MAC Cosmetics

Application

I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at MAC Cosmetics.

Interview

Spoken group interview followed by a practical makeup application. The interview was fairly casual and focused on our personal connection to MAC (lots of "why MAC" questions) and our approach to customer service/selling product. It was a bit difficult at first because of the group setting, as you had to compete a bit either other applicants to speak (people are AGRESSIVE). You will need to fight a little to be heard, however don't be the person who jumps down the interviewer's threat every time she asks a questions, it comes off as obnoxious. I tried to alternate between answering first or second, and waiting for the other applicants to speak. Also, be humble; some of the other people being interviewed were super cocky and basically refused to admit anything less than perfection (when asked what you would do if a customer didn't like the makeup look you'd done on them, one person responded with complete shock and said "Wow, that's never happened to me before, everyone always loves when I do their makeup!" and focused more on how great she is rather than answering the question-- the interviewer was not impressed). Be assertive, but humble and show your willingness to die and improve, as well as a love for the compmahu and knowledge of what makes MAC unique.
For the practical makeup application, we were given a different model than the person we brought so the interviewees could see how we interacted with and work on someone we'd never met before. We were given 30 minutes to give the model a natural makeup look with neutral eyes and a subtle lip that enhanced the client's features and a winged liner if we had time. After the 30 minutes were up, we were given a critique and then had an extra 5 minutes to improve our looks-- I was given positive feedback so instead of asking me to improve, I was asked to build the makeup into a night look by adding a dark lip and intensifying the eye. Other interviewees were given advice on how to improve and asked to correct certain things in the extra 5 minutes, such as blending out the shadow more, redoing the liner, softening the brows, etc. The MAC artist who was evaluating us walked around and watched each of us work through the application portion, often giving advice. Definitely be passionate about MAC and knowledgeable about the company during the interview, and during the practical, be sure to talk to your model and explain what you're doing, make conversation, etc. (most common feedback to other interviewees was to talk more, and the interviewer praised me a lot on my interactions with the model), keep your station neat, and of course be able to actually finish your look in time following the instructions.

Interview Questions