The process took 4 days. I interviewed at Nordstrom (Troy, MI) in Jan 2012
Interview
After filling out application online, I had a phone interview (also scheduled online) a week later. The phone interview went very well as I made sure I greeted the interviewer with a , "Good morning, so and so speaking." This gave the appearance that I was expecting the call. The interviewer was very open and friendly only asking about 4 questions (ex. Describe a time you handled a tough situation at work.) Afterwards, she asked if I would be willing to come in on Monday for a 1:1 interview.
Now, I had originally applied for the Men's Sportswear section because I felt more comfortable there but because Men's Furnishings was open immediately, I went ahead and jumped ship to that one. The 1:1 interview went almost as smooth as the phone interview (in fact, some of the same questions were asked which was confusing because I didn't know whether I should use the same scenario or not. After the questioning, I was lead down to the department for a tour and a sales test. She said I did very well, but Nordstrom is keen on making sure you get customers to buy more than what they walked in for. Basically sell them a whole outfit from head to toe.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Describe a situation in which you had to deal with a difficult customer?
I applied online. The process took 2 days. I interviewed at Nordstrom (Chicago, IL) in Nov 2010
Interview
I applied online and received a phone call interview a week later. The phone interview went great so they asked me to come for a 1 on 1 interview with the HR. HR asked me very general questions to try to understand how I would behave and react to certain situations. She was very nice and that went well and I went in for an interview with Women's Shoes Assistant manager. And that didn't go too well because at that point I had no idea why I really wanted to sell shoes since I know nothing about it. The last question was to do a role play to see how well I could sell her shoes. I flunked on that part, so HR told me I was too inexperienced and she gave me an interview with Men's Furnishings. I'm so glad I went with that department because I was more knowledgeable in that department since i'm a guy. He asked me general questions that tackled my ability to sell whatever. I did well and my last task was to see how well can I sell. I just loaded a bunch of items like shirts, ties, belts. And I got the job!
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Name one time when you had to convince someone to think a certain way and how did you do it?