The shit blog of Paul Chris Jones

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In December 2013, River Island made the mistake of hiring me as a sales assistant. One reason it was a mistake is that I'm leaking their official interview questions and answers on the internet.

How did I obtain this confidential information? Well, on my first day, a manager gave me documents to sign and then left the room. As I read the documents, I realised she had accidentally given me her interview notes as well! The notes not only contained the interview questions, but also the model answers.

Here's photos:

I admit the quality of the photos is bad (the first one is the color of piss for some reason). To make up for it, here's a transcription:

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Question 1

• When have you really gone out of your way to help someone?
• How did you go out of your way?
• Can you describe what you did?
• What was the person's response to what you did?

Ideal answer

• Spontaneously give an example.
• Talk about your concern for how this person was feeling.
• Mention that being able to help and please people was really important to you.
• Show that you were genuinely pleased about the outcome.

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Question 2

• Describe a time when you completed a task.

Ideal answer

• Talk about what you had to achieve.
• Mention you enjoyed working at a pace.
• Say that you were able to learn from other people in the team.
• Say that you feel that you achieved something.
• Say you remained enthusiastic whilst under pressure.

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Question 3

• Give an example when you have supported other people in a team to achieve a task.
• What do you think would the best part of working in a team?
• Tell me what special contribution you feel you can make to the team.

Ideal answer

• Give the impression that belonging to a team was important to you.
• Talk about being part of team somewhere else.
• Mention that you would like to be part of the team at River Island.
• Talk about being able to learn from the team.
• Mention you enjoy working in a team environment.

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Question 4

• How would your friends/previous managers describe you?
• What have you done to give them this impression?
• What would they say was your best attribute and your worst attribute?

Ideal answer

• Use words like: friendly, outgoing, enthusiastic, hardworking, reliable, helpful, flexible.
• Support your explanation with the comments made and give an example of this.

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In theory, you can memorise these answers and then spout out them during the interview, making yourself seem like a model employee. That way, you'll land a River Island job for sure! (Though that's somewhat of a dubious achievement...)

However, the interview is only one part of the selection process. There will also be a part where you will have to choose an outfit from the clothes in the store, and then justify why you chose the outfit in front of the other applicants. Try to seem confident and talkative.

Here's a few other posts you might find helpful:

• My River Island recruitment event experience
• My first week working at River Island

Finally, if you're serious about getting a job at River Island (or about getting a job anywhere for that matter), then I recommend a book called Why You?: 101 Interview Questions You'll Never Fear Again. After reading it, you'll be able to answer all of the most common job interview questions.