cards, online/in-store order service (which offers click and collect & next day delivery) the Debenhams app and store cards i.e Beauty Club Cards if you're going for makeup or even if not as you may have to work on one of the tills in that department, it shows you've put in the research and effort and are committed to the position even if it is just a day job, if you need a job you need a job. Basically go the extra mile, some candidates won't even bother to research and will go in and be like "Yeh I'm good at tills and with customers n that and I need the money" and that little bit extra will set you apart from them.

After I'd done this I literally expected a rejection email to arrive in my inbox in the next few weeks but next morning I got a phone call to arrange a telephone interview!

Telephone interview.

The telephone interview made me nervous even at the thought of it as I'd never done one before so I did a little research to see how it would go down. There are a lot of threads/forums on thestudentroom.com about Debenhams interviewing process, so that's where I got my help and information from but anyways this is how my interview went down.

The woman called me and asked if I was still interested in the job then asked if I had any holidays booked, when I could work and what times I could manage. It is more favourable if you're going for a Christmas Temp job that you have NO holidays booked as Debenhams staff cannot take holidays from November - end of December usually, you can have days off, but they wouldny be holiday days so having 2 weeks over Christmas when you're applying for the Xmas temp position may not make you the prime candidate for employment. 

She also asked me if I had a passport and a national insurance number. As I did not have a passport at the time, having never been abroad or needed one, I had to take my birth certificate in. After this was out of the way she began the interview. I thought it was important to know that the woman was not from Debenhams where I'd applied she was simply a tele-handler from the call centre in HR who would type my answers and send them off. For some reason this calmed my nerves, just because I knew that, if/when, I started at Debenhams there wouldn't be someone stood there smirking at the insanely ass-kissing answers I gave.

Some questions she asked were:

• Why Debenhams? 

• What do you think the job of a sales advisor entails? 

• Who are Debenhams competitors? 

• What has been your greatest achievement? 

• How do you feel the store would benefit from you working there? 

Basically the questions were the same as the online questions but worded different and all to test I had common sense and that I would put the customers needs first. I researched online what other people's interviews had been like (I just typed debenhams phone interview/debenhams one to one interview into google) and what questions they were asked and how to best answer, them before hand. I also researched on the Debenhams "about us" page on the website, which gave me information about the store and how they're solely focused on excellent customer service, customer accounts and high standards. Again I tried to push my knowledge of the store card/accounts and tried to relate all my answers to the job role and customer service.

When the interviewer had asked me all the questions she stopped talking for a half a minute and asked me to bare with her for a few seconds and she told me then that I'd passed and would shortly be contacted and given a one to one interview date.

Usually when recruiting, Debenhams do assessment days where they take a bunch of hopeful employee's, who have passed the previous interview stages, and they do a group interviews that lasts around two hours (i think) and are mainly to test your team working abilities, doing tasks such as describing a person you're partnered with, selling products found on the shop floor etc. As I didn't do this I can't really help with it, but if you type 'Debenhams group interview tasks/questions' into Google something will pop up telling you what you can expect. 

The 1-2-1 interview

This was the most nerve racking part for me as I hate being put on the spot but luckily I passed it so I'll try and tell you how.

I took my birth certificate instead of a passport (because I didn't have one) and I also took my NI card, this is just to prove I have eligibility to work in the UK and that I'm of legal age to work.

I dressed smartly (more on that later) I was polite and friendly, I made eye contact to show confidence, even though I  shitting myself, and I made sure everything about me was clean, perfect and well presented. 

The way you look and act is so so important especially when you want a job as you need to look and act presentable and correctly to customers in the store. Also, first impressions stick and you don't want someone who could be a potential employer to not employ you because you didn't look presentable or because you were having an off day. Try to mask your emotions if you're feeling a bit down, pretend you're upbeat. This is also key as if you get employed you're not going to be happy every single day, but you cannot show customers this. It takes a lot to get a good review, you could be the best sales advisor ever and you wouldn't get a WOW review very easily but show a customer even slightly that you can't be arsed and they'll be online writing about their bad experience.

Some questions asked (apart from basic criminal offence, age etc ones) were:

1. Why would you want to work here?
2. What can we learn from our competitors?
3. How will you make an effort to fit in and what will you bring to the team?
4. What do think the job will involve?
5. When was a time you received good customer service?
6. When was a time you received bad customer service?
7. Do you think customers expect high standards? 
8. What do debenhams sell and who are our customers? 
9. How have technological advances changed a sales advisors role?
10. What skills can you bring to the role and how will you apply them?
11. Anything you would like to add or any questions?

Not gonna lie, I choked on question 2 and straight up admitted I didn't have a clue and didn't really know what to say, which the manager replied to me "there is always something we can learn from our competitors" and then I was like damn why didn't I just say that, but I answered all the other questions to a Tee. You have to really research and know about the company you're applying for otherwise you may as well not bother, you need to show interest and that you know about the company your applying for.

At the end I added 'I believe you have covered everything and I would like to add that I really feel working for a reputable store such as Debenhams will benefit me greatly."

Debenhams have given me such good and valuable retail experience. 

Dress code & make up (if you want to wear it) 

There isn't necessarily a dress code they just say smart and all black for the interview but it is better to look like you've made the effort and look professional. At the time of my interview I had bright pink hair, I knew it wasn't an issue as I'd seen people working in the store (when I went in as a customer) that had all sorts of colours in their hair and Debenhams don't discriminate towards it, but I thought it polite to ask after my interview about the companies policy on hair colour, I also said "If I were to be successful...would I need to have a natural hair colour." To which the sale manager replied "No your hair colour is your choice, we just ask you maintain a clean, well presented appearance."

So Some guidelines that I followed were:

• No jeans or trainers and I didn't wear heels, but that's your choice (employees/sales advisers working on womenswear/lingerie where I was applying for didn't have them on when I went in store and they never have when I've shopped there, but some of the makeup girls do, so i didn't see it necessary, plus you don't need them to look smart.) but if you want to wear them, go for it.
• All black clothing looks smart, you can top it off with accessories if you'd like, just don't go overboard I would say, keep it simple. I wore black tailored trousers, a black sleeveless top, cardigan, black shoes and a gold necklace and watch.
• Don't overdo the make up, try keep it simple and professional looking/effortless.
• Make sure you smell good/clean.
• Make sure your clothes are perfectly ironed and your hair is freshly washed and your nails aren't a mess, I wouldn't advise going in with greasy hair and broken/chipped nails haha.
• Keep all the documents you need in your bag where you can easily grab them, fumbling around and taking an age to grab your NI card probably isn't an attractive quality in employee but that just MY opinion. No managers said this to me.

Finally...

• Be polite
• Be confident (or at least pretend...I did! But I get nervous at everything haha!)
• Don't interrupt or speak over your interviewer
• Smile and enjoy yourself! Its a learning experience and if you fail you will get better, that's the point of interviews, to test your knowledge and see what your personality is like! This was my first interview and the only reason I got through is because I was so in need of a job that in my mind I wouldn't let myself slip up or fail, I had been unemployed for 2 and a half months and at this point I was beyond determined. I don't know how I would've coped without a job for any longer!

Anyway I hope this has helped you and thank you for reading, like I said I'm NOT a career adviser or expert as you can probably tell, I just wanted to give you the information i wish I could've had when going in for my interview. I know that if you're reading this you're probably nervous and want to be well prepared like I wanted to be but at the end of the day you're the only one who can ace the interview and I hope that you can take bits from this post and apply them to your interviews!

Good luck!

Alicia x 

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