Waitrose Driver / Courier Interview Questions
& Process

I had a 30-minute 1-on-1 interview with the manager at the Sheffield store. The recruitment team wouldn't give me specific interview questions, even though I told them about my disability and asked for reasonable adjustments. Instead, they sent me to the questions on their website. There were over 20 questions listed online, which wasn't very helpful. Even so, I got through the interview. A few days later, I was asked back for a driving assessment, which I passed. I put in a lot of time, visiting the store twice and doing an online assessment to get the interview, but I didn't get the job. A manager called me and said they couldn't offer the advertised hours and gave the job to people who needed fewer hours. I thought this reason was unprofessional since they advertised those hours. I emailed recruitment, and they claimed other candidates had more experience, which the store manager didn't mention. I noticed the delivery drivers and management were all very young, around 18-25. I'm older, so I found it hard to believe they all had more experience. I suspect discrimination based on my protected characteristics, not my experience. I'm autistic and have ADHD, which I disclosed. This company isn't inclusive as they claim. Be careful about disclosing disabilities; they might not hire you and then gaslight you about younger applicants having more experience. I dodged a bullet; thanks for showing your true colors, Waitrose.

It was a multi-stage interview. First was a get-to-know-you chat. Then, there was a part about skills and scenarios, focusing on how you'd handle people. The final part was a driving test.

The recruitment process for John Lewis and Waitrose was incredibly long, taking 3.5 months for a part-time job. I applied online in early January 2018 after being made redundant, got through initial online tests, and was finally invited to an interview 8 weeks later, at the end of February. The interview, with the Assistant Team Manager, was 1.5 hours long and held in a staff room. I was overprepared as I had almost 2 months to research, but few of the researched questions came up. Three weeks after the interview, in March, I had a 2-hour driving assessment during rush hour and school run times. This involved practising maneuvers like reversing through gates, finding difficult addresses, and demonstrating driver courtesy and safety. After that, there was no communication, so I had to call daily for updates. After another 2 weeks, I received an email requesting a full background check, requiring the upload of four documents. This external check took nearly 3.5 weeks due to the Easter holiday. Then, there was a further week of waiting because the resourcing center and branch had poor communication, and the person handling my application went on sick leave. Compounding this, the branch was undergoing a refit, leading to frequent phone outages. I was offered the job recently after much persistence, but the hours offered are not what I applied for.