The Student Room Group

Debenhams Stockroom Movement Assistant Xmas Temp

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Reply 60
I had my assessment last week for my local store. I went in very panicked thinking there would be group activities and public speaking from what I'd read from other posts but my interview was actually just a 20 minute 1 to 1 interview with one of the Debenhams in store training staff. They just asked me questions such as Why do you want to work for Debenhams? What personal qualities do you think you could bring to the team? How do you cope under stress? How have your extra curricular activities and school developed you as a person? And then I was just asked about my eligibility to work in the UK, and what hours I would be able to work. The lady who was interviewing me was really nice and did her best to make me feel comfortable so to anyone having theirs please don't be too worried, I'm sure you will be absolutely fine! Good luck! :smile:
Reply 61
Original post by smclellan91
Sounds like you had a good interview! Did you have the other lady I didn't have??? I didn't get any of those things said to me that got said to you so abit worried now ha


Yup. I got called in right after you. I think it probably depends on the interviewer. What was the other woman like? I think she told me quite a lot of the stuff about switching to permanent because I said I was interested, but we also discussed her dogs and animal shelters, so we didn't exactly stay on script. I'm a little worried that my interview only took about 5-10 minutes, but maybe it just seemed faster compared to sitting in the room and waiting. How did yours go?
Reply 62
Original post by Deziah
I have my group interview soon guys, any advice? :-)


There seems to be some variation, but mine went like this:

Ice breaker- all write down truths and a lie about yourself for everyone else to guess

Group activity- In a group, present what you believe to be the key parts of the job and skills required. 30 minutes prep.

1-1 interview- Everyone says their interviewers were very friendly and this was the case with mine. I had questions like 'tell me about yourself', 'relevant experience' and 'what challenges do you think you'll face?'


Just get involved with everything. And don't give the interviewer a cheesy wink when she gives your ID back.
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 63
Original post by Deziah
I have my group interview soon guys, any advice? :-)


Just take a read back at our posts and prepare for what we've said! If you're lucky and there's not many people at your interview then you'll probably not really have a group activity and just the one on one interview, but if there's lots of people in your group you'll probably have a group activity like Muffie and smclellan, and for that it looks like you had to make a presentation about Debenhams so I'd just suggest doing some research about Debenhams. You'll probably get an email soon which will give you some pointers about what to research, I'd say even if you don't have the group activity it's still useful to do your research as it will be beneficial if your application is successful and you start the job :smile:
Reply 64
Original post by Muffie
Yup. I got called in right after you. I think it probably depends on the interviewer. What was the other woman like? I think she told me quite a lot of the stuff about switching to permanent because I said I was interested, but we also discussed her dogs and animal shelters, so we didn't exactly stay on script. I'm a little worried that my interview only took about 5-10 minutes, but maybe it just seemed faster compared to sitting in the room and waiting. How did yours go?


good I hope! Really hope I get one of the jobs, you'll have to let me if you do :-) good luck x
Reply 65
Original post by smclellan91
good I hope! Really hope I get one of the jobs, you'll have to let me if you do :-) good luck x


I'm quite curious how many people they're hiring, but if we were the only group then the chances are good! The woman who interviewed me mentioned that they get their yearly budget this week, so I'm wondering if they're deciding how many to hire after they get that. But then it's also the bank holiday weekend, so I doubt any phone calls will go out before Tuesday. They said phone call within 10 days if successful, right? Not enjoying the wait at all. Good luck! :smile:
Reply 66
Original post by Muffie
I'm quite curious how many people they're hiring, but if we were the only group then the chances are good! The woman who interviewed me mentioned that they get their yearly budget this week, so I'm wondering if they're deciding how many to hire after they get that. But then it's also the bank holiday weekend, so I doubt any phone calls will go out before Tuesday. They said phone call within 10 days if successful, right? Not enjoying the wait at all. Good luck! :smile:


I hate having to wait to hear back from them. I've managed to get an interview at Schuh for Tuesday, another group interview :rolleyes:
Reply 67
Original post by Nerd2
I hate having to wait to hear back from them. I've managed to get an interview at Schuh for Tuesday, another group interview :rolleyes:


That's what you get for escaping the group assessment at Debenhams :wink: Good luck!

I'm doing the inadvisable and have stopped putting out applications for now. I'm not available to interview for a couple of weeks anyway, so hopefully I'll get a job from Debenhams and not have to start putting out applications again in a week or so. I can't believe you have to go through the entire interview and assessment process again to switch to permanent if you get the initial job. Urgh :mad:
Reply 68
Original post by Muffie
That's what you get for escaping the group assessment at Debenhams :wink: Good luck!

I'm doing the inadvisable and have stopped putting out applications for now. I'm not available to interview for a couple of weeks anyway, so hopefully I'll get a job from Debenhams and not have to start putting out applications again in a week or so. I can't believe you have to go through the entire interview and assessment process again to switch to permanent if you get the initial job. Urgh :mad:


Just got an email from Debenhams, I didn't get the job :frown:
The only thing I can think of that might have ruined it for was the fact that she was concerned that I lived quite far from the store and relied on public transport.
Reply 69
Original post by Nerd2
Just got an email from Debenhams, I didn't get the job :frown:
The only thing I can think of that might have ruined it for was the fact that she was concerned that I lived quite far from the store and relied on public transport.

Ouch. :frown: My interviewer was very pleased I'll only be a 5 minute walk away, so I'm sure it does make a difference. Are you going to get the feedback? Just think things could turn out for the best if you get the schuh job and it's a permanent one! :smile:
Reply 70
Original post by Muffie
Ouch. :frown: My interviewer was very pleased I'll only be a 5 minute walk away, so I'm sure it does make a difference. Are you going to get the feedback? Just think things could turn out for the best if you get the schuh job and it's a permanent one! :smile:


Yeah I'm defiantly going to ring back for feedback, I don't want to sound big headed but I was the best candidate there, the only one with experience in that role. If it was due to me living far away from the store, then I'm going to be really annoyed, because I turned down an interview at another Debenhams store which was closer to make this interview.

I'm more angry than gutted, all that research and preparation I did, their loss anyway :rolleyes:

Hope this Schuh interview goes well.
Reply 71
Original post by Nerd2
Yeah I'm defiantly going to ring back for feedback, I don't want to sound big headed but I was the best candidate there, the only one with experience in that role. If it was due to me living far away from the store, then I'm going to be really annoyed, because I turned down an interview at another Debenhams store which was closer to make this interview.

I'm more angry than gutted, all that research and preparation I did, their loss anyway :rolleyes:

Hope this Schuh interview goes well.


I'm interested in what they'll say in your feedback if you didn't get the job with experience in the exact role. Though I'll warn that you have no idea what the others were able to pull out to sell themselves in the 1-1's. I have no stockroom experience, but I have quite a bit of experience adhering to health and safety from things like tree lopping and engineering labs and used working in a library to support stock control, answering customer queries and integrating into a team and this appeared to be more than sufficient for the experience they were after. With 11 people at my interview, who knows how many of them were able to meet or exceed the experience criteria. I have no idea how they judge after that. It's a shame if it does come down to something as fickle as distance after you had to choose between them. Not that I'd want to be on public transport on xmas eve etc. so maybe it will turn out for the better for you.
Reply 72
Wow I'm really shocked you didn't get it Nerd2, judging from the posts you made in here I assumed you'd be a dead cert for the job considering your experience and the fact you seemed to know a lot about Debenhams! It doesn't make me feel too positive about my chances, although considering you said it might be about distance then I only live a 10 minute bike ride away from my store so that shouldn't be a problem for me. Really sorry you didn't get the job though, and best of luck in your Schuh interview!

I get so nervous whenever I open my emails now as I think they'll only email us to tell us we've been rejected and phone us if we've got the job, I just want to know whether I was succesful or not now :tongue:
Reply 73
Someone here had better get a job offer after the work we've all put in. Grrrrr
Reply 74
Original post by NiallD
Wow I'm really shocked you didn't get it Nerd2, judging from the posts you made in here I assumed you'd be a dead cert for the job considering your experience and the fact you seemed to know a lot about Debenhams! It doesn't make me feel too positive about my chances, although considering you said it might be about distance then I only live a 10 minute bike ride away from my store so that shouldn't be a problem for me. Really sorry you didn't get the job though, and best of luck in your Schuh interview!

I get so nervous whenever I open my emails now as I think they'll only email us to tell us we've been rejected and phone us if we've got the job, I just want to know whether I was succesful or not now :tongue:


I usually don't have the best of luck anyway haha. I'm sure you did well and I hope you get the job.
Would be nice to get this Schuh job though, it's more my sort of thing, its my birthday tomorrow as well so maybe that'll bring me some luck :wink:
Reply 75
Original post by Nerd2
I usually don't have the best of luck anyway haha. I'm sure you did well and I hope you get the job.
Would be nice to get this Schuh job though, it's more my sort of thing, its my birthday tomorrow as well so maybe that'll bring me some luck :wink:


Good luck with and happy birthday for tomorrow!

I wonder if the fact that this will be my first proper job will stop me from getting the job? I'd be so annoyed if it did, so many times now having no experience has stopped me from getting jobs, and it seems like a never ending circle as I'll never actually get a job if it's job experience that's stopping me from getting them :angry:
Reply 76
Original post by NiallD
Good luck with and happy birthday for tomorrow!

I wonder if the fact that this will be my first proper job will stop me from getting the job? I'd be so annoyed if it did, so many times now having no experience has stopped me from getting jobs, and it seems like a never ending circle as I'll never actually get a job if it's job experience that's stopping me from getting them :angry:


Don't give up hope yet! At least one person in the main Debenhams thread got a job with zero experience. It's a company of opportunity :smile:
Reply 77
Original post by Nerd2
I usually don't have the best of luck anyway haha. I'm sure you did well and I hope you get the job.
Would be nice to get this Schuh job though, it's more my sort of thing, its my birthday tomorrow as well so maybe that'll bring me some luck :wink:


I can guess what your birthday wish will be :wink: Happy birthday and good luck!
Reply 78
Anyone else heard back from them yet?
Reply 79
Original post by NiallD
Anyone else heard back from them yet?


No I'm getting slightly worried ha but maybe cos its bank holiday it will take a little longer than usual? Wishful thinking!

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