The whole process took roughly 2 weeks, I applied on line. It's the typical on line application, there is alot to fill in and there are sections to tell them all about yourself and your qualifications etc. I then had to complete a psychometric questionnaire and a personality questionnaire, these are just simple questions such as "do you work well as a team?" and "how good a communicator are you?" The simple sort of stuff. There was then a literature test, this was basically making sure I could understand a piece of text. The idea is, you read the text, they ask a question, with a true or false answer. The example was as follows:
"Last year ASDA was able to recycle 97% of all common waste from its stores in the UK."
The question I had to answer was: Did ASDA recycle all common waste last year?
The answer is obviously False, it's just making sure you actually read the text and the question with care. When you apply on line take great care to make sure you double read everything to ensure any silly mistakes aren't made, as failure to do so will lead to your application being unsuccessful.
There is then a small mathematics problem solving test. This is very basic, here is an example :
ASDA Stores - Total Instant Barbecue stock.
Bournemouth - 400
Birkenhead - 375
Milton Keynes - 400
Colchester - 400
The Question: Every store needs to have 400 instant barbecues in stock, how many does the Birkenhead store need to order, so that they have 400 in stock? A) 30 B) 25 C) 45 D) 40
The answer is obviously B - 25 , however once again just be careful and make sure you are double checking your answers, as complacent behaviour whilst answering these could lead to silly mistakes being made.
I then got an email saying thanks for applying and that they will be in touch soon, should your application be successful.
About a week later, I got an email asking me to attend an "ASDA Magic" assessment. This was a group interview, there was 8 of us in total. There were 4 employees taking the interview, one was a lead speaker and organiser, whilst the other 3 had clipboards and were taking notes on each of us. In this interview, we were paired up with each other and given a task. We were to ask each other questions. The questions were: what is your name, age, a hobby and if you could take two items to the moon what would they be? We then had to give the rest of the group the answers one by one. This was basically the ice-breaker. Then we were split into two teams, given marshmallows and dry spaghetti, and given a team task to build a tower and then sell it to the interviewers afterwards. Our tower ended up in a mess on the floor however, what they are looking for in this task, is communication amongst each other, good team work and a friendly warm attitude towards each other, much like it is working for ASDA.
There was then several small videos played for us, these were basic videos such as ASDA beliefs, customer care and all of ASDA's initiatives as a company etc. Then a small health and safety video.
After the task and the videos, we were then took onto the shop floor, for a series of small tasks. I was given a clipboard and was asked to make several notes about the store, the employee who took us on the shop floor was talking about the store we just had to make notes of what he was saying. Our final task was being asked to find two items in the store and write down what isle they are in. I got given balloons and folder dividers, I found the folder dividers but couldn't find the balloons, however this wasn't my fault as they had been moved and un-marked. But it was a fun atmosphere amongst the candidates and I actually quite enjoyed it.
We were then all brought back to the training room and given a round up talk and then the interview ended. They said if successful at the group stage, you will be invited for a one on one interview.
Two days later, I received a phone call asking me to come in for a 1 to 1 interview, this interview was fairly straight forward, the questions were all based on retail and customer care, they were "can you tell me a time you have used excellent customer service?" "how would you deal with an awkward customer" and simple questions such as what makes good teamwork etc. It was relatively formal on the whole, however I found it quite a relaxed atmosphere and the lady interviewing me was very friendly and approachable. The interview only lasted roughly 15 minutes. I was then told If successful I'd hear with the next 3 days. On the third day I got a phone call, offering me the job and I was told my hours and invited for an induction day. So on the whole pretty straight forward, 4 main things to remember.
1) Do the on line assessments very carefully
2) Make your profile as detailed as possible
1) Be friendly and approachable at the group interview
4) Don't be nervous at the interview, make sure you speak clearly and confidently.