Rituals Interview Questions
& Process

My first interview was a video call that was pretty standard, mostly going over my CV. Then, I had a face-to-face interview for the Store Manager position. It was competency-based, with questions like 'can you give me an example of' and topics covering KPIs, team management, and handling underperformance. I was asked to prepare a 30/60/90 day plan and bring it with me. The area manager also briefly discussed a mystery shop I did and asked about my findings. The interview lasted about an hour. I noticed I wasn't offered a drink, which I usually do for candidates. I didn't hear back for weeks, likely due to the holiday season. When I applied for another role, the recruitment manager apologized for the delay and asked for feedback. I was told I wasn't the right fit for the initial store because I'm used to managing larger businesses. They then set up another interview with a different area manager for a different store. I had to travel to a different store in the area manager's region for this second face-to-face interview, costing me over 50 pounds. Again, I wasn't offered a drink, and I spent another hour discussing similar topics. When I asked about store targets, I was told the information was confidential. I expected at least a ballpark figure to gauge how busy the store might be, as I'm usually asked about store size and turnover in interviews. When I asked about hearing back, I was told within the week, but I still haven't heard anything despite a follow-up email. This lack of communication after taking the time to interview in person is really poor and shows a lack of consideration and courtesy, making me feel undervalued. It's been 4 weeks since the last interview and almost three months since starting the process, and the silence has left a sour taste, despite being a loyal customer. Their actions don't align with the brand's values.

The hiring process felt confusing and lacked transparency. I was the only candidate interviewed and received clear feedback afterward that the conversation was positive. There was even discussion around potential start dates and onboarding. What stood out immediately was that the interview was conducted by two team members, with no management, project lead or senior decision-maker present. For an independent contractor role with significant responsibility, this already felt unusual. The main interviewer had a relatively junior profile and, as was later revealed, I was supposed to replace her as she would move into a different role within the same team. This information was only shared at the very end of the process. Ultimately, she remained within the same team, which appeared to significantly influence the outcome. After the weekend, the process suddenly resulted in a rejection with changing explanations: first doubts about my technical profile, later “team dynamics” was mentioned as the main reason. This felt inconsistent, especially since I had limited opportunity to actually get to know the wider team and no senior stakeholders were involved in the assessment. For an external contractor, experience, ownership, autonomy and impact are usually key. In this case, those qualities seemed to be perceived as a risk rather than an asset.

It started with a Teams call with the hiring manager. Then, if that went well, I had to go to a store and act like a mystery shopper. I had to write up a 30/60/90 plan based on what I found, to get ready for an in-person interview with the store manager. The last step was an interview with the area manager, which could have been on Teams or in person. The whole thing was pretty good, they were nice to me and I thought it went okay. But then, they said I'd hear back and no one did. They didn't even reply when I messaged them. It was super frustrating because I put in so much work and they couldn't even send a basic email or reply.

Applied online and got a call back in a week. The first phone screening was pretty chill, mostly about my background and why I want this job. Then I had a video call with a recruiter where we talked about customer service, franchise experience at El Corte Ingles, brand knowledge, and how I deal with different sales situations. It felt more like a chat than a hard interview, which was nice.