I applied online. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at DICK'S Sporting Goods (Bloomington, IN) in Feb 2013
Interview
Started with a recruiter phone interview of 90 minutes, then a local District Manager interview of an hour. After that the candidate interviews with each of the 3 critical regional staff members, RVP, HP and LP. Also included are two "walks" of an existing store to demonstrate your knowledge of merchandising standards. This last part is critical because after two months of interviews not performing well on the walk cost me the job. The job has been re-posted now after 3 months, so they are patient and thorough.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Very vague store walk where the candidate must critique the merchandising of the store without the benefit of knowing what the company standards are. I would recommend doing this walk on your own before hand with a friend and practice a path you will take the manager on and what you will discuss.
I applied online. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at DICK'S Sporting Goods
Interview
I had an initial phone interview, which lasted about 45 minutes.
The recruiter told me the compensation for a store manager was 75k-85k, but that 85k was really tough to get. The position they interview you for is actually to be a bench manager, so you do not run your own store immediately. She mentioned the quickest she has heard of it happening was 4 months, but it sounds like it probably takes longer than that. This seemed very reasonable given that it is a fairly complex job and you'd want time to learn.
Other compensation included: cash bonus up to 15% of your salary and some restricted stock options depending on company results.
The recruiter was very open to transparent and I appreciated the honesty. Talked about the company have a very competitive culture for stores. This is great for some people, but others might not like this as much.
Store volume ranged from 8m-12m, and about 40,000 square ft. One store manager, 2 assistant managers, and around 40 total employees.
Training would consist of a 13 week course that happens in 2 different states. Not 100% sure but I believe she said Indianapolis and Chicago for the first 6 weeks, and then 7 weeks somewhere on the East coast. Sounded like a fairly extensive training program.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Really no difficult questions. All were behavior based questions that were really looking for a result that you were able to drive. There was a specific question about improving shrink/shortage, which I had not heard in an interview. Basically, she asked what I have done in the past to improve shrink in my current position.
Online, Then a phone interveiw, meet with a store manager, Market manager, then a regional human resource manager, Set a iterveiw with regional general manager, Then a postion is offered or not, Then the usually drug test and back ground check.