Why do you want to work in retail?
If an interviewer asks you this question, you could say something like - “I had a desire to work in retail store since long and this made me pursue my degree in Retail management.. Working in a retail setting environment where I get chance to help customers and organize stock is something that excites me.”
“Retail store seems like a really interesting place to work, with the variety of items and services that you offer, and I feel that given the opportunity, I could be an asset to the team.”
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What makes you suitable for this retail job?
Retail management is something that requires you to work in variety of departments and you need to deal with different kinds of customers. Appearing for an interview in the retail sector you need to possess certain skills that are mentioned below:
- Interpersonal skills - In a retail industry you need to communicate with people the entire day so you need an excellent skill of handling diverse group of people.
- Effective time management skills- In retail shops you have a very flexible schedule so with the help of time management skill you would be able to do quality work in the provided time.
- Ability to stay calm - These stores have a very stressful working environment. So you need to stay calm at times when you are required to multi task.
- Ability to handle cash, debit and credit card transactions- Handling transactions effectively indicates that you are trustworthy and able to work in the cash department as well.
Decision making skill- At times you have to act like a decision maker and coming up with creative ways to make sales and communicate with customers will create a good impression on the employer.
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How would you deal with an angry customer?
There are customers with a very short temper so working in the retail industry you must know how to deal with such kind of people. You can say something like this- “ I would respond in such a manner that satisfies my customer and he gets a proper solution to his problem without making any loss in the business.”
Here are tips for on how you can cope up with an angry or rude customer:
- Remain calm- You need to remain calm at times when your customer yells at you in a very bad manner.
- Don’t take it personally- When you are working for an organization you should not take things personally as you are responsible to maintain the reputation of that particular organization.
- Be a good listener- An angry customer always wants to vent out his frustration so if you listen to them without a negative reaction, it would make them feel that they are being heard.
- Show your sympathy- Sympathizing with an angry customer will help you in negotiating and solving the problem.
- Apologize- If you say sorry in return of the customer's complaint, you wont loose anything. It would rather help you in calming down the situation.
- Find a solution- Lastly you have to find the appropriate solution to the problem to satisfy your customer.
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Would you mind working overtime? Are you comfortable working at night?
Even retail industry does operates at night and you must be confused what kind of work you have to do during night hours. Its about evaluating other employees and looking after the deliveries, restocking shelves, monitoring inventories, making sure targets are hit, dealing with customer inquiries, organizing the warehouse and ensuring the store is ready for the daytime hours.
So you can have your answer in any of the following ways:
- “Its fine with me working at night hours as I used to do it in my last job too.”
- “I wont mind working at night if the job demands to do so.”
- “Night shifts are good to me until I am working in the safe environment.”
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Why should we hire you and not one of the other applicants?
Employers asks this question in almost every interview you go, so you must answer this question with an example in the same context. You can share your past experience that would present your ability to work in the retail industry.
You must go through the job description before you go for any interview as you will come across the skills and experiences that are listed down by the employer. Frame your answer with the help of the most prominent needs of the employer.
For an example, one of the answer could be like this- “I am not aware of the qualities and experiences of the other applicants but I am in this field from last few years and have the ability to deal with diverse group of people. Even I have the ability to keep the workplace peaceful and challenging at the same time.”
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Describe a time where customer wasn’t happy and what did you do to change it?
At times you may come across unhappy customers in the retail shop as satisfying a customer is the most difficult task here. So you can answer your employer like this- “I will try to keep my personal emotions at bay and will address the customers issues.”
Knowing your customers needs and expectations can also be a solution to make your customer happy by providing them the kind of service they want.
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How do you adapt in a constantly changing environment?
Here are some ideas how you can give answer to this question:
“I would take most of the changes in a positive manner and will try to learn from it and will make improvement comparing my past performances.”
“Will keep track of the types of changes occurring and will looks after that the changes are positive or negative.”
Its not necessary that every time you will deal with same kind of customer or you will be working in the same department. There will be situations where you will be asked to work differently and in different areas. So flexibility is the most important quality employer must be looking at in you.
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A co-worker is rude to customers, what would you do?
Being rude to customer is not acceptable in the retail industry as they are considered as the king of the business. So here's how you can answer this question- “I would try to find out the reason that why my co-worker is being rude and would do something to get control over the situation.”
“I'd try to communicate with my co-worker and make him understand the customer's importance and would ask him to apologize and to make improvement in his behavior and attitude.”
“ I would try to control the situation as customer service is the priority of every retail industry and rude sales associates can create a negative impact on that reputation.”
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What is most important – a good product or friendly, fast service?
For any customer a good product and fast and friendly service is equally important. If a customer doesn't get good service while buying a product at one place he , may go to another retail store for a better service.
There is no restriction for him as now-a-days there are so many shops having the same product. Fast and friendly service can make a attract customers for the second visit too.
A superior product will needs no description and promotion so friendly and efficient customer service is what will set your company apart from the competition.
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What would you do if you saw someone was stealing?
Here's how you can answer this question to the employer-
“If I am working for a small retail store I would point out the customer that he or she is shoplifting. If the customer agrees on their mistake of doing and apologize I would just leave the matter through a warning.”
“If I am working for a big retail store I would point out the matter and will handover the whole matter to the security department of the store.”
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Monday, June 27, 2016
Sales interview questions and answers
Public Relations - Basic Interview Questions
Public Relations - Basic Interview Questions
What do you mean by Public Relations?
Answer 1 - Public Relations are a higher level of communication strategy where in we take our client's brand ahead by being activists and consultants. We understand the client’s product and industry where he wants or decides to grow and this is achieved through various tools. The most important of the tools, being media which includes the following: Print, broadcast, online and now digital.Answer 2 - Public Relations is a non paid form of communication that will create and enhance the reputation of a company to the world especially stakeholders, investors, dealers, suppliers, customers etc.
What is the purpose of a Public Relations person?
Answer 1 - A Public Relations person is a consultant who would guide you in planning and strategizing your communication in for your audience, competitors, clients and public at large.In other words a Public Relations person would understand your business as well as your market and with his expertise help you plan and execute this very plan to build and establish your brand as a credible one in the eyes of the media and the general public (customer) on a whole.
For example: When a layman or for that matter a customer of a particular product or brand comes across an advertisement in the newspaper knows that its paid for and hence might not find it very credible but on the other hand when he reads an article placed by means of Public Relations he will believe in it more and hence find it more credible.
Answer 2 - The purposes of a Public Relations person are as follows:
- To enhance the reputation of a company
- Also known as “Reputation Protectors” and “Image Creators”
- Turnaround the company into crisis to a normal situation
- To create product awareness
- To enhance brand awareness and brand recall
- Creating impressive press releases about the product re-launch, events, exhibition, new product introduction etc.
What are the qualities expected in a PR person?
A Public Relations person is expected to have qualities such as:Answer 1:
- Excellent communication skills,
- Excellent tactical and strategy skills,
- Should be good at counseling and convincing,
- He or she should be a quick learner and must possess the ability to anticipate things.
Answer 2: The following are the qualities expected out of a PR person:
- Willing to work long hours
- Ability to find new networks/contacts
- Good communication skills both written and oral
- Adept in time management
- Ability to multi-task
- Masters in media or advertising qualification
- Operational planning etc.
How is PR different from advertising?
Answer 1 - If you are trying to promote your company or a brand, you may have questions about whether to use advertising or public relations. These two industries are very different even though they're commonly confused as being one and the same.So when a client goes to an advertising agency, he's expecting the agency to put together a campaign to make people aware of his product or service. The work includes some creative effort along with a strategy for exposing it to as many people as possible - and he's willing to purchase media space to place the ads. When a client goes to a PR firm, he is also looking to communicate with the public. However, as opposed to an advertising representative, a PR agent has to convince a journalist to feature the client - without paying the journalist. And in the cases where a journalist has already decided to feature the client, the PR agent's job is to ensure that the client is portrayed in as positive a light as possible.
Publicity is great when you get it, because the public is more likely to believe a newspaper article or news story than an advertisement - but the catch is that publicity offers no guarantees.
Answer 2 -
Advertising Promotion
- It is a one way communication process
- The message coverage is payable to mass media
- Agency controls the timing
- Purpose of advertising is to create an awareness about product/services in order to make a sale
- Advertising content is creative in nature
Public Relations
- It is a two way communication process
- The message coverage in mass media is not payable
- Media controls the timing
- Purpose of public relation is to create and enhance the reputation of any company
- It provides the real content
What are the role, nature and responsibilities of a PR person?
Answer 1 -The PR professional has to:
- Understand the requirement of his company or client
- Write press releases
- Organize news conferences
- Produce company newsletters.
- Deal with PR agencies
- Deal with media
- Deal with management
The nature of his jobs needs him to:
- Think logically during a crisis
- Analyze and update himself with the trends in the industry
- Be aware about the clients competitors and its presence and activities in the market
- Have excellent media relations
- Be a good Public Speaker
- Represent his company at conferences
-Arrange press launches
- Act as the client’s spokesperson
- Provide training to the client to be his/her own spokesperson
- Do Online PR
- Manage Events
- Evaluation the effect of a PR activity
- Establish corporate identity
- Do strategic planning
Answer 2 -
The roles and responsibilities of a PR person are as follows:
- To define the objectives and targets of PR department
- Media management
- Establishing the good image of the organization in a periodic manner
- Conduct market intelligence and pulse the public opinion about the company to Senior Management
- Writing, editing and distributing news releases to mass media
- Training & development
- Liaison with professional bodies, government authorities and trade associations
- Generating sponsorship for PR events
- Organizing press conferences etc.
What are the various activities done for PR?
A public relations (PR) officer often works in-house and can be found in both the private and public sectors. Some PR officers may be based in consultancies.Answer 1:
The role is very varied and will depend on the organization and sector. Tasks typically involve:
- Planning, developing and implementing PR strategies
- Liaising with colleagues and key spokespeople
- Liaising with and answering enquiries from media, individuals and other organizations, often via telephone and email
- Researching, writing and distributing press releases to targeted media
- Collating and analyzing media coverage
- Writing and editing in-house magazines, case studies, speeches, articles and annual reports
- Preparing and supervising the production of publicity brochures, handouts, direct mail leaflets, promotional videos, photographs, films and multimedia programmers;
- Devising and coordinating photo opportunities
- Organizing events including press conferences, exhibitions, open days and press tours
- Maintaining and updating information on the organization’s website
- Sourcing and managing speaking and sponsorship opportunities
- Commissioning market research
- Fostering community relations through events such as open days and through involvement in community initiatives
- Managing the PR aspect of a potential crisis situation
Answer 2:
The various activities done for PR include:
- Newsletters
- Press conferences
- Media relations
- Sponsorships
- Philanthropic activities
- Corporate social responsibility initiative
- Special events etc.
What is interactive PR? What are the various elements comprising interactive PR?
An interactive public relation is a process which uses the internet as a medium to communicate messages to the public. The various elements comprising of interactive PR are as follows:- Search engines
- Social media marketing
- Web 2.0 technologies
- Developing blogs
- Online press releases
- Podcasting
- Webinars
The main objective of interactive public relations is to use the power of web media to the maximum potential beyond the limit of traditional media. And it helps to have a direct dialogue with customers and potential target audience.
Advantages and disadvantages of in-house PR department
Advantages of an in-house PR departmentThe main advantage of setting up an internal PR department is that the team will focus only on the company products and its markets. They will act as an effective spokes persons for building the reputation of the company.
Disadvantages of appointing a PR consultancy
There is a great possibility that the outsourcing of PR results in distraction from the PR agency focusing on other clients and also not able to synchronous with the company’s internal culture.
What is the basis for selecting a PR consultant?
The following are the factors considered for selecting a PR consultant:- Be a subject matter expert and specialist in the PR domain
- Able to demonstrate the excellent writing skills
- Knowledge of different writing styles
- Having expertise in media management and measurement
- Consultancy fees etc.
What are the reasons for exhibiting at trade shows?
The following are the reasons for exhibiting at trade shows:- Generating new sale leads
- Creating product/service awareness to target audience
- Actual sales can be made at the counter
- A platform to introduce new products and services
- A place to prospect potential customers
- Live product/service demonstrations
- Enhancing corporate image
- Improving the brand visibility