I applied online. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at CarMax (Huntsville, AL) in Dec 2014
Interview
The sales manager and a senior manager interviewed me in a conference room about my work history and then they threw out a few behavioral interview questions followed by role-playing in the store and in the lot, asking me to greet them and then the start of the discovery process to sell a car.
I applied online. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at CarMax
Interview
Applied online, had to take a test online first, which consisted of different math and analytic problems. Afterward, they schedule for an hour long phone interview. Asked mostly behavioral questions. There was also a problem they wanted you to solve. That was the most awkward part as I had trouble hearing exactly what he said. And the problem was confusing. You were expected to read out your thoughts, but its mostly math and very awkward to do speak out. Besides that, the interviewer was nice and helpful. I did not advance to the next round
I applied online. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at CarMax (Pineville, NC) in Jan 2016
Interview
I met with Ops Mgr. to review my resume and answer some basic background questions. (This meeting was not planned as the Sales Manager was late to work and they waited an hour before deciding to have me visit with the Ops Manager.) Eventually I met with the Sales Manager and Store Manager. It is a structured interview with each Mgr taking a turn to ask a question about selling situations. There are about 10 to 12 questions to be answered. They write down your answers as close to verbatim as possible. There are no follow up questions or responses from the interviewers. After waiting around 20 more minutes, there was a third interview with another Operations person. Questions similar to the selling scenarios that the Sales/Store Mgrs asked. After that interview and waiting around more time, there was a mock sales situation. It is a role play of being able to engage the customer, ask questions to qualify, answer their questions, and then close the sale. The Store Mgr asked, "What do you think went well about this role play?" And then followed up with you, "What do you think you missed?" After this portion, more waiting around....then a urine sample is given for a drug test. Then, after more waiting around, I spoke with the Sales Mgr again. At that time he showed the compensation plan to me and tried to use an assumptive close that I would take the job on the spot. This particular store seemed disorganized and not ready to interview me in a timely manner. Some of the process was repetitive.
This interview process took 5 hours! While CarMax has a structured interview process in place, there was a serious lack of respect of my time. At no point in the process did any CarMax employee give me an idea of with whom I would speak next or the amount of time the whole process would take. No updates during the process were given. I spent 5 hours in their building without once being asked if I wanted a break, a glass of water, or if I needed anything else.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell about a time when you had a very difficult customer. What was the situation? How did you handle it?