A grocery store can be a great place to work, especially if you love working in a team and have a great memory. Plus, you can sometimes score discounts on your regular groceries. Talk about win-win!
If you’re planning to apply for a job at a grocery store, you can expect the interview questions to cover topics such as your availability and your customer service skills. However, that’s not all you’ll need to be prepared for.
This guide covers what you need to know about interview questions at a grocery store. Plus, it covers pro tips on how to answer said questions in order to land your next job!
1. Tell Me About Yourself
This is typically the first question you’ll be asked at a job interview, regardless of whether or not it’s at a grocery store.
When answering this question, you’ll want to try to keep your answer short and to the point. Give a brief overview of your past work experience and education, and talk about a few relevant skills you can bring to the table.
Remember, when answering this question, the sweet spot is to keep your answer at about 1-2 minutes.
2. What’s Your Greatest Strength?
This question helps employers get a feel for how you stand out from the crowd and what you bring to the table.
When talking about your greatest strength, remember to pick a strength that relates to the position you’re applying for.
You could mention that you’re great at organization, so you’re fantastic at stocking shelves. Or, you could talk about how you have great attention to detail, so you ensure that all customers’ items are scanned and paid for at the register.
3. What’s Your Greatest Weakness?
This question looks to see how self-aware you are. When answering this question, you want to be honest about a weakness of yours. If you don’t have any weaknesses to list, it can come across as arrogant, so make sure to have something to say!
At the same time, you don’t want to come across as undesirable to hire. For this question, talk about how you’re working on turning a weakness into a strength. For example, you could say that you’re lacking in project management skills but are currently enrolled in a course to improve them.
4. Why Should We Hire You?
When answering this question, you’ll want to focus on some of those strengths you mentioned earlier. This question looks to see what you bring to the table and why you’re a great fit for the position.
Be sure to highlight skills and attributes that directly relate to the job description. For instance, at a grocery store you can talk about past experiences in retail or how you’re great at cash-handling.
5. How Would You Define Excellent Customer Service?
Customer service is a huge part of any position at a grocery store, which is why employers want to know that you’ve got a good grasp on what it is.
To answer this question, talk about a few skills that would be needed for customer service. For example, you can talk about how it involves listening to the customer and providing solutions in a way that benefit the business and the client at the same time.
6. Are You Able to Stand on Your Feet for Long Periods of Time?
When working in a grocery store, you’ll spend a lot of time on your feet, whether that’s at the register or stocking shelves. Employers want to know that you’ll be able to handle this type of physical activity.
To answer this question, make sure to be honest. If you have any disabilities or physical limitations, make sure to mention this so that you can set expectations from the get-go.
7. How Would You Handle an Upset Customer?
Although the goal is never to have an upset customer on your hands, unfortunately, it’s likely to happen at some point or another.
When answering this question, you’ll want to focus on listening skills. Talk about how you would listen to the customer’s complaints to fully understand the problem before taking any action.
From there, you can talk about how you would soothe the customer and explain that you understand why they’re upset. Next, talk about how you would find a solution that benefits the customer while adhering to store policies and values.
8. What Would Your Past Employers Say About You?
This question looks to see how past employers would rate your skills and how you would perform as an employee at the grocery store you’re applying to work at.
Try to think of a couple of positive adjectives that describe your work ethic and a few examples that support that. A couple of ideas could be:
- I’m highly reliable because I always showed up early for work and stayed late whenever I was needed
- I’m extremely organized because I have a knack for cataloging orders
- I’m a team player because I was excellent at working with others in cross-team projects
9. How Was Your Attendance at Your Past Position?
Grocery stores need reliable employees who show up on time for their shifts. As a result, employers may ask you how your attendance was at any past positions you’ve held.
When answering this question, you’ll want to be honest. Talk about how good you were at arriving on time.
If you can give examples of times you stayed late or showed up early to help out, make sure to mention those during this question.
10. Can You Explain Any Gaps in Your Work History?
Gaps in work history can be red flags for employers. However, there’s usually a good way to handle talking about these gaps.
For this, you’ll want to be honest and give an answer about why you haven’t been in the workforce for a few years. You can also talk about how you worked on furthering your professional skills during that time.
For instance, perhaps you took a gap year after college. You can talk about how during that year you gained insights into working with people from different backgrounds, which has made you a valuable asset in a diverse workforce.
11. Tell Me About a Time You Disagreed With a Coworker
Working in teams is tough, and this question looks to see how good you are at it.
If you don’t typically get into disagreements, you can mention that to the interviewer. However, if you do have an example of conflict resolution, this is a great place to showcase your skills in overcoming disagreements.
For this question, take a minute to talk about what the issue was and why you were disagreeing with your coworker. Next, talk about how you came up with a solution to the disagreement. Be sure to mention the positive outcome of the disagreement due to your actions.
12. Tell Me About a Time You Went Above and Beyond for a Customer
One major part of customer service is going above and beyond whenever you can. Sometimes this means simple actions such as answering a tricky question for a customer, or other times it means making exceptions with returns.
When answering this question, you’ll want to start by setting the scene for a time when you helped a customer. Next, talk about the problem they were having and how you solved their issue.
Finally, go over what the outcome of your actions were in order to really turn things around for the customer.
13. How Do You Handle Stress?
Although we don’t always think of grocery stores as being stressful places, sometimes they can be. That’s why it’s important to have effective stress management techniques in place.
For this question, talk about a few strategies you use to avoid stress in the workplace. You can talk about how you slow down and take your time to make sure you’re doing everything correctly or how you use humor to maintain a positive attitude.
Get Going With a Career at a Grocery Store
Grocery store interviews typically involve asking about availability, past experience, and any customer service experience you might have. Many of the questions are also behavioral questions, which means you can implement the STAR method in order to answer them fully.
With that in mind, you’re all set to get a career at a grocery store going. So, put on your best attitude and head out to that job interview.
