Waitrose interview questions

I applied through their website and it was a series of easy questions and answers .I was contacted by automated emailing system inviting me to group interview. It was THE WORST INTERVIEW EVER! I wholeheartedly was completely put off of this company because of how the interviewing was conducted. Groups interviews are so unfair and biased. We had to write down 5 answers on paper, why we wanted to work here, what we could offer, our favourite meal, our ambitions, where we seen ourselves in 5 years time. The snobby woman beside me who harped on about her speciality butterflied chicken and herby potatoes and so on obviously swing it as I just mentioned spag bols I cooked for my family. This went on for ages in a tiny little office with no air con and 15 of us crammed in, no window open in the height of summer. NO water, no comfort break despite this halfwitted interviewing technique lasting almost 2 hours. The next thing, we are split into groups of 4 and have to make a tower out of newspaper and sellotape, testing who is bossy and who is shy. etc. After getting black and all dye off the newspaper one of the managers did allow us some wet wipes. THEN we had to go in groups of two halves of the room and one had to scribe, the others had to shout out what made a great sales assistant. We then had to have one of us read them all off and all of us had to contribute points. THEN we had to play act products in a basket, how we would sell them and we tried to be pushy customers and aggravate one another. Some school leaver lads were supposed to try and sell washing powder and had not a clue what to say just this cleans clothes. It was so embarrassing and pointless. Then after this rubbish, we all sat in silence as one by one we got a quick one to one interview with the line manager and she let us go then all at the one time, leading us down a lot of stairs and no facility for disabled and we didnt get a drink or even shown where the bathrooms were . It was a farce and not a company I would have liked to work for after the mental and physical tasks exhausted me.

Process: Filled out the application online and then completed the tool test. Got an email saying I was successful and invited me to a group interview. Group Interview: We all one by one said our names and then we had to stand in a line. Our task was to get in order who took the quickest to the longest time to get to the interview without talking to eachother. Then the personal manager gave us an induction to what the company is about. She then explained what questions she will like us to answer in front of the group (no time restriction). The questions were: Tell me about yourself? Why Waitrose? What is your favourite meal? If you had to come as fancy dress, who will you be? We then got split into 2 groups and had to work as a team to come up with a food menu for a party in central London in 10 minutes and a name for our business. Make sure you allow others to input their ideas and if anyone is quiet, ask them what they think. Keep an eye on the time and do not dominate too much. Also make sure everyone presents to the group and is able to talk about the menu you have come up with. Most importantly just be you. At the end of the group interview we filled out a form, which was about our: measurements, availability hours to work, availability hours for training etc. The interview took 1 hour and a half. I then got an email 3 days later saying I was successful and now waiting for another email with more detailed information.