I went into the interview expecting to discuss a rotational management training program. I dressed in nice, dark jeans and a nice but not too formal button-up shirt like those they sell at Buckle, because numerous reviews I had seen said to dress according to their product for bonus points.
First of all, the manager was late because she making a bank run right before my interview. One of the staff members (only two people were working there) printed my application and made some small talk with me. The two sales associates were really nice and tried to make me feel more comfortable.
When the manager finally arrived, I waited 5 or 10 minutes for her to go into the back and take care of the banking stuff. When she came back out, she took me to the back of the store, and asked me questions that I would expect from a normal sales associate interview. She asked me why I wanted to move to the area, what I studied in college and why, as well as what I wanted to do with my degree (which was awkward because my degree is unrelated to retail).
She asked me the very basics about what I did at my current job, as well as what my favorite current trends were. I was a little stumped by the trends question since it was so broad, so I just listed some of the currently popular colors and clothing styles I had seen that I liked.
She then asked me if I had any questions, so I asked her to describe how the program worked, since she had not mentioned anything about what I had read. She said the "m" in MDP (Management Development Program) actually meant "mobile" and that I'd be spending only about 2 weeks at home (home store, I assume). She asked if I was open to relocation and I said yes. She said that Buckle promotes 100% internally, and so I would begin as a sales associate and, after a few months, if they were satisfied, they MIGHT recommend me for the MDP but that the candidates were hand-picked and her recommendation didn't necessarily mean I'd get picked as a candidate.
I asked her how much interaction the different levels of associates had with other levels (for example, how often would I as a sales associate see my District Manager). She said she spoke with her DM every day but that they only came into the stores if they were in trouble.
I also asked how numbers-based they were. At my current job we are evaluated on our sales numbers and penalized for low numbers, regardless of circumstances such as slow days, etc. She said they were heavily performance-based and your money depended upon your performance.
She asked me about my hobbies and what I had done since college, and I told her, but I kept trying to get the discussion back to the MDP because I felt like I was interviewing for another job. She asked why I was interested in the program and I told her I had worked as a sales associate for most of my working life and was excited about taking the next step and becoming the sales leader that motivated her sales team to do well.
She gave me a funny look and asked me how exactly I would motivate my sales team. I was kind of unprepared to answer but I did the best I could and told her that some companies motivated their employees to do well out of fear of losing their jobs. I said that I wanted my employees to do well because they WANTED to do well - because they ENJOYED coming to work. I said I did not want my team doing well because they were terrified of getting fired, like I had experienced in some jobs, because I felt it affected the morale of the whole store. I said I would probably have some kind of mixed accountability and recognition system in effect to do this. She gave me a really bizarre look and a nod.
She shook my hand and said it was good to meet me and that she'd get back to me in the next week or so, and to look around the store (she said this at least three times during the whole time I was there, I guess because I was the only person in the store outside of the three of them and she wanted her conversion to not suck, but I felt buying stuff after my interview was a little..... iffy).
I received a generic email a couple days later turning me down for the job with no explanation, nor any offer of letting me begin as a sales associate.
I rated the experience negative because I feel as though I was lied to about what the program actually was (she never really said much of anything about it, despite my questions, except that it was mobile), as well as how "in" the company I already had to be to enter the program.
