Ulta Beauty interview questions

Normally I do not post reviews, however, when I was offered an interview for Ulta I found that glassdoor had many reviews which i decided to read but ignore. The process started within a day of me applying I received an email from the recruiter asking to schedule an interview. I emailed her when I was open and she said she would call me at 12pm to interview. When 12pm came around I did not receive a phone call however, at 12:15 she text me saying is it okay if she called me 5 minutes later and I replied sure. Finally at 12:40 she called to begin the interview. She asked me the traditional questions such as why ulta? How was your experiences at Ulta? Then she begin to get into my experience. To disclose my experience was 8 years retail 4 of which is store management at a large grocery retailer, my store specifically makes over 1 million a week. I was looking to join Ulta because it was close to home which would provide me with a better work/life balance. Cut to the interview when she got into my experience it seemed she did not like the fact that my retailer has several members of store management. She said that I was not qualified because I was not the sole store manager and I have a team of managers. I tried to explain to her that because of the volume there cannot be one sole manger there are several as we are also open 24/7. At the end of the day over 200 associates report to me and I am responsible for them. She said that I was only probably qualified to become a co manager and that they may have that position in another location and maybe they could process me later. I asked again why she did not feel I was qualified and why she set up an interview and she became aggravated and said people have to come and buy groceries but they do not have to come and buy makeup so the fact that I handled a larger sales volume doesn't matter. Overall, I felt very belittled and that she was very unprofessional. This upset me because I really thought that I could bring something great to Ulta, based on the job description I had experience in all areas and surpassed the minimum qualifications. As some one that is heavily involved in HR for my current company I felt that she was totally unprofessional. It's not what you say but how you say it. If she felt that I wasn't qualified she could've simply said "I have other interviews and I will select the best candidate, however, if you are not selected we would love to have you in another position." right? Instead she argued why I wasn't qualified and downed my experience. Afterwards, I just thought I probably dodged a bullet if this is how they treat their people before they walk in the door. I know what I will accept and I will not accept a lower position in a store that is literally 1 department at my current store because I have more that one member of store management. Sorry for the length but there were other reviews that said this and I did not listen!

Online application (takes about 30 minutes or less) and then a one-on-one interview. I applied on a Friday afternoon on a whim and received a callback the following Monday. My interview took place the next day on Tuesday. It was with the assistant manager and the district manager (I believe), who just so happens to work at the location I applied to. The interview lasted about 30 minutes. Many of the questions asked pertained to my previous work and customer service experience. I hadn't previously worked in retail, but worked years in a food service job so I was asked many questions about my customer service experiences with that job and how that could translate over into a retail environment like Ulta. The interview wasn't as hard as I thought it would be as many of the questions asked I had seen from other users on Glassdoor. The interviewers were very conversational and relaxed with me. We even chatted a bit off hand about things that had nothing to do with working at Ulta once they finished asking questions and I asked a few questions to get a feel for the job. They were really looking for someone who had a great personality so be sure to let that shine through in your interview. Experience mattered, but it seemed like personality mattered most (considering I hadn't actually had true retail experience before). They loved that was smiling the entire time so that's a plus too. Wear all black, that is the Ulta way (although you may be asked to wear all black anyway like I did, if you get a call for the interview) and I did wear a nose ring (but had asked when I got my call what was the policy on piercings and was told one face piercing was acceptable).