I applied in-person. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Sears (Hoffman Estates, IL)
Interview
Applied online and received a call the next day and spoke with the recruiter, the next week I had two phone interviews with managers in the office then I was asked to come into the office and interview. After the interview they said they would call within the next week but took 2+ weeks to call back, even though I had called and asked for an update.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
General background questions about my degree and experience
I applied online. I interviewed at Sears (Augusta, GA) in Nov 2014
Interview
You are taken into a room and told to wait for someone to talk to you. This is usually whoever is in charge of which department you applied to the job for.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about a time where you had to help someone.
I initially applied over Indeed.com and was given a call back within a few days. When I arrived, I was taken into a small back-room in a hallway behind their breakroom with the hiring manager. She sat me down and asked me about my availability and experience with power tools. Once we got past those questions, she led me outside onto the sales floor to give me a tour and showed me the different types of power tools that I would be selling. Part of the interview was that I had to pretend to sell a power drill to her using some key sales points she'd instructed me to use earlier. I felt it was a bit forced considering I was applying for a sales position at the mall. In any case, I understood it was necessary to see if I could sell power tools (I'm a 5'2" girl). Unbeknownst to her, I'd worked in manufacturing for several years and was able to comfortably handle the "faux sales pitch". Afterwards when I successfully finished that portion of the interview, she led me back into the hallway room and offered me the position at minimum wage. I told her that with my prior manufacturing and managerial experience, I was expecting to negotiate at a higher rate but she was utterly firm and took on a tone that suggested she didn't believe I was telling the truth.
All in all, I felt like the interview process was incredibly extensive and over-drawn for a position that only firmly offers minimum wage with zero benefits and with the expectation to work overtime. I ended up turning down the job offer and went to work elsewhere.