Firstly I applied online for the 32 hour contact they were offering. When offered interview they dropped it down to 24.
I find retail very harsh in terms of contracts, especially at Lush, with myself being a previous Lush sales assistant, taking advantage of people and offering out 8 hour contracts acting as if they don't have a life to survive.
1. You learn and give a facial routine.
My feedback: to apply more pressure.
2. You are to give a 5 minute back massage
My feedback: good variance in pressure.
So given that I can prove elements of pressure, this seemed to have been brushed past due to my less pressure on the previous face routine. Personally I was not advised on the pressure to give.
I was told that my posture was wrong, however I would definitely disagree with this as I am very attentive on maintaining healthy posture, and I was very conscious of this during every massage. I do not suffer from bad posture or back pain.
3. You have to give a small presentation about a passion of yours.
They said that they loved my presentation and passion.
4. You spend an hour or so on the shop floor.
During the shop floor time, they were looking for you to sit customers down and give a consultation that aligns with the spa, so for example a head or scalp massage. I managed to achieve this, yet on my feedback sheet it seemed as though it was not kept watched or communicated back, and I was told that it would have been nice to have seen a consultation massage... I was not happy.
5. A 1 to 1 interview.
The questions were very therapist concentrated. But judging by my feedback, my responses were not examined after the entire interview day, nor were the questions adapted to my experience as a Lush sales advisor. Personally in preparation for the interview I was hoping to convince them how much passion and understanding I had for Lush and the spa. This didn't seem important to them.
Overall, it seemed as though they were looking for a finished product and had no interest in teaching you, other than the routines. I felt that they were judgemental on the things that can only be taught by being trained specifically by Lush. The feedback confused me as they seemed to very much like me, and weren't giving an actual reason to not offer a job. I think they forgot that not only am I being interviewed, but I am also interviewing them.