Interviewed in a group of about 12 people which from the get go was a bit ridiculous, 6 or 7 might have been ok, but group interviews as a whole aren't the best way of determining how well a person can fill a role or what they're really like. We were only asked two questions, what celebrity we would take to a party and why we wanted to work for River Island. It was almost like trick questions, because we were never given a chance to talk about our experience, you sort of had to try to branch off your answer to include it. But how could you possibly determine a good candidate from just those questions? It was clear they were just looking for the loudest and most out spoken people. Lastly we were asked to put together an outfit for a client in groups of two, which was fair enough in terms of cross selling and up selling etc, but kind of a poor way of determining team work at the very least because each pair couldn't be evaluated throughout the entire process. At the end we were told we would know by the end of the week if we were chosen as they still had some individual interviews to conduct, I got an email early the next morning to say I didn't get the job, well before the rest of the interviews were even conducted. There was no reason given and seeing as how I seemed to be the only person there with any experience in fashion retail, and spread over so many areas of it, I'm willing to bet it came down to the fact that I wasn't as loud and 'chatty' as some of the other candidates. They also seemed to favor those who could work all day every day with no exceptions as they asked for this first thing, which I thought was a little unfair over the holidays because some people might travel to see family etc, and need Christmas eve or Boxing day off.

Process took a couple weeks. I applied online (2nd June) then a couple days later I was asked to attend a recruitment event, which was about 2 weeks later (June 20th). When I've received my confirmation email about my interview, I made sure to read through it all as they tell you how to dress, which is dress the way you think represents River Island, they also tell you to bring proof of your right to work in the UK, you must bring it else you can't do the invterview. (Do NOT bring your drivers license, it won't count and you won't be able to proceed with the interview ether). Thankfully for me, there was only 5 of us, so the atmosphere was very calm and relaxed. We were all taken to the staff room, then asked to tick our availability (they definitely seem to prefer people with good availability). We then proceeded to do an icebreaker which was really chilled and funny! After that, we were put into groups of 2, then taken down to the shop floor to do a little game. In your pairs you were given an event e.g Festival, Date night, children's party. Then we were asked to pick an outfit and explain why we picked it, so it was pretty straight forward and very easy if you're into your fashion :) We then went back to the staff room, asked any questions that were on our mind and then it was done in less that 2hours (the interview can be up to 2hrs). We were then told we would here back by the end of the week, if you weren't successful you'd get an email and if you were successful you get a phone call from one of the managers, I was lucky enough to get a phone call yesterday offering me a job, although they did take longer than they said but if you don't mind waiting, it's worth it :)