Merchandiser

If you want to show your ambition, you can discuss how you haven't reached all of your goals yet and in that sense aren't satisfied. However, if you want to discuss satisfaction from your job discuss an experience in which you achieved something.

Make sure you research Merchandising as a whole across different industries, and you are able to explain the differences. You should be able to distinguish between head office merchandising and in-store (visual) merchandising. In your answer, try and come up with tangible reasons why this particular sector interests you, and especially why you would be passionate about working within this market.

Research the company, looking at not only at how they present themselves online, but also go and visit their stores for first-hand experience. For the second part of the question, give an answer that is similar to the store’s audience, but ensure that you have concrete reasons why you would target that demographic.

In a previous sales position, I was exceeding my sales goals for every product except one. My manager met with me to discuss why I was underperforming. My contention was that the product was too expensive and not useful enough, meaning the established sales goal was unrealistic. After a long discussion in which we both genuinely listened to the other’s viewpoint, we reached a compromise. My manager agreed to reassess the price and nature of the product, and I agreed to try some new sales techniques he showed me.

This is a subjective question so there is no right or wrong answer. It is important that you justify the response that you give. A typically answer might be that it is the appearance of the product is the most important part of merchandising. Other avenues you could go down could be the placement of the product or the product's location relative to different products. Show a creative approach and acknowledge that merchandising different types of products requires different approaches.

Ideally you can handle all three well, but you may have a personal preference for one or a few. The key is to make sure you understand what the job is looking for and to pair your answer with that (assuming it's true)

It's good to be persistent, but not overbearing. Everyone will face rejection at some point in their life, so at some point you'll have to take no for an answer but then learn why you were turned down.

Show how you were able to over the "overwhelmed" feeling - by delegating tasks, getting people on your team to help you out, or by prioritizing your work and focusing on the most important issues first.

This is where the interviewer tries to turn the tables on you. Answer confidently by stating 3 specific traits that are applicable to that job role. For example, a consulting job would likely look for someone who can think outside of the box.

After answering, ask them, "Am I spot on here and if not, what traits would you look for?"

The experience that taught me the most about interpersonal skills was my time as a door-to-door salesperson. This job required me to foster positive interactions with people in situations where many of them probably did not want to talk to me. A high percentage of people I talked to immediately said they were not interested, so I had to learn to keep a positive attitude and to never let an encounter turn hostile. I also learned how to quickly build rapport with people so they would let their guard down and feel comfortable talking with me about my products.