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OT- Seeking advice for job interview

Last-Wife's picture

I have an interview tomorrow for a part time job. I am so excited! The problem is, other than teaching jobs, I haven't had an interview for 10 years! What do I need to know and say for a position at a chain department store? Anything I need to know? I got the interview because I know someone that works there, and that helps, and given the changing "climate" of our area, I thinks it helped that I speak Spanish. I've also had extensive computer training, most in the educational realm, but can carry over to the business sector. Advice please?

Comments

poisonivy's picture

Play up your people skills! Depending on the type of department store, computer skills won't be extremely important. If you've ever worked a cash register, mention it, but when I was a store manager, I would rather hire the polite, pleasant, smiling person with no experience that the humdrum, stuck-up, seen-it-all done-it-all before bore. People skills and customer service is where its at in retail!

mama_althea's picture

Yes, attitude is everything! I've done plenty of interviewing and hiring, and have heard plenty of other people say the same thing: "hire for attitude, you can teach them the rest". But don't just say you're "a people person". We hear that too much. Try to be more specific. If you can offer examples of how you have positively interacted with people in the workplace or turned around a conflict, all the better. Even if your computer experience isn't applicable, put it in the context of how you can easily adapt to and learn workplace tasks. Without knowing your area, I can only assume speaking Spanish is an asset. Having worked in and hired people in retail before, I will say flexibility in scheduling is a real plus. Even if you can't be all that flexible, mentioning in an interview all the times you CAN'T work is going to be a negative.

...and I just realized you posted this yesterday, so you've probably already come and gone from your interview...hope it went well.

edwardcd's picture

My significant other is mexican and we're raising our little one to be bilingual. We've started a couple of blogs together in spanish, https://cafeterasyteteras.com and https://trucos-de-belleza.com to help expose them to digital media, in addition to TV (like Univision, Telemundo etc...) and newspapers.

One of the few things the family, which is dealing with a lot right now, can hopefully develop together.