I applied to a new Victoria's Secret store that they are opening in our mall. I dropped off my cover letter, resume and application in a white envelope. They called me about a week later and we set up an interview a week after that. I studied the company, it's history, how their selling process works, printed out all of the interview questions I could find on the internet along with my answers and went over them 100 times with a friend. I *really* wanted this job, it was the only one I applied to and had my heart set on it.
My background - I have 7 years experience working in retail and another 3 years working in Fashion Advertising. The last company I worked for even had Victoria's Secret as a client so I knew the products well.
So for the interview - I wore black pants, black blazer, black heels and a grey top, neutral makeup. The selling manager was very nice, she thanked me for being there 15 minutes early. I interviewed with just her in the back office. I was super nervous so I may have rambled a little bit. She explained the positions and asked which one I could best see myself in (I thought this was a good sign). Being that I love organizing, multi tasking, doing set displays, stocking and have experience with visual merchandising, I chose that route. She seemed excited that I knew exactly what I wanted to do. She also liked that my schedule is completely open, weekends, holidays, overnights, all of that. I asked if they promote from within and she said they do, explained where she started in the company and asked me if I was looking for a career.
She made sure my references were all there on paper and said she was going to call them and that I would know within a few days.
It took about 5 days and I got the little card in the mail saying that I didn't get the job (crushed me lol). The only thing that I can think is that A) I rambled too much or B) Even though I worked retail, I don't have any experience having to meet personal sales goals. None of my previous positions required that. She did bring up their system on the computer and explained how it works there and I told her that I was confident I could meet their expectations as I'm a fast learner. I'm not sure why this would be an issue if Victoria's Secret hires HS girls without any work experience at all. Overall, I thought it went okay but unfortunately did not get the job.