JCPenney Specialist Interview Questions
& Process

I am providing this feedback about my extremely poor and unprofessional candidate experience while applying for the role of Associate Relations Senior Specialist. On June 5th, I had an initial screen interview with a recruiter, and then the recruiter scheduled me to meet with the Associate Relations Sr. Manager who was the hiring manager for this role. I met with the hiring manager on June 13th. After completing an interview with the hiring manager which apparently went well, I was then contacted by the recruiter again who scheduled me to meet with a panel of various people in HR on June 16th where I met with four people all at once. At the end of this call, one of the people I spoke with said I should receive some feedback sometime during the following week and most likely by Tuesday of the next week. Then, this is when the ghosting began. After not receiving any follow up from anyone after completing three rounds of interviews for this role, upon which I was contacted by the hiring manager via LinkedIn and asked to apply and interview for this role by the hiring manager, I started reaching out for an update. On June 22nd, I reached out to the hiring manager on LinkedIn and he replied with the following response “(candidate), we are wrapping things up and will follow up shortly.” Then I reached out to the hiring manager again via LinkedIn on June 28th during which time, he responded and said “Hi (candidate) I’m hopeful to have an update by early next week. Apologies on the delay!” After this, I never heard back from anyone I had spoke with which was very frustrating and disappointing. I also reached out to the recruiter who coordinated my interviews on June 21st and June 28th and he also failed to reply to my emails. As of today on August 17th, I have not heard from anyone on the team. After devoting time to completing multiple rounds of interviews and being promised an update by multiple people on the team, I do feel I deserve some feedback and this type of treatment should have never occurred. Keep in mind, this is JC Penny, not Good, Microsoft or Apple so you would think they would be more eager and willing to provide a quality candidate experience and not think they can afford to treat candidates so poorly, especially one of my caliber and someone who came with a referral from the hiring manager himself. I will have already told my personal acquaintances about my poor interview experience with JC Penny and want to make sure others are aware also. Beware when applying to this company

I had several interviews. Everyone was really nice. First, I talked to the recruiter, then I met some team members, and finally, I spoke with management. Each meeting was about 30 minutes long and covered general information and questions, as well as some technical and situational "what would you do?" type questions.

It's a three part interview process. First, there's a team-work exercise, which can be fun but is also tedious and awkward and doesn't seem to have much to do with the job. Second, there's a sales test. Your hiring manager gives you a few minutes to look around the store, then starts a scenario where they act as a customer. You then recommend a product for the situation and also have to re-arrange a clothing rack. For the last interview, you meet with your hiring manager and the store supervisor. They ask you questions about your past experience and your work ethic/goals. Afterward, they'll let you know about your job application status.