Applied online on 3rd Sept - simple process just asking how confident you feel with merchandising and other things then education and previous experience in retail. Got a phone call 4 days later asking if I was able to complete a phone interview the next day. Phone interview was fairly standard, questions about eligibility to work in the UK, availability, any holidays and then questions such as who is your role model, where do you see yourself in a few years time and so on. The manager who did my phone interview then invited me to an assessment day which was about a week later. I wore a suit and felt really overdressed as there were people in jeans and crop tops and sandals - but as long as you know what you're talking about, it doesn't matter too much. The assessment day was probably the nicest group hiring event I've done. Initially did an ice breaker introducing ourselves to the group with why H&M and our biggest fashion mistake - management joined in too so it felt really friendly. We were then split into groups of 3/4 and assigned a manager and sent onto the shop floor. The first task was to think of a fashion icon and pick an outfit for them and then we were given an item and told it was out of stock and to find an alternative. Then went back to the staff room and in pairs had to act out scenarios such as 'I've worn this item once and it broke, I'm not happy'. Really simple scenarios if you've worked in retail before, just all about how you would treat the customer. Finally, we got back into our groups with our assigned manager and we were given scenarios we all had to give a reaction to. For example, 'you see a colleague stealing but they're having a tough time at home'. At the end of the day (it was about 2 hours long), we were told we would hear back about being invited to a 1 on 1 in the next 7 days. However I got a phone call inviting me to a 1 on 1 two days later. The 1 on 1 was nowhere near as pleasant as the assessment day. Every question I answered, my answer was picked apart and it felt like they were waiting for me to trip up. Went through all of the same questions on holidays, work eligibility for the UK, availability, even though they had it right in front of them on the paper from my phone interview? Was told it would be two weeks until I hear back, but I won't be accepting any offer as I already found another job.