Does Lidl have a policy of rejecting the good job applicants?

GothicStirling

andygb wrote: »

I want work and have submitted my CV to all the supermarkets, high street shops, department stores, and have received absolutely no replies. I think the main things going against me, is that I have decent (though not great) exam results, managerial experience (in finance, not in retail), age (57) and lastly no retail experience.

I can see two problems:


1. I can't remember the last time I saw a supermarket or high street store accepting a CV. 99% of the time they will refer you to their website for vacancies, and apply by an online application.


2. No retail experience. Unless you are aged 16-21, it is incredibly difficult to get into retail with no experience (I tried). If you want to work in retail, I recommend volunteering in a charity shop or getting a Xmas temp first. Even my sister (who started in retail at 16, who has worked for BHS, Debenhams, and H&M) can't even get a interview in retail anymore, because she went to work in Heritage organisations like Historic Scotland and English Heritage, she got lucky with a job at Durham Cathedral and will be starting a MA next year in Heritage and Museum Studies.


I would recommend putting CVs into smaller/independent stores rather than the big chains.

AvoidTalktalk

GothicStirling wrote: »

Depends on the calibre of the other applicants. If you are competing with other people who have experience in retail, and especially if they are coming from other supermarket chains, it doesn't matter what qualifications or 'customer facing' experience you have. Even working in a charity shop would be better than say, being a driving instructor.


As the post above also points out, your CV needs to skills match with what is given in the job specification.

I don't know anything about their retail experience. However, if their customer service skills are any marker I can only assume they have never had a retail job before. A new guy served us today, seems to be british. I can only describe him as completely lacking in customer service and even basic people skills. How he got through the job interview I have no idea.

Firstly, he didn't say hello or even look at us when it came to serving us. Secondly, he looked like he really didn't want to be there, like he was forced to be there against his will. Fair enough I am sure nobody really wants to be there but you still have to be pleasant to the customer. Lastly, when we paid we used a discount voucher, we use them every month. When he scanned the voucher it didn't automatically deduct from the price. He just said "doesn't work" and handed it back. I said you have to scan it and press one of the keys usually. He tried it again and said "doesn't work". I said it does we always use them. He then asked the employee behind him about this kind of voucher and she pointed out that he is scanning the wrong side.

No apology from him, no response at all actually, no goodbye, just the look on his face like he is doing this against his will. The guy clearly lacks customer service skills, and most likely has a deficiency in social skills too. He doesn't come across as very bright at all.

That's the kind of employee Lidl wants. Someone who has little option to leave them and work for someone else. I know if you google Lidl employee reviews you will find that the working conditions there are considered abysmal by many and that employees are basically abused to work extra hard and for extra unpaid hours on a regular basis.

I'm guessing that's why Lidl screens out the good applicants and started offering £8.20 per hour, because smarter people are less likely to put up with employee abuse and also more likely to leave the job for something better. People who have Lidl as their only best option are more likely to put up with stuff.

AvoidTalktalk

duchy wrote: »

If it's so average....why do you and your wife want to work there ?

I've worked in recruitment and reading your post it struck me that you as self employed have little checkable employment history - and your wife seems to have had a string of jobs in various roles. Perhaps one of the criteria was a checkable work history and a record for staying in a job for a reasonable length of time rather than leaving after a short time ? Just a thought. I've often employed people less well qualified but with a better work ethic - Why waste resources training someone who isn't going to fit in or who isn't going to stay when other applicants have a record of changing jobs infrequently.

Here's something else to consider. My partner applied for the Lidl job and also 4 other jobs. She had 4 interviews, Lidl rejected to even interview. All 4 interviewers were impressed and offered her the job. She was able to choose the best job offer, the one she really wanted the most. A 9-5 full time job as a customer advisor in the most prestigious store in my area. It seems a bit odd that she was good enough for those other 4 jobs, all 4 of which were customer facing jobs, but lidl wouldn't even interview her.

It really says something, the fact that she was offered 4 jobs but rejected to even an interview at Lidl. Also, her work history isn't spotty jobs all over the place. She worked fast food at 16, and worked as a waitress and other hotel work in the same hotel for around 3 years before she applied for the Lidl job.

AvoidTalktalk

tomtontom wrote: »

Gosh, chip on shoulder much? It's not your achievements that keep you unemployed, it's that attitude.

Keep me unemployed? I have an income, a couple in fact. 10k profit a year from rental property and 5-10k more from the bit that I still earn from self employment.

I have only applied to 3 jobs. Lidl, and 2 other ones. I was offered both of the other ones but one is working as a meter reader and done entirely alone, so after some thought I put it off to look for something better. The other is with an agency which I also put on hold for now and am considering to take in the future. Lidl rejected me, fair enough that's up to them I don't exactly have a work history or experience in their field. They have no requirements for the customer assistant job though. I'm not bothered that I didn't get the Lidl job because i've just altered my plans a bit instead.

It's when my partner who is more suitable got rejected that I realised there is something fishy about their recruitment process. She would have been a much more suitable employee and definetly better with customer service and being friendly to customers than most of the new ones they took instead. That too is fine though. She got a better job offer from a company that requires much higher standards from their employees than Lidl, she took it.

borkid

@ avoidtalktalk I've always found my local Lidl's employees extremely polite and helpful, much better than local Teco and Sainsbury's staff. The only place I find consistently out does them is Waitrose.

AvoidTalktalk

borkid wrote: »

@ avoidtalktalk I've always found my local Lidl's employees extremely polite and helpful, much better than local Teco and Sainsbury's staff. The only place I find consistently out does them is Waitrose.

I agree that Waitrose seems to always have polite staff. We shop there weekly too and there is always pleasant people on the tills.

As for Lidl, we get a lot of our shopping there because it's cheapest to buy there. Some employees there are pleasant, mostly the ones who have been working there for ages. Recently though there seems to be new faces working there almost every time we go there, they must have employed well over a dozen new people in the space of a few weeks. A good half of them are not pleasant at all.

[Deleted User]

Just wonder do they ever ask or know you are a customer?

A wild hunch perhaps they have an underlaying policy for this of not recruiting their customers.

BrassicWoman

AvoidTalktalk wrote: »

It's when my partner who is more suitable got rejected that I realised there is something fishy about their recruitment process.

It can't possibly be that other people have better application forms and more relevant or recent experience??

bit of a sense of entitlement going on here.

AvoidTalktalk

BrassicWoman wrote: »

It can't possibly be that other people have better application forms and more relevant or recent experience??

bit of a sense of entitlement going on here.

Clearly didn't read the thread. Not worth responding to. But yes, it can't possibly be that some of those employees they took on recently had better application forms or experience. I shop there most days and you notice things about people.

pupgrum

AvoidTalktalk wrote: »

Clearly didn't read the thread. Not worth responding to. But yes, it can't possibly be that some of those employees they took on recently had better application forms or experience. I shop there most days and you notice things about people.

And you think shopping there means you can tell an employee's past work experiences and education? I know a Polish guy who works for Tescos, barely speaks English, and he's got a lot of work experience and a Ph.D in structural engineering. He got that qualification in Poland but since it's a structural engineering mostly based in maths he could have gotten it in UK without being fluent in English.