Ridiculous tests on Sainsbury's recruitment site

A question about : Ridiculous tests on Sainsbury's recruitment site

I've recently tried to apply for 2 Sainsbury's jobs, one in store and one as a driver for their grocery deliveries. Both times I was unsuccessful. I was so incensed by the fact that the test questions appeared to be biased to anyone working for Sainsbury’s that I’ve sent a letter of complaint to them which will probably result me being barred in future anyway.

I strongly believe the questions are so difficult they cannot be answered correctly unless someone luckily knows someone who works at Sainsbury's. How would candidates know about whether a refund should be given to a customer, whether or not to stop for someone in difficulty and leave their van, or park too far away from the customer’s house, or whether to ring for assistance from a team leader? Surely such protocols are something employees are trained upon after they are interviewed and meet the requirements of the job! I have been a professional driver for over 23 years and also owned my own business prior to driving for a living, I know the roads of Lancashire extremely well and even have a driving qualification, but didn't get an interview because I failed the test.

I’ve screen copied each question I answered and would be interested in other’s views on this.

A Sainsbury’s driver who delivered our groceries today said that they pick the first three who are successful and employ them in store and don’t look at their qualifications or experience. The last 3 apparently left which has resulted in more jobs being advertised.

Once the test is unsuccessful the candidate can’t apply again for 6 months. I think this kind of recruitment is very dodgy when no one can provide answers on how the test results are achieved.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Martin

Best answers:

• At some interviews candidates are asked all sorts of questions which are or are not pertinent to the job on offer. In the 1970s at one interview I was asked how would I deal with the situation in Northern Ireland (absolutely no bearing on the job on offer). The idea behind this is to test a candidate's logic, reasoning and thinking processes and suitability.
  I would therefore suggest that this is what Sainsburys are doing.
• The questions certainly don't look Sainsbury's specific; they look like logical questions where they can assess how you'd cope, what you'd do in a situation etc... Rather than looking for a trained person, it means they're looking for someone who has good reactions to potential situations they might come across.
  I think your letter of complaint was unnecessary.
• Put your energy into your next job hunting venture. If you are going to write a letter, make it to another company asking for work.
  It was never going to work out with you and them, just move on.
  Vader
• Tesco's applictation form is terrible. Most of it is a personality questionaire where you have to choose which trait out of 4 is most like you and which is least like you. I mean - it just depends on the situation you are in!
• I think that rather than there being a "right" answer to these questions (as you are assuming), they are designed to test your personality, common sense & aptitude. Its how you answer, rather than specifically what you answer, that is relevant; e.g. do you stay calm, do you use time efficiently, do you put the customer first, will you act in the best interests of the business? Of course you would be trained in specifics but they are looking at your common sense.
  Writing a stroppy letter perhaps wasn't the way to go...
  Some selection processes may seem daft to you, but they are the hoops you have to jump through to get to the interview stage.
  Good Luck with the job hunting.
• I applied at weekend for a job at asda and i wasnt lucky enough, i thought i did ok but because i was unlucky i cant apply for another asda now for months
• The questions the OP listed don't seem that much different from the questions I have been asked at every job interview I have had. As fiscalfreckles said they are generally not looking for a "right" answer, they are just interested in how you arrived at the answer you gave. I think they are looking to see how you will balance the needs of the business with the customer service side of things.
• Sometimes it can work in your favour tho' after I'd finished uni and was job hunting for September I got a P/T job in boots, there were about 15 of us, we interviewed each other and then had to tell the rest of the group about the person we'd interviewed, no where on the form I filled in did it ask for anything other than qualifications whilst at school or previous job history (!!!!!!) I knew I was over qualified (RGN NNEB BA(HONS)) but no where did anyone ask about that...I also only wanted short term employment until I could get a teaching job...again no one asked about that either...I got the job worked 2 months gave 1 months notice and was then grilled about why I had only stayed for 2 months...not my fault that I only ever wanted to be there for a short time
  pants company to work for btw