- Tell us about yourself? …
- What can you tell us about Staples? …
- Why do you want to work for Staples? …
- What is your greatest strength? …
- What is your greatest weakness? …
- How would you deal with an upset customer? …
- Where do you see yourself in five years? …
- Why should I hire you?
Staples Interview – Front End Associate
What was your interview with Staples like?Your insights will help other jobseekers.
Staples Front End Associate Interview Video
Interviewer: Please describe your job title and primary duties. Staples Employee: My job title as a front-end associate involved ringing customer up, selling them attachments to our electronic products such as laptops. We had to always push for sales and help customers answer questions around the store.
Interviewer: What was the work environment like? Staples Employee: I thought the work atmosphere was pretty fun. When I was working, it was bunch of people, students my age at the time. The atmosphere, sometimes a little stressful during holidays, such as Christmas, but overall just really calm and chill.
Interviewer: Did you experience any promotions or career growth? Staples Employee: Yeah. I was there for three years. Eventually, they gave me more responsibility as a cash office lead, and that involved making deposits, handling the store’s money, and just carrying manager keys, some manager functions but not all.
Interviewer: Please describe a typical day as an employee. Staples Employee: I would usually work eight-hour shifts. They’re really lenient with schedules. They can go based off how much you want to work, how much you’re able to work. I would go in from 2pm, stay on the register for most of the time, sometimes help out on the floor with customers. We would close the store at nine. We would just clean for the hour until 10pm and then get to go home. They also gave breaks and lunches. It’s not like you’re working eight hours straight. It’s just working, taking breaks, working, taking breaks.
Interviewer: How would you describe the application and interview process? Staples Employee: The application is an online application; it takes about 30 minutes. They ask a lot of questions, tricky questions about your personality. They want to see if you’re fit for the role. Then, they call you for an interview. It’s a short, 10-minute interview. They just ask you scenarios in which how you would act if a customer was to do a certain thing, and based on your responses, they will hire or disapprove.
Interviewer: What questions did the interviewer ask during the job interview? Staples Employee: They want to know if you’re actually dedicated or if you’re just kind of there just to do nothing and get by. They want to see that you’re actually working and actually able to be really good with social skills and kind of persuasion skills, because you have to sell a lot of attachments.
Interviewer: What set you apart from other candidates? Staples Employee: I think just the positive attitude. I went in there, and most people would be nervous because there’s three managers standing in the room with you. They’re all looking at you without a smile on their face. You just have to be really positive, really calm, and not shy.
Interviewer: What other advice would you give to a job seeker looking to gain employment? Staples Employee: Tell them to keep open to what they want to do, because some people go in there wanting to do just cashiering, but be open to the other roles like office supplies, copy center, easy tech. There’s an area for each expertise, like if you’re good with technology, then you want to be an easy tech. So, just broaden your skills.
Have you ever worked commission before? How do you feel about this compensation model?
Some employees in Staples work on a commission basis. And though the practice is more common in B2B sales division of Staples, it is not completely unheard of in B2C as well. One way or another, if they ask about commission work, it means they expect you to work on commission, at least partially.
So logically you should be optimistic about the model. Say them that best salesmen earn more when working on commission, and since you aspire to become one of their best sales associates, you embrace the compensation model based primarily on sales commission. Of course, you’ll get some base salary, a minimum wage, because you have to live from something. But you dream of bigger things, better salary, and selling a lot and earning a lot on sales commissions is an ideal way to achieve your goals.
