Primark Application - How Long?

I applied at the start of August and received a phone call the other day inviting me to an interview, so between 2-3 weeks.

Brilliant, thanks Rhys. One more thing - is this your first job, and if so, did you put that you'd had no experience on the online form? They seemed to require experience, so I just created a new entry and put "N/A" in the fields, as I didn't fancy lying about having had any prior experience when I didn't.

I did two weeks work experience (during school) in a retail environment, taught guitar for a few years, and then I have a couple of volunteering roles that involved customer service to an extent, so all that went down in the experience section. However, I've never been employed, so for the previous employer section I put "not applicable", so technically it is my first job.

I still managed to get the job. Primark don't seem too hung up on previous employed experience as long as you have life experience and a good attitude towards things. If you don't receive an interview there's two things you can work on. Firstly, do some volunteer work, it'll give you valuable experience (to talk about as well, not just list) and show them you're not lazy. Secondly, work on your CV. You've got to really stand out as a person and catch the reader's eye, put an interesting "about me" section first and keep your limited experience list towards the end of the CV.

Good luck!

Unfortunately, just got the email saying I didn't get the job, which is a shame, but at least it frees me up from putting my hopes on it whilst I could be looking for other jobs. I presume the reason was cos I had no experience whatsoever - neither employment nor work experience (didn't go to school).

I may even try for the job again - maybe get some work experience, like you said. Thing is, I wouldn't know how to go about looking for it. Firstly, is work experience the same as volunteering? And secondly, do companies advertise it, like they would vacancies for jobs, or do you have to ring up and ask? Will also definitely have another look at streamlining my CV.

Thanks again for the help, Rhys.

I'm sorry to hear that! Don't let it discourage you or affect you negatively, take it on the chin and prepare yourself for your next opportunity.

Volunteering is a great way to gain work experience (and often the only way for young people). Don't confuse that with employment history, they're two different things but thankfully your CV can be based entirely on work experience until you start to get jobs. You typically won't find volunteering roles in retail places like Primark, your best bet is to google your hometown plus "volunteering opportunities" and seeing what comes up. If you're looking for a job in retail, try and find some roles where you can say you provided a service to people (not necessarily customers). For example, I volunteered at the Tour de France this year and from that I can say I've provided a similar service to customer service by attending to the needs of a crowd, answering questions etc. It's all about selling your experience and making it fit the role you want.

Would you say that's the best way to go about getting experience for a retail job then, through volunteering? Also, do you know whether you can specify how long you want to volunteer for and what hours? Sorry if I sound a bit clueless - when it comes to volunteering and work experience, I am. xD

Not only for a retail job - volunteering is a great way to get experience for any job.

It's probably best for you and whoever you're volunteering that you give them an idea of how long you want to volunteer for, be very open about wanting to gain experience. If it all works out well, then you'll get a good reference at the end of it as well.