The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Target in Mar 2011
Interview
I first met the Target staffing reps at a college career fair. We spoke of the Team Lead position, an entry level job working in the store. I attended informational sessions and chatted with the reps afterwards. Pending an online assessment consisting of math and comprehension problems, I got an interview the following week.
As impressed as I was with the company, the interview process was very disappointing. I am told that the interview is usually conducted by a two-person cell - one to ask me questions and another to transcribe my responses. The rep greeted me and informed me that they were short staffed all day and that she would be the only one conducting the interview. All of this would have been fine if it weren't for how impersonal it was.
There were 11 scenario-based questions and were as standard and monotone as you might imagine. (i.e. - What are your strengths and weaknesses? Describe a time when you showed leadership and another when you failed. etc). The problem was that she kept her nose to the paper the whole time. With the exception of the initial handshake, we never made eye contact again. If felt detached and impersonal, and the style might as well have been a phone interview.
I believe the interview process should be a two-way conversation. Interviewers are out to seek a valued part of the team, so it's reasonable for the interviewee to have similar needs. No one wants to be just another number. I am sure that interview experiences will vary, but I left the room feeling extremely disappointed.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Describe a failure you encountered in the workplace or a school project, and what did you do to fix it?
Basic interview questions. Nothing hard or exhausting. Just basic prep is totally acceptable. Flexible scheduling and multiple locations including virtual. One round of interviews with management. Don't overthink it and just have basic preparation.
I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Target (Springfield, OR)
Interview
Initially I had someone reach out to me via Indeed. From there I had a chat with the recruiter who walked me through the job and next steps. I completed an application and then a video interview that consisted of 6 questions. After that was sent in I was told to schedule a face to face interview at the store. When I arrived at my interview my scheduled interviewer was unaware that she had anything scheduled. She recovered quickly and took me upstairs to the offices. The store director was on a phone call at that point so she took me to another room while we waited. What I was unaware of is that the interview hadn't quite started and that we were waiting for the store director. We chitchatted for at least 30 minutes before the store director arrived. It all seemed very casual at this point. We started a packet of questions very similar to the video interview questions. I answered everything and then I was thanked for my time. I did not get the job which felt a bit confusing after seemingly being fast tracked and then a very cheery and lengthly interview.
Had 3 interviews for the position as they were in between Store Managers. Once the new Store Manager started, HR called me and had me come in same day to interview with the Store Manager and I was offered the job on the spot.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
They walked the department that I was interviewing for to lead and asked me what I saw and what I would do differently.
