So I know I haven't posted in ages. I've had a pretty uneventful summer but I did get hired at Lush to join their team for the Christmas season, so I thought I would share my experience. I actually read a few blogs to prepare myself for what was likely to happen during the interview process so hopefully this will help someone in the future.
Basically I saw the advert for staff in my local Lush's shop window. I applied according to the instructions on the advertisement, by sending in my CV and a cover letter to the email address, and two weeks later I had a phone call and email inviting me to a group interview.
I have to admit, I was a little scared and intimidated by the idea of a group interview, I'm not a very self-confident person and I find it hard to stand out in a crowd so I was worried I wouldn't have an impact.
The group interview started with an introduction to the staff and the general job and then consisted of three 'stations' where we completed different tasks in small groups. The first station I went to was the 'demo' station, we watched a demo done by a member of the team and then we had to pick a product to demo to our little group. I chose 'Ickle Baby Bot' because it is adorable and I did my demo mentioning what I knew about the product etc.
The second station I went to was a 'getting to know you' chat, we basically talked about ourselves some things relating to Lush and others not. It was literally just a nice little chat with my small group and two members of staff.
The third and last station was 'finding the perfect gift'. We were each given a basket, a scenario of who we were buying for and were told to pick no more than 3 things. My scenario was that I was buying a gift for my 12 year old sister who hates pink and glitter! I picked, the Tisty Toasty bath bomb, Dorothy bubble bar and Popcorn lip scrub. I kind of sold it in a way that I knew 12 year olds were tricky, in that they kind of want to be grown up but still a kid and my products reflected that without being pink or glittery! I also didn't want to be predictable and go for some 'Fun'. Once everyone had shown the group what they chose, we switched our baskets and scenarios to the left and then had to add one more thing to the new basket. My new scenario was buying for my older brother who likes to look after himself but hates 'Dirty' products. I added Rub Rub Rub to the basket ( I can't remember what was already in there) but I made the point that it is a nice, more masculine than feminine smell and it can be used on body and hair, which is what a lot of guys like to do anyway, and that it exfoliates so will make the skin soft and get rid of dead skin.
I really enjoyed this section, I think I'm quite intuitive when it comes to buying gifts to suit people's needs and I found this task really fun.
When it was over we were all given a little freebie and sent on our way.
I only had to wait about 5 days before I had a call and email to invite me to a store trial on the 9th August! I was so happy. The store trial was quite straightforward, I had a little introduction with the manager in the store room and then a small tour of the shop. She pointed out the most popular products and told me some facts I could use while I was working. Then I was let loose on the customers! The staff on shift there kind of stepped back and let me speak to customers so that they could see how I was with them, but obviously as it got busier and I was already occupied they spoke to the other customers. I actually really enjoyed the trial, although I'm kind of shy and not very confident, I have this weird 'work-mode' switch where I will talk to anyone confidently because I have to for the job! I felt the trial went really well, I sold quite a few products including a gift set worth almost £60, the manager and the rest of the staff were very impressed with that, as was I! Once my time was up, I was asked some questions by the manager, things like why I would like to work there and my availability etc and then I was sent on my way with another little freebie!
Now, because my shop trial was one of the first, I had to wait from the 9th August until the 25th August to find out the verdict! This nearly killed me. On the 25th I got a phone call from the assistant manager telling me the good news, I got the job! The call was followed up with an email letting me know about the training days etc. I was so happy because I actually turned down another job in that time, hoping that I would get the Lush job (probably not wise but I'm glad it worked!).
For anyone out there hoping to get a job at Lush, there isn't any real advice I can give other than be yourself. People have a perception of Lush staff being loud/lively, a little alternative or bohemian and vegan or at least vegetarian. I'm a perfectly normal, fairly quiet carnivore. I'm not even a massive Lush 'addict', I have some product knowledge but I'm not a complete handbook. Everything I had tried from Lush before my interview I had loved but mostly I have a passion for the way they do business (you may know I'm a massive business and ethics geek). I also have a pretty empty CV in terms of retail experience, my last job I had when I was 14 which was in a local grocery store. The manager and staff clearly saw something in me that they liked and decided to hire me. As the job is just until after Christmas, I am going to do everything I can to try and get them to keep me after Christmas! Fingers crossed.
Anyway, I hope that this will help someone prepare themselves in some way for an Lush interview! I do live in the UK and I know that the recruitment process differs from store to store across the country and the world but a lot of the things I read were similar to what I experienced.
Thanks for reading,
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