[Closed] Job Interview Advice

Shirt and tie, a suit will be uncomfortable. Make sure the background is clean and clear. Blur if you can.
Be yourself.

A wee dab of speed is just the ticket before a job interview.

Bone up on stock interview questions. Google is that way. ->

Be prepared for questions like:

"Why do you want the job?" Spoiler, "you'll give me money" is the wrong answer. You said before that you really enjoy driving, there you go.

Some form of 'tell us we're great!' question. "Why do you want to work for us?" / "What do you know about the company?" Five minutes on Wikipedia or the About Us on their website will cover this off, also you may have had positive experience as a customer?

"What are your strengths?" (easy enough) followed by "what are your weaknesses?" (danger, Will Robinson). The trick here is either to come up with a weakness which could actually be a strength ("I'm too much of a perfectionist") but it's a bit of a cliché and an experienced interviewer won't let you get away with that; or follow through with a mitigation ("my memory's not great, so I write everything down in a notepad"). Fun aside, we once asked an interviewee this and he confessed that he had anger management issues and was job seeking because he'd punched out his previous boss (surprisingly, he didn't get a job offer from us).

A lot of this is standard stuff and it's all bollocks really when what they need to know is whether you can turn up on time, pilot a van without killing anyone, and follow a sat nav. But it's like wearing a tie or, as I said on the previous thread, spellchecking your CV - a little bit of groundwork demonstrates that you give a damn. If you know they were founded in 1904 and adopted the Waitrose name four years later, then you're already ahead of the game against the candidate who when ask what he knows about them answers "uh, you're a shop."

Dont wash or clean your teeth for a week beforehand. Theyll never know.

Make sure the laptop camera isn't looking up your nose and that the contrast isn't throwing massive shadows onto you or the background. I've had some really distracting video conferences where one or two people have been almost invisible in shadows or the camera keeps misreading contrast/white balance and going from overly light to overly dark and back again.

And make sure you don't have any weird / controversial photos, posters or books visible!

Shirt and tie, a suit will be uncomfortable.

One fairly high up council executive I was on a video conference with had a nice shirt and tie on. Then during a point in the meeting when someone else was speaking, he stood up from his desk to get something from the other side of the room revealing the stripy pyjama bottoms he was still wearing. So yeah, dress ALL of you, not just the visible bit!

Long post alert, but this is my area of expertise.

Dress:
I wouldn’t wear a tie for a video interview, and none of my clients would expect you too either. A smart shirt and some trousers (if you have to get up for whatever reason you don’t want to be wearing shorts!).

Prep:
Know your CV inside out, know the dates, the companies and your qualifications.
Learn about the company, what they do, why they do it, who their competitors are, why they’re good at what they do.
Know who you’re talking too. Who they’ve worked for, how they got where they are, any mutual connections you might have.
Know the role as much as you can, what it entails, the skills you need, etc.
Know your skills. What you can bring to the party, specific examples of when you’ve done it before, why you’d be better than the next guy. Also know why you’d be a good match for the company and the team.
Make sure you’re familiar with the platform you’re being talked to on, turn off any other devises and close other browsers so you’ve got no distractions and no other demands on your broadband. Make sure you’re PC/iPad is at a good height so it’s not looking up your nose!
Finally, prep your room, make it clean with a respectable backdrop.

During:
Have a glass of water to hand out if shot in case you need to wet your whistle.
Talk clearly and try to smile.
Try to look at the camera and not the screen.
Be clear and specific in your answers and don’t waffle. Give real world answers and not hypothetical ones.
Don’t talk over the interviewer and listen to every question.
Have 4 or 5 questions lined up for the inevitable “have you got any questions” at the end.
Close the interview, “what are the next steps?”, “have I said anything that has put you off/caused you any concerns/would stop you progressing me to the next stage?”.
Send a follow up email thanking them for their time and expressing your interest in the role.

I’ll add more if I think of anything.

Absolutely agree that you shoul give answers from experience, don't know if JLP will do behavioural type for this role but Google STAR based answers for a way to structure. A good interviewer will know you've done that but as an interviewer myself I don't treat it as a negative; it shows you have prepared and also enables you to hopefully show the behaviours they want to see rather than go mining for them.

You don't say if this is home deliveries but is this opening a result of Ocado's shift from Waitrose deliveries to M&S, and Waitrose needing to replace that lost capability? If so that might be a useful thing to know about?

Awesome stuff as ever folks, thank you so much. To pick up on a few points.....it is home deliveries yes, but i thibk that this role is very much created out of a massive boom in supermarket home deliveries during Covid rather than Waitrose moving away from Ocado.

I'm going to do some more company research this afternoon....I actually know someone through a friend of a friend that interviewed for a different role with JLP so have a list of classic questions written down and have just practiced my answers.

Got my smart 3 piece out, minus jacket so will be trousers waistcoat and a smart shirt.

As for room setup....I'll be on my setup that I've been teaching guitar remotely from since lockdown, so high spec audio PC, wired internet, high end webcam, and a child friendly background!

Need to remember to not waffle....I'm a nightmare for that....I just love to talk haha!

Might be worth noting that you aren't an employee at JLP, you're a "partner" and you get profit share each year based on the performance of the company. I.e. you will be invested in the business and good performance by the business as a whole will reward you.

JLP employees do tend to be on average more friendly than other shops/supermarkets IMO

See if you can work out where your previous experience aligns with the role, and shoe horn in some of that. So you're used to dealing with members of the public, not always positive interactions. You could draw a parallel between someone having a bad lesson and wanting to quit, vs. customer receiving the wrong stuff. How would you turn those situations around?

**UPDATE**

I've not had a link for the virtual interview, so just phoned up the store to clarify what the deal is. The guy whom will actually be interviewing me, in a fairly lackadaisical manner says...."Yeah it's up to you, you can either come in, or I can give you a call...whichever you prefer"

So now the interview will be in person!!! I'm definitely thinking tie now!!

Are all of the above really typical questions for a delivery driver position?

“what are your weaknesses?”

I had the classic "what are your three weaknesses" at an one interview when I'd already decided I didn't want the job. My reponse of "I'm lazy, stupid and dishonest" brought the interview to a swift close.

Never forget that you will be the face of John Lewis who meets the customer. They want to see if your face fits. Why not tell them that since lockdown you welcome the opportunity of a role that is customer facing and will meet people. Many of these people will be very grateful of the contact and may have been shielding. A small minority will be over-entitled.

Others in a similar position have been pleasantly surprised when they have taken the same job, that this is a definite upside.

Look at the interviewer, smile and be personable. That’s what they are looking for. The ability to drive is a given.

What you really want to do is go onto YouTube and watch Keith's interview in 'The Office' for some pointers.

Be able to back up your answers to questions with examples of when you had to display those particular behaviours ie dealing with difficult customers. If you can get across what you did well and even better identify what you would/could have done differently if you were in that situation again. Use "I" and not "we" it makes it out that you were responsible and not just riding on someone elses coat tails.

Google "John Lewis Partnership values"

Prepare answers that give examples of where you've demonstrated those values - only need to be a few sentences long for each.

Reliability and dependability too - that's how customers are going to assess you.

Don't over-think this, it's a delivery driver job, not the CEO

Given that the interview is now in person, suit and tie yay or nay?

Cheers again for the excellent advice. Yup only a humble delivery driver position, put at the tender age of 34 this will be my first ever job interview!

Sit there naked from the waist down, you’ll (probably) have never done so in an interview before or get chance to do so again (without getting arrested)

Edit

Houns, read the whole thread before posting

In person I'd say the same, smart trousers, shirt and tie.

Do you feel comfortable in a suit? Shirt and tie would say definitely, easy way to make a good first impression.

Also, good luck 🙂 Sure it'll go well for you.

Yeah pre lockdown I wore a suit to school (guitar teacher) 4 days a week. Always wear a suit when playing weddings....I own several decent ones.

“have I said anything that has put you off/caused you any concerns/would stop you progressing me to the next stage?”.

I really hate it when candidates ask this, and I don't see the point...all you're going to get is "we'll discuss and let you know". I've been tempted to say "yes, you come across as a complete bellend" but that doesn't help anyone

I agree with the above. Once asked this and when I didn't get the job and asked for feedback from my boss at the time who was part of the interview panel. I asked about my question, as I had picked it up off the internet (probably here!) as a good q, and he said none of them liked it at all, it had put the three of them on the spot and they did not know how to answer.

I really hate it when candidates ask this, and I don’t see the point…all you’re going to get is “we’ll discuss and let you know”. I’ve been tempted to say “yes, you come across as a complete bellend” but that doesn’t help anyone

This.

Nothing puts me off more (be it as an interviewer or interviewee, if that's a word) than stock questions. The best interviews feel like an informal chat.

Be yourself.

and

The best interviews feel like an informal chat.

Interviewers have generally already decided if you're a good choice or not by the time they meet you, and studies have shown that in the first 10 minutes or so, they already know if they want to hire you or not, and spend the rest of the time justifying their decision. Except where there are very rigid selection processes (anonymous testing etc), they already know if they want you or if they don't, so there's no point in trying to convince them otherwise.

Dress appropriately, be pleasant and courteous and answer the questions they ask and take the opportunity to ask them any genuine questions you have. I also agree about not using pre-baked questions, and please don't ask them anything that will or may put them in an uncomfortable position (like why they don't want you...). Keep it about the role or the company.

The STAR approach for structuring your answers is really useful. Quantify your examples; how many people, what was your budget and what was the outcome or benefits. Assume the interviewers know nothing so spend a little time explaining the background to your examples.

Also try and have three or four examples prepared which work on a number of questions (e.g. working in a team, making a difficult decision, having to deal with a difficult customer etc.).

And finally, drum in to yourself to talk in the first person (I did this, I made the decision to... etc.) instead of talking about “we” all the time. I’ve had this so many times when interviewing candidates it gets tiring asking them exactly what their role was.

I interview for a living (well used to). As the others have said dress smartly, learn everything about John Lewis / Waitrose. Have you shopped there, if so were you impressed, if so tell the interviewer. JL are proud of the way they treat their staff, if that’s important to you, mention it in the why do you want to work for us / want this job. If you like dealing with people, great, tell them. Answer the questions honestly, don’t waffle, smile and good luck...

I really hate it when candidates ask this, and I don’t see the point…all you’re going to get is “we’ll discuss and let you know”. I’ve been tempted to say “yes, you come across as a complete bellend” but that doesn’t help anyone

I guess a lot of the people I interview, and the roles I've interviewed for are sales based, and if you're not trying to close the interviewer then that's seen as a negative.
Though frankly, if the interviewer gets annoyed that they've been asked that type of question then they need to have a word with themselves. If you don't want to answer just give a vague "I'll need a little time to think about that and will come back to you"

I’ve been tempted to say “yes, you come across as a complete bellend” but that doesn’t help anyone

Really? A candidate asks how they've done and if there are any negatives, and you think they're an idiot for doing so?!?!