Sales Assistant applicants have rated the interview process at John Lewis & Partners with 2.4 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 100% positive. To compare, the company-average is 73.2% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Sales Assistant roles take an average of 14 days to get hired, when considering 6 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at John Lewis & Partners overall takes an average of 17 days.
Common stages of the interview process at John Lewis & Partners as a Sales Assistant according to 6 Glassdoor interviews include:
Group panel interview: 23%
Skills test: 23%
One on one interview: 23%
Personality test: 15%
Presentation: 8%
Other: 8%
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I applied online. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at John Lewis & Partners (Glasgow, Scotland) in Sep 2011
Interview
It was a group interview with 4 stages. I think most of the time they were also watching you to see how you got along with the people surrounding you so if you were quiet that might work against you. So basically we're sat in 2 rows of about 20-25 people. There's a panel of 4 John Lewis managers in front and everyone is sitting.
Stage 1: Describe yourself and why you want to work there. You just talk a bit about yourself and make sure you talk about the John Lewis Partnership.
Stage 2: Sell a John Lewis item. They present to you a basket of objects, you get 5 minutes to think of things to say about it to sell to a customer (the panel). If you laugh a bit it's okay, just talk about textures, situations you could use this item etc.
Stage 3: You're put in groups. You each get a white board. There's a sheet of paper with a list of tasks i.e. Answer phone, clean shelves, mop up liquid on floor... And the scenario is that you have a big line of customers, there is a customer complaining etc... and you have to put them in order of priority. You have to make sure you know that you can use all members of your team simultaneously to complete the tasks.
Stage 4: People on a desert island, half of them can be saved, the other half will perish. Choose who gets to be saved. Advice: don't assume that anyone who is a doctor is good, you can't judge people on their backgrounds if you don't know them.
I applied online. I interviewed at John Lewis & Partners (London, England) in Jun 2026
Interview
Interview was fine, it was a group interview without a 1-to-1 afterwards, and was given around seven or eight scenario questions and what you'd do for each once you've had five minutes to read and think. It was me and around three other candidates with two employees, so not as big as I expected it to be, and no fighting to get a word out like I expected 😅. It was hard to make new points when you've already spoken and others mention similar things, made it a bit awkward and finished with eight minutes to spare out of the twenty for discussion. Told to expect an answer in a few days, received a rejection email the day after even though I thought I did quite well, but I was told I'd be put in a 'silver medallist' pool for any future opportunities as I passed the assessments but it was either my availability or someone had a higher interview score, though I haven't heard anyone getting a job that way (please tell me otherwise 🥲). The two employees were sweet and no complaints otherwise. I can't remember the questions that well.
Interview questions [5]
Question 1
Something about helping at the collection point, long queue of frustrated customers, another one comes up to you with a broken dish set and asks if there's more stock, what do you do?
Customer has a new job, currently browsing at smart-casual wear, looking for something that can be versatile (something along those lines...), what do you suggest?
Something about how a display of duvets and pillows have some empty spaces, some price tickets missing, a customer comes up to you with a new duvet and asks for the price but your handset/ipad has no battery, what do you do?
I interviewed at John Lewis & Partners (London, England)
Interview
I attended a group interview for a temporary Christmas position where we worked together on scenario-based tasks, discussing different approaches and demonstrating teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills throughout the process.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How would you handle a situation where there’s a long queue of customers, some becoming impatient, while you’re short-staffed during the Christmas rush?
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at John Lewis & Partners (Cardiff, Wales) in Oct 2025
Interview
It was a group interview where we had to read several scenarios, make individual notes, and then discuss possible solutions with the rest of the group. The assessed part was the group discussion, which was challenging because some of the other participants were very loud and overly confident. This made it difficult to share my points without feeling like I was interrupting or coming across as rude. There was also no one-to-one interview at the end, so my performance was judged entirely on how I interacted within the group.