STA Travel Interview Questions & Reviews

Interviewed Jul 2010 in Melbourne (Australia) (took a day)

Stage 1: Applied Online
Stage 2; Telephone Interview from STA Travel HR Head Office, 5-10 minutes. I was asked questions like; 'Have you been into one of our retail stores before?' 'Have you visited our website?' 'What do you perceive to be the role of a Travel Adviser?'
Stage 3; Assessment Centre Day, STA Travel Head Office. Consisted of 11 interviewees and 5 male interviewers, and we were given a series of exercises while seated around a large table.
- Each interviewee had to give a presentation on themselves, on any topic - excluding travel.
- Interviewees were split into groups of 3/4 and had to do a 'deserted island exercise' in which we all had to come to the decision whether to stay or go on the island, as a group.
- Each interviewee was given a piece of plasticine and told to make something from it and sell it to the group.
The group exercises were very intimidating and intense! The STA interviewers really scruitinised us, in a way which made me feel humiliated.
At the end of the morning, we were told to come back in 20 minutes after the interviewers had made their decision as to who would make it through to the next round.
We found an envelope on our place at the table, with an impersonal letter inside, telling us whether or not we were successful, like a game show elimination.
Those successful made it through to a one on one interview with HR.

This company is obviously after extroverted sales people, but I felt that the way they ran the interview was very unprofessional. I was very disappointed that I wasted 3 hours of my morning, and would never want to work for STA Travel.