I applied online. I interviewed at DSW (Hampton, VA) in May 2014
Interview
Where to start...... I was contacted by an area manager in regards to interviewing for a store manager position. After the conclusion of the interview, I was asked to speak with the Regional after she returned from being out of town for a week. I was told that it would roughly be Tuesday or Wednesday of the following week. On Monday, I called to follow up on the interview process and to see if the interview would still be conducted on Tuesday or Wednesday and if so, what time? The Area manager stated that she would find out and call me back. I did not hear anything from them until the following Monday when she called and asked me to come interview in person with the District Manager. I went to that interview and the next day she called and asked me to interview with the Regional via phone the following week. After I spoke to the Regional, she promised to get back to me that day and that would be the end of this drawn out interview process. I spoke to the Regional who told me that she would circle back to the DM and they would contact me in a day or two. After two days I contacted the area manager who said that she would have to wait until Monday to get back to me. Well...... Its Friday, I reached out via email about the position and still have had not received a response.
Ok, I have been a store manager for years and I understand that you cant get every job that you apply for but this has been the most unprofessional interview process that I have ever encountered. It's ok to not get a job, but when you get to the FOURTH interview and a candidate calls to follow up... then at least have the decency and professionalism to inform them that they did not get the position. Don't string people along for two months. For a company that shoves their "values" at you every second they get, they don't seem to follow them so well. Retail is a small world, it's usually a good idea to keep strong candidates(or any candidate for that matter) as a connection... not irritate them to no ends... Stop telling people you will call them back when you know that you wont!!! Leadership 101.... learn how to tackle tough conversations.
I applied online. I interviewed at DSW in Nov 2021
Interview
Was interviewed by a several different market leaders (3), a couple other store managers and a HR manager. They asked the typical questions in regards to managing others, leading a team, training and developing others. I was also interviewed by
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What was one of the most important things to running an efficient store?
I applied online. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at DSW
Interview
After filling out online application, received a call from the DM the next day to set up a time for an interview. Interview with DM was about an hour. Getting to know my experience and wanted to find out what I was looking for in my next position. A pretty informal, relaxed interview. I got a call from the DM a few days later to set up a time to interview with another DM in the market. When I got to the store for the interview, the DM was a few minutes late and had no clue of who I was, my past experience. Seemed very unprepared. The DM kept asking strange questions and I felt as though they were disinterested and not focused on the interview. They even checked their phone twice. Was told I would hear back within a few days on their decision. Never heard from them.
I interviewed with three different people before I was given an offer. Two interviews over the phone and one in person. They asked a lot of questions about my experience and personal testimony as well as about the Values of their company.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Do you know what our values are and what of those values do you feel you represent well.
Store Manager applicants have rated the interview process at DSW with 3.2 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 53% positive. To compare, the company-average is 74.1% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Store Manager roles take an average of 29 days to get hired, when considering 15 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at DSW overall takes an average of 12 days.
Common stages of the interview process at DSW as a Store Manager according to 15 Glassdoor interviews include:
Phone interview: 23%
One on one interview: 18%
Background check: 16%
Personality test: 12%
IQ intelligence test: 11%
Skills test: 9%
Drug test: 5%
Group panel interview: 4%
Presentation: 2%
Other: 2%
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