Retail Store Manager

We analyzed 430 interview reviews for Retail Store Manager from various job sites, social network groups and forums.

Here are the most frequent job interview questions asked by HR managers during initial phone or onsite interviews. This list does not include technical or factual questions.

10 frequent non-technical questions for Retail Store Manager:

According to our research, hiring managers looking to fill Retail Store Manager role ask soft skills interview questions 64% more frequently than for other roles.

1. Tell me about yourself top question

How to answer

Most job candidates expect this to be one of the first interview questions and probably think of it as an “icebreaker” to get the interview started. It is much more than that! It is your opportunity to show the interviewer your relevance for the job. You want the employer to know that you are qualified to do the job, you are interested in doing the job and capable of getting it done.

  1. About Yourself

    What is your current occupation? Define yourself professionally in one statement.

    Pick 3 key skills that make you great at your work (your Key Selling Points). How have you applied these skills?

    Try to give some numbers to support your statement.

  2. About The Company

    Your first step is to Research the company to find out as much as you can about what they do and their approach to their business and their employees.

    Based on what you know about the company and the job description, why are you interested in the position you are applying for?

  3. About The Fit

    Now is the right time to show the fit between your skills and the company's requirements. Your answer works best if you emphasize your relevance. How do you do this? You will have already researched the company, studied the job description to identify their needs and possible pain points and prepared the relevant Star Stories that show how you addressed similar issues in the past. Your next step is to develop your Present-Past-Present approach.

    Start with the Present. Focus on the skills and experience from your most recent positions. What has enabled you to get the job done successfully and how this relates to what the employer is looking to accomplish.

    Next go back to the Past. Here is where your Star story comes in. Explain how you were able to use your skills and experience to accomplish a task that relates to an area of concern for the employer.

    Finally come back to the Present – summarizing the lessons you learned and how they shaped your response and approach today.

    Remember, the whole conversation is about the present, not the past. Just one sentence can summarize why your approach works, and its applicability and relevance to this position.

Pro Tip

You can also end with a question like:

“Do you know what the current needs in the company/department are, where my skills and experience can help?”

That can help you learn more about the company and the job, turn the “interrogation” into a conversation and will allow you to relax some tension.

Read our blog post to learn more about how to answer this question.

2. What is your greatest weakness?

How to answer

This question ranks as the most challenging for many people. Fortunately, Mr. Simon is here to help!

Interviewers are not out to trick or trap you! They ask this question to gauge your level of self-awareness, your honesty and openness, and your capability for self-improvement.

  1. About Yourself

    No one is perfect and your interviewer doesn't expect you to be perfect either.

    While it is good to be honest and open, it will not help you to put yourself down.

    What's important is to find a weakness that you have overcome. How you turned what might be considered a negative into a positive.

  2. About The Company

    Research the company (website, social media, etc) to learn about the company culture.

    What personal and professional qualities do they value?

  3. About The Fit

    This is the time to clearly state a true weakness that you have overcome.

    Be as specific as possible and stay away from vague cliches like “I work too hard.” It would be difficult for anyone to try and explain how they overcame a weakness like that

    Mr. Simon emphasizes the Present-Past-Present method of responding to behavioral questions. When you are asked about your greatest weakness, you should be able to successfully use this approach as well. Here is an example of how someone might answer this question.

    Present - "I have always had a fear of public speaking, and believe this may have held me back in my career, especially when having to make presentations to management."

    Past - "Last year I learned about Toastmasters International and decided to join this group to help me gain confidence in myself and improve my ability to present to others in just about any situation."

    Present - "By overcoming this weakness I believe that it has made me a much stronger candidate for this position, someone you can count on to make presentations to management, conduct training and communicate at a high level."

    It's important to show how well you've overcome a weakness by motivating yourself and learning a new skill to grow professionally.

Pro Tip

Use this question to sell yourself!

3. Tell me about a time when you've resolved a problem for a frustrated customer

How to answer

Customers are the lifeblood of any business. How you handle a disgruntled customer can make the difference between closing a sale and failing to do so. Or perhaps even worse the difference between keeping or losing a good customer.

It takes good people skills to handle such situations, and this question is a good opportunity to demonstrate your people skills.

  1. About Yourself

    Think of a time when, as a customer, you had a problem with a company.

    • How did you feel?
    • How did you want to be treated?
    • Was the situation resolved to your satisfaction? If so what was done to resolve it?
    • If not, what went wrong?

    Have you had experience in the past where you helped a frustrated customer? When you were on the serving side of the table, what did you do to make a real difference to the customer and their experience?

    When considering this question, focus on your principles and your approach. You know that when customers are made to feel neglected and unimportant, they tend to get frustrated. You want to demonstrate to the hiring manager that you have the capacity to understand the customer’s problems and issues and can come up with a solution that best addresses their concerns.

    Of course, this may not always be possible in your line of business or profession, but I guess you see what I mean - showing full attention greatly improves your chances of mitigating the situation.

  2. About The Company

    Every company relies on customers.

    Research the company you are applying to and try to find out what their standards of customer relationship or service are, as well as try to find out some real cases where the customers complained about the company, and what the company did to mitigate the situations (a possible source might be Yelp! or another social media platform).

    Based on your research, how does the company treat customers? How do they resolve customer issues?

  3. About The Fit

    How do you demonstrate to the interviewer that you can WOW the customer by making their situation better for them as well as helping the company maintain good customer relations? Mr. Simon recommends using the Present-Past-Present method.

    There are many ways to apply this approach. For example you can start with the Present emphasizing that your approach to good customer service always starts with your great listening skills that enable you to fully understand the customer’s situation.

    Next go back to the Past for an example of just how you were able to resolve a frustrating situation for a customer. Focus on a situation in which you listened to and understood the problem and were able to resolve it and prevent the loss of the customer’s business.

    Finally come back to the Present to discuss how your skills and experience in handling frustrated customers will be a real asset to the company going forward.

Pro Tip

A disgruntled customer generally just needs someone to listen to them.

The three A’s of customer service can help diffuse the difficult situation:

  1. Acknowledge - what the other person is feeling,
  2. Apologize - for the way the other person is feeling,
  3. Admit - that there was an issue that you are working on to get it resolved.

Add the extra “A” - Ask for the customer's contact information so you can update them on any progress on their issue.

4. How would you handle a customer with difficult behavior?

How to answer

People skills are highly valued in every company, especially in a company that occasionally deals with difficult customers. It is important to show how you can manage difficult personalities.

  1. About Yourself

    Look back on your experience. Have you dealt with a difficult or disruptive customer? Remember how you diffused the situation and how you turned things around.

    • Do you have certain principles, or methodology, to deal with difficult people?
    • Do you have strong people skills, are you good at conflict resolution?
    • Are you high on emotional intelligence? Can you give an example?
  2. About The Company

    • What have you found about the company and its culture?
    • What have you learned about how the employees value each other?
    • How do they treat their customers?
    • Knowing their line of business or industry, what can be some examples of difficult customers?

    Do your research.

  3. About The Fit

    When a question like this asked in an interview, it is an indication that you will probably encounter difficult customers, or other difficult stakeholders while working for this company.

    This would be an excellent opportunity to use the Present-Past-Present approach to respond to this question.

    Start with the Present. Speak about your “conflict resolution” skills and how you apply these today.

    Next go back to a Past situation - remember your Star Stories to relate a relevant situation that happened in a previous job where you resolved a problem for a difficult customer.

    Finally, come back to the Present, summarizing what you learned from past experiences and how you will apply them to the job you are interviewing for today.

    If you can give an example of how you handled a difficult person in the past in a situation similar to what this company may require from you, this will strongly increase your chances of showing yourself as a good fit.

Pro Tip

One methodology for diffusing a difficult situation is called “the triple A” approach:

  1. Acknowledge - what the other person is feeling,
  2. Apologize - for the way the other person is feeling,
  3. Admit - that there was an issue that you are working on to get it resolved.

If the difficult situation involves a customer, it would add that extra touch if you added another "A" to your approach by Asking for the customer's contact information so you can update them of any progress on their issue.

5. Tell me about your work experience. What was the most interesting?

How to answer

This question lets an interviewer gauge what makes you tick and whether the job you are applying for corresponds with your areas of excitement and enthusiasm. Such a fit will earn you important points for being a viable candidate.

  1. About Yourself

    Review the details that you shared in your resume. Select the three to five best points to highlight and relate to the position to which you're applying.

  2. About The Company

    Carefully research the company and the job description.

    Find out what duties you'll be taking on to determine which of your top skills to emphasize. Try to find out what current challenges they are trying to solve by opening this vacancy.

  3. About The Fit

    Knowing the duties for which you will be responsible will help you identify which prior experiences to highlight.

    How well you connect your previous experiences with the job requirements can tell the interviewer how prepared you are for this role and how enthusiastic you will be about your job.

Pro Tip

Do not start your answer with "as you can see from my resume," even if you have listed those skills and qualities.

Instead, tell a story showing that you can solve problems similar to their current challenges and that you are enthusiastic about this.

You can best do this through constant practice of your STARs.

6. Tell me about a time when you went out of your way to satisfy a customer. What was the outcome?

How to answer

The interviewer asks this question to see if you know the difference between simply providing the kind of service any customer should expect and really understanding the cusomer's needs and wants. Showing that you know the difference and can demonstrate this by example will confirm how great your customer service skills are.

  1. About Yourself

    Think about a time you were a customer seeking help with a problem. How were you treated? Was your experience what you expected? Did the customer service representative make this a good or great experience for you?

    Now think about the times you had to help a customer. What did you do to make that experience unforgettable for the them? How did you exceed expectations?

  2. About The Company

    Think carefully about the company and what they are looking for. What are their standards for treating customers?

    Look for reviews online (such as Yelp) that can help you identify how they treat their customers? Very positive reviews would suggest that the company places a strong emphasis on great customer service.

    Double check the job description for evidence of the importance they place on customer service.

    Do your research.

  3. About The Fit

    Use the Present-Past-Present technique to answer this question.

    Start with the Present by emphasizing your customer service skills and how important you think they are in not just meeting the customer's immediate needs but also retaining that customer for the long haul.

    Next, go back to the Past to relate a time when you went out of your way to help a customer. Here, for example is how this might be related. "I was working late one night and the rest of my staff had gone home when a good customer called with a serious problem accessing his laptop. I stayed with him both online and on the phone for almost two hours to correct the problem and get him back up and running. The next day he called my boss to tell him how grateful he was that I was able help him with his issues. By the way he is still a very good customer."

    Finally come back to the Present to underscore how you will not only bring great customer service to the new job but will work hard to instill this in everyone you work with.

    Be sure to use the STAR method to craft your story.

Pro Tip

Showing you have compassion and empathy for customers is always the best way to answer the question. However, always remember to frame your answers in terms of how the company addresses these issues.

7. Why did you leave your last job?

How to answer

This question may be a little touchy for some people, but it's a question asked by interviewers, to find out why you left, in order to better understand how you may or may not make a good fit with their company.

Remember, never speak ill of your old company (this will not go over well).

  1. About Yourself

    There are a number of reasons why people leave or plan to leave their jobs. One very important recent factor has been the impact on jobs and job security due to Covid-19 and all of the issues raised by remote vs. on-site work.

    Regardless of the causes, there are three possible reasons that you left your last job or are planning to leave your current job:

    • You are looking for a career change
    • You are unhappy with your current employment
    • You were let go.

    Whatever the reason, it's best to always speak in a positive light.

  2. About The Company

    Based on your research about the company and the position you are interviewing for, what do you like most about the company? What excites you about the work as it is outlined in the job description?

  3. About The Fit

    Let's take a closer look at how you might respond to each of the three reasons for leaving your last job.

    1. You were let go

    You should simply state the facts (e.g. the company was downsizing, your position was eliminated, your department was offshored, etc.). Focus on the positive. You might want to share your accomplishments at your previous employment by relating a pertinent STAR story if you feel that would be relevant.

    2. You are looking for career advancement or a career change

    In your response you should be upfront, honest and as enthusiastic as you can be about the position. Consider using the Present-Past-Present method when giving this answer. Start with the Present by describing a career goal that is important to you. For instance you are a data analyst applying for a data management position and you are ready for this move. Then go back to the Past to indicate that at your previous job, there were little or no promotional opportunities in your field. Then come back to the Present and say that you are ready to take on the manager role and know that you will do an outstanding job for the company.

    3. You are unhappy with your current employment

    Sometimes a job just isn't going to take you to the next step in your career.

    Keep two things in mind when answering this question, 1) never "bad mouth" your current employer and 2) focus on the postive when speaking about the job and your reason for wanting to leave.

    The following is an example of how this question might be answered. This individual was looking to move up to a project manager position and did not feel that her current employer was the right place to achieve her goal. You might find her answer helpful in crafting your own response.

    "I really like my job as assistant project manager and love working with all of my coworkers on the team. However, the way the department is set up there is no real path to promotion. There are currently 3 project managers and they are all relatively new in their jobs. As far as I can see, they are all doing a good job and opportunties for promotion may not be opening up in the foreseeable future."

    Her comments were positive and her reasoning was clear and consise. Always try to keep your reasons positive and try not to create an impression that you were unhappy with the way you were treated.

Pro Tip

Whatever the reason you are looking for a new opportunity, make sure you are able to show how you are the perfect fit for the job for which you are interviewing!

8. Tell me about your greatest professional accomplishment

How to answer

Of all your accomplishments (and I am sure you’ve had a great many of them!), you should choose the one most relevant to this job position.

  1. About Yourself

    In preparation for answering this question, list the top 3 professional accomplishments that you are most proud of. No need for lengthy descriptions, just a sentence or two for each one to help you recall each situation.

    Write down your Key Selling Points - your top 3-5 skills that make you a strong professional.

    Make sure you have developed the story behind each accomplishment and have a strong command of the details of what happened so that you can tell the story clearly and distinctly.

    Along with each accomplishment, mark which of your Key Selling Points they showcase. How exactly?

  2. About The Company

    Based on your research of the company, what are their current needs?

    • What are the major projects going on?
    • What are the expectations for the position you are applying for?
    • Think about which of your accomplishment stories best fit their needs and expectations?
  3. About The Fit

    Once you have decided on the appropriate accomplishment story, think how you will relate it in an interview and how you will make it relevant to the the job you are seeking. One approach is to use the Present-Past-Present technique.

    Let's say that the accomplishment was leading your team in installing a new billing system and bringing it in on time and under budget.

    You might start off in the Present by talking about the importance of having good leadership skills.

    Then move to the Past to relate your story about how you successfully lead your team in accomplishing the objective.

    Finally, come back to the Present to address how you will be able to help them reach their goals (the ones you learned about when researching the company) going forward.

    Be sure to keep practicing your accomplishment story until it flows naturally and convincingly.

Pro Tip

Most enterprises are now going through major transformations, often called Digital Transformation.

Do your research on what it means and what is often involved, to get a better idea of the current goals and environments in companies. But one thing that definitely characterizes this transformation is striving for agility.

Whether the prospective employer is a long-established company or a startup, they are looking for people who demonstrate qualities like agility and adaptability, which are generally considered to be both helpful and quite a safe choice in most circumstances today.

9. Tell me about a time when you had to work with a difficult or disruptive person. It may be a client, manager, or coworker. How did you handle the situation? What was the outcome?

How to answer

People skills are highly valued in a company. It is important to show how you can manage difficult personalities, especially if you are applying for a job that involves teamwork, or a lot of interactions with clients.

  1. About Yourself

    Look back on your experience. Have you worked with a difficult or disruptive person? Remember a few such situations and how you diffused them and turned things around. What are your approaches to resolving conflicting situations at work?

  2. About The Company

    • What have you found about the company and its culture?
    • What have you learned about how the employees value each other?
    • How do they treat their customers?
    • Do they have any specific standards and policies?
  3. About The Fit

    Using what you found about the company, choose one of your examples that fits best with the company standards and share your story.

    If it's a customer, how did you turn things around and made a customer happy?
    If it's a coworker, how did you diffuse a tense or difficult situation?

Pro Tip

Use the triple A of diffusing a difficult situation:

  1. Acknowledge - what the other person is feeling,
  2. Apologize - for the way the other person is feeling,
  3. Admit - that there was an issue that you are working on to get it resolved.

If it is a customer, it would add that extra touch if you "Ask" for the customer's contact information so you can update them of any progress on their issue.

10. Describe a time when you had to train someone

How to answer

Every company has to train its staff on a regular basis. This may be due to changing rules, laws and requirements: an increase in the number of employees, expansion of the range of goods and services, or for many other reasons.

The ability to train others is a very desirable skill to have at any work but not everyone is capable of training.

That’s why if you can show during an interview that you can train others, then it will give you more credibility at your workplace.

Besides, the interviewers will learn that you have other important skills such as enthusiasm, leadership, commitment, dedication and planning.

  1. About Yourself

    First, remember the situation when you were taught entering one of your previous jobs.

    • Do you have positive or negative memories of your mentor?
    • What worked for you and what didn't?

    And then, remember the circumstances in which you had to teach someone else. Maybe you got a promotion within your company or accepted a position at a new organization, or your workload increased and you simply needed additional pair of hands to complete an important task, or you went away on vacation and left someone in charge?

    Whatever the reasons, how did you like the experience?

    • Was it difficult for you?
    • Do you consider yourself a good trainer?
    • What approaches did you use to transfer your knowledge to another person?
    • Was it successful?
  2. About The Company

    Research the company and its culture, read the job description and list skills and responsibilities that the hiring manager is looking for.

    • Is the ability to teach added to that list?
    • What other personal and professional qualities do they value?
    • How do employees value each other?
  3. About The Fit

    Keep your answer always in a positive light to show the interviewer that the ability to teach, manage your time correctly (because you still have your job to do) and exhibit great people skills are your Key Selling Points.

    Emphasize that you will bring these to the company with pleasure and are ready to share them with other members of the team.

    Describe your approaches that are relevant to the position, or your unique techniques that you are going to use in the future.

    If you had experience in this field – give concrete examples using STAR stories, if not – think of how you WOULD teach others to do the work.

Pro Tip

Here is the sample of an answer:

I have a lot of practice already, teaching all levels of employees at work. I never mock my “students” as I know some people might, because I remember how hard it was for me at the beginning of my career and how much I was helped by more experienced colleagues at the time. Basically, I think we should transfer the knowledge to others; it’s a natural and necessary process for personal development and the company’s success. I have to say, people were very grateful for my "teaching" work. I managed to reveal their strengths and within a short time they became valuable employees of our company.

simon

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This page has been updated on February 23, 2024.

You can practice answering this question, as well as over 160 other common job interview questions from Retail Store Manager by engaging in a mock interview with Mr. Simon. As an artificial being, his undeniable benefits include:

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The current version is free The current version is free
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