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INTERVIEW PREP: RETAILSugirtha Stathis, Retail Student AdvisorPorsha Alexander, Employer Services

Carolyn Li & Jessica Kong, Wharton Retail ClubDecember 2016

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Agenda

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• Retail Recruiting

• Applications Overview

• Current OCR & Job Postings

• What to Expect for non-OCR in the Spring

• Interviewing

• Retail Interview Tips from MBACM

• Typical Questions with Frameworks

• Retail Math

• Follow-up Post Interview

• Timeline for Interview Prep

• Q&A

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Note ALL ways to apply

Look up CP company notes, remember

Lippincott resources

Walk-in interview process may be an

option

On Campus Recruiting (OCR) – Retail

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Employer Position Application Deadline

Interview Date

Apple Retail Multiple MBA Internships 12/7 1/19

Amazon Corporate Development; Finance LDP; Pathways Operations; Senior Program Manager; Strategic Business Develpmt

12/8 1/24

Amazon Retail LDP; Senior Product Manager; Senior Product Mgr-Technical Products

12/8 1/26

Nordstrom MBA Summer Internship - Multiple 12/9 TBD

Burger King / RBI MBA Summer Leadership Program 12/10 1/23

Wayfair MBA Summer Associate Program - Multiple 12/10 1/23

Walmart eCommerce MBA Summer Internship 2017 - Multiple 12/10 1/25

Estee Lauder Presidential Management Associate Summer Internship

12/11 1/20

Lilly Pulitzer Summer 2017 MBA Internship - Multiple 12/11 1/20

Urban Outfitters Strategy & Corporate Development 12/12 1/19

Dick’s Sporting Goods General Management Internship 12/12 1/26

Burlington Stores MBA Customer Strategy Intern 1/3 1/26

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Current Non-OCR/ Internship Job Postings

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Company Position Position Location CP Application DeadlineNike, Inc. Nike Finance Intern Beaverton, Oregon United States 12/7/2016Nike, Inc. Nike Strategic Planning Intern Beaverton, Oregon United States 12/7/2016Nike, Inc. Nike Analytics Intern Beaverton, Oregon United States 12/7/2016Amazon Amazon China Consumer LDP China 12/8/2016Amazon MBA Japan Retail Internship Program Japan 12/8/2016Amazon Mexico Consumer Internship Program Mexico 12/8/2016

Amazon MBA Operations Internship Program - International Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, France, Czech Republic, Poland 12/8/2016

Amazon China Pathways Operations Manager – MBA Intern China 12/8/2016Amazon MBA Supply Chain & Transportation Internship Prgm Luxembourg, United Kingdom 12/8/2016

Amazon AWS China Regional Infrastructure Operations Manager –MBA Intern China 12/8/2016

Amazon Amazon China – Finance LDP Internship China 12/8/2016

Amazon Finance LDP Intern - International Locations Japan 12/8/2016

Amazon EU MBA Consumer Internships France, Spain, Luxembourg, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy 12/8/2016

Amazon Human Resources LDP Intern Seattle, Washington United States 12/8/2016Amazon MBA Supply Chain & Transportation Internship Program European Union 12/8/2016

Under Armour 2017 Summer League Internship – MBA Opportunities Baltimore, Maryland United States 12/19/2016vips MBA Summer Intern China 12/21/2016

Nike, Inc. Nike Digital Product Management Intern Beaverton, Oregon United States 12/30/2016

Walmart Stores, Inc. E3 Strategy & Finance MBA Internship Bentonville, Arkansas United States, San Bruno, California United States 1/4/2017

Cencosud-SA Cencosud Internship Program 2017 Lima, Peru, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Santiago, Chile, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Bogota, Colombia 1/5/2017

Cencosud-SA 2017 MBA Internship Santiago, Chile 1/6/2017Walmart Mexico &

Centralamerica MBA Summer Internship Program Mexico City, Mexico 1/8/2017

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Timing of Non-OCR Retail Internship Postings (2015-2016)

NYC Networking

Expo

Retail Conference

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Companies That Made Internship Offers in 2016Luxury/Beauty Apparel Mass Merch/ Dept

StoresE-Commerce Other

Kate Spade

La Perla

PVH Corp.

Sidney GarberThe Estee LauderCompanies Inc.*

Theory

Marc Jacobs

ANN INC.

Anthropologie

Criquet Shirts

Gap Inc.

MM.LaFleur

Nike, Inc.*

Under Armour

Urban Outfitters

P.Mai

Tracy Anderson Advisors

Victoria’s Secret

Burlington Stores

Nordstrom

Petco

Amazon

Boxed

Blue Apron

Everlane

Groupon

GrubHub Seamless

Jack Erwin

Hello Fresh

Happiest Baby

MeUndies

PetFlow.com

Rent The Runway

Rocksbox

Try Walmart eCommerce*

WayfairThe Honest Company

Zady

Apple, Inc.

Bloom That

Burger King*

Dick's Sporting Goods*

HSNLiberty Eagle (Subway

East Africa)

Moet Hennessy

Master & Dynamic

Total Wine & More

*Companies that sponsored international students to work in the US in 2016Companies in bold are considered mature recruiters.

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Tips for Non-OCR / Job Postings

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• Apply ASAP – most job board postings are ROLLING

• CareerPath Job Postings are NOT your only options • Look at the corporate job boards for firms you are interested in and apply directly• Attend Spring networking events: Retail Conference, NYC Expo

• Find contacts (CareerPath, Offer Directory, Spike Community, LinkedIn) and proactively reach out • Wharton MBA and undergrad alumni • Alumni from your undergraduate institutions and any other affiliations

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Retail Interview Tips

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• Demonstrate passion and be humble• Show your understanding of the industry and how it’s changing• Do research on company/brand, know 2-3 current trends/news stories • Have a compelling personal story about why company X and the type of role• Visit stores & websites, talk to sales associates/managers, have an opinion• Pay attention to culture of company

• Dress for the role (Retail Interview Attire Guide)• Estee Lauder / Nordstrom – polished and professional • URBN / Lilly / Nike – brand appropriate • Amazon / Apple / Walmart e-Commerce – tech industry interview

• Prepare 6-8 accomplishment stories for behavioral interview questions• Retail Skills: Cross-Functional Teamwork, Analytical Skills, Leadership, Creativity• Consider the differences in interview questions by function• Know the 2-3 key takeaways you want the interviewer to remember about you • Make your stories relevant, memorable and concise

• Practice• Out loud, in 1Y peer groups, 2Y mock interviews, Interview Stream• Look for sample questions in the Retail Club’s Interview Database, Marketing Club's

Interview Database, and CareerPath Employer “Notes” (for Tech Retail firms)

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Retail Sample Interview Questions

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Category Questions

Career Rationale

Tell me about yourself/Walk me through your resume Why retail/beauty/fashion? Why company X? Why are you interested in X role (e.g. finance, merchandising, marketing,

strategy)? Would you be willing to work in a store on the shop floor? How do you feel about working in X city? Are you open to working internationally? Describe your ideal work environment.

Company/ Industry

When were you introduced to our brand? Have you had a chance to visit a store/website to examine our

product assortment and layout? What observations have you made? What trends have you seen in the industry / in our category? What retailer do you think is particularly successful? Tell me five retail companies that you think will continue to be successful in

the long-term and why. How do our products compare against our competitors? What ad of ours do you like the most? The least? What do you think of our social media strategy? What have we done well and what can we do better?

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Walk Me Through Your Resume / Tell Me About YourselfOption #1: Start (anchor) with the role you want and work backwards

• I am very excited to be here interviewing for a strategy at Nordstrom. As I walk you through my resume, I’ll highlight why I believe I can add value to your team.

• Working backwards, I decided to get my MBA at Wharton because of the retail coursework and strong connections to the retail industry through Baker Center.

• Prior to Wharton, I was a consultant at Bain where I worked with several retail clients. While I loved working with clients and helping meet their needs, I came to realize that I wanted to be part of the exciting changes happening in retail, particularly as I learned more about how e-commerce and mobile were influencing consumer behavior.

Option #2: Start by stating themes relevant to the company and work backwards or forwards

• As I go through my resume, I want to highlight a few themes that have driven decisions I have made about my career: ability to work with customers and to be part of diverse teams.

• Prior to coming to Wharton, I was a consultant at Bain, in this role I most enjoyed working closely with our retail clients to advise them on strategic decisions. Similar to Nordstrom, at Bain, we always put our clients first and were frequently collaborating cross-functionally across the organizations we worked with.

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Example• Why retail?

Response 1: I want to work in retail because I’ve always loved luxury goods and think there is a lot of growth potential in this sector. I was working in portfolio management at a hedge fund before school, and although the pay was good, the job itself was really dry and the hours were terrible. From speaking with my classmates, I’ve gotten the sense that retail is a lot more interesting and hands-on and offers much better work-life balance. I’ve heard really great things about the Estee Lauder PMA program, and I’m excited for the opportunity to try out the retail sector this summer as a PMA.

• Superficial reasons for wanting to go into retail – “I like nice things and don’t want to work late” are not persuasive…

• Comes off as perhaps too negative toward past employer – be careful about that!• Wanting to “try” retail not a very convincing show of commitment… • Will you be okay with the pay cut that comes from finance retail?

Response 2: After spending the past several years in an intellectually interesting but fairly abstract portfolio management role at a hedge fund, I came to Wharton determined to explore some more tangible and consumer-facing industries. This semester, I had the opportunity to enroll in a Field Application Class at Wharton and help a small Philadelphia start-up fashion brand develop its brand positioning and marketing strategy; I really enjoyed use consumer insights and competitor observations to develop my final recommendations for this brand, and I also loved realizing that my recommendations would be having a real and tangible impact on how it presents itself to the world. As a result of this initial experience in retail brand strategy, I’ve realized that I’d love to pursue a long-term career in the retail sector, and I hope that my summer internship will be the first step in this journey.

• Concrete reasons for interest in industry – backed by an example showing you at least kind of knows what she’s getting into

• Sounds much more committed in retail as a long-term industry – not just something to try for the summer• Understanding of consumer insights, competitive analysis, marketing strategy, and brand positioning are all good

things!

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Example• Have you had a chance to visit a store to examine our product assortment and layout?

What observations have you made?

Response 1: So I don’t really shop in stores anymore unless I have to… But I did take a look at Estee Lauder’s website. I was really surprised by how much free gift the brand gives out to anyone who makes even a modest purchase – there was a promotion where you got a makeup bag, a bunch of different creams, and a lipstick and eye shadow for buying $50 or more. I can’t imagine that such generous freebies help Estee Lauder’s brand image, and I think the brand would feel more premium if it cut down substantially on this type of promotion.

• You don’t go to stores? Really?? Do you even care about retail???• Comes off quite critical/arrogant – Estee Lauder pioneered the GWP, and after decades you come in and tell

them it’s brand-eroding and bad for business without acknowledging any of its upsides…?

Response 2: Sure. I’m actually a huge Clinique skincare fan, and so when I went to the mall on Black Friday, I made sure to check out the brand at both Macy’s and Sephora. At Macy’s, Clinique had a central spot in the beauty floor, was staffed with four really knowledgeable sales associates who were offering mini-facials with the new sonic brush, and had a bunch of really nicely wrapped holiday gift sets on display in addition to the usual products. At Sephora, Clinique was tucked away toward the back of the store and had a more limited selection of products; although a sales associate gave me two serum samples, she really didn’t know much about the difference between them. To me, it felt like Sephora was targeted toward a more transactional and value-driven crowd that had already done their homework online, while Macy’s was focused on a more experiential customer who wanted personal advice and was perhaps more likely to gift Clinique in addition to using it herself. I’d be curious to understand if my interpretation aligns with Clinique’s customer segmentation profiles and strategies in these two channels.

• Good to establish a personal connection to the brand – and to show knowledge of what’s in the company’s brand portfolio (not just EL brand!)

• Details suggest that they really visited, and aren’t just making it up on the fly• Analysis of what was seen across two different channels shows a deep interest and keen understanding of retail!

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Category Questions

Influence/ Communication

• Tell me about a time when you were successful at changing someone’s mind

Ambiguity • Tell me about a time you were part of a team that had no leader or an ambiguous leadership structure

Cross-functionalTeamwork

• Tell me about a time you had to work cross-functionally to drive an important result

• Tell me about a time you had a conflict or disagreed with someone

Problem Solving/Analytics

• Tell me about a time when you had to analyze a complex set of data/information and make a strategic recommendation

• Tell me about a time when you had to work with a limited amount of data

• Tell me about a time you failed

Leadership • Tell me which three characteristics you think make a great leader and then tell me about a time when you exhibited all three

Creativity • Tell me about a time when creative thinking helped you generate ideas for improving the business

• Tell me about a time you were the most innovative

Sample Retail Behavioral Interview Questions

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SAR Framework for Answering Behavioral Questions Assumption: Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior

“Tell me about a time that you…”

Situation• Describe the context of a specific event or situation from your past• Establish big picture and background information• Provide enough detail for interviewer to understand the situation/problem

Action

• Describe the action you took • Be structured in your response (e.g. “there were three main things I did to solve

the problem”)• Make sure your actions illustrate the attribute you are trying to communicate

(e.g. if it is about leadership, show how you have the attributes of a leader – set vision, motivate others, etc)

• Use more “I” than “we” language, even if discussing a group project/effort• Don't tell what you might do, tell what you did

Result

• What happened? Quantify your impact• What did you accomplish? • What did you learn? • How does this experience tie you to this role?

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Example

• Tell me about a time you had to work cross-functionally to drive an important result.

Response 1: At [Firm], one of the projects that I was in charge of was our month-end rebalancing process for a $1B+ bond fund that replicated the Lehman Agg index. This process required coordinating with a number of different teams. First, I had to work with the Client Services and Portfolio Design teams to understand if any clients were having significant account events that would lead to inflows or outflows in the bond fund, and adjust my final trading target accordingly. I then also had to work with our traders to ensure that the bonds I wanted to buy and sell were sufficiently liquid to trade, a process that sometimes required last-minute replacements to my original instructed trades. By doing all of this, I helped ensure that the bond fund was accurately rebalanced at the end of each month, which was critical for clients who had the Lehman Agg as part of their portfolio benchmark.

• Congrats! You’ve just confused the hell out of a retail recruiter… why are you interviewing for retail again, and not finance?

• Also, you just described a recurring process… it’d be better to try to identify a more unique/one-of-a-kind project where you went above and beyond

Response 2: At [Firm], I was in charge of managing a billion-dollar corporate bond fund that required regular trading. During the summer of 2012, corporate bond markets unexpectedly began to freeze up, aka “become less liquid.” As a result, as many as half the bonds that I wanted to trade would end up not going through – a really serious problem that cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars each month. After this happened a few times, I realized that since liquidity had not really been a problem before, our corporate bond fund trading model didn’t include it as a parameter, I decided that I had to build this functionality into the model immediately. To do so, I consulted with our trading teams and data teams to understand what factors drive a bond’s tradability and used their input to create an algorithm that spit out a bond’s “tradability score.” Going forward, I began to prioritize bond trades that had a high tradability score, and my rate of completed bond trades rose from as low as 50% to close to the 70-80% range – still not perfect, but much better than before we had implemented the new model.

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Retail Mini Cases: Overview• Retail mini-cases are NOT the same as a consulting case

• Present a plausible solution based on industry or functional knowledge

• Typically 2-4 minutes

• Focus on demonstrating:

• Problem solving: Structured thinking and creativity

• Communication: Collaborative, clear and concise

• Knowledge: Industry knowledge / technical skills

• Types of Questions

• Creative evaluations: Evaluate an advertisement

• Product evaluations: What is your favorite brand and why

• Situational / Strategic:

• If we wanted to pursue a new target demographic (e.g. Hispanic women) how should we go about qualifying/quantifying the market?

• Tell me about a current or recent retail trend that you think is relevant to our brand.

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Frameworks for Answering Mini-Cases

• 4Cs Company, Competition, Customer and Consumer• 4Ps Product, Price, Place and Promotion• Consumer Segmentation Process Segment, Target and Positioning• SWOT Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

Tips

• Leverage frameworks – but don’t sound like a robot! • Explain your thought process. Ask questions and/or state assumptions• They are looking to assess: your level of creativity, your ability to “go with the

flow” and your ability to think on your feet• Don’t pick one of their products (they will know more about it than you)

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Mini Cases: Frameworks & Tips

Note: Case questions for Corporate Strategy roles are typically similar to Consulting case questions, and should be prepped accordingly. Refer to the MBACM website and Consulting Club for interview resources.

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Retail Math

• Know Key Terminology and Calculation Formulas including:

• Mark Up%, Initial Mark Up%, Average Seasonal Stock, Average Yearly Stock, Turn Over, Sell Thru %, Average Weekly Sell Thru, Gross Margin $, Markdown Rate%

• Sample Questions

• Interviewer provides a small data set and asks you to calculate key metrics like gross margin percentage and return rate

• Interviewer provides some numbers and asks you to calculate the additional % growth in sales necessary to make up for an increase in returns

• Interviewer provides inventory numbers and asks you to calculate how many units we would need to sell to achieve the weekly benchmark sell thru of 15%

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Closing: Thank You and Follow-up

• Make sure you prepare thoughtful questions to ask the interviewer

• Finish the interview by reiterating that you are very interested in the job

• Thank the interviewer

• Understand next steps in the interview process

• Follow up with a brief email

• Play back a key point you learned from the interviewer about the company or role

• State a specific topic and elaborate on your informed opinion• Restate your interest in the job

• Update your advocates within the company about your interview and continued interest in the company

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Timeline for Retail Interview Prep

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Set the Stage: 2 months before Until

Interview

Prepare & Practice: One month Until Interview

Polish: 2 weeks before Until

Interview• Research Firm & Industry

• Pay attention to industry trends

• Visit stores / talk with sales associates; form opinions

• Know key news about your target firm(s)

• Focus on You• Develop 2-3 things you

want the interviewer to remember

• Decide on your 6-8 accomplishment stories

• Prepare• Review sample questions (use

question database)• Continue to follow company news

and industry trends (SmartBrief, WWD, BoF, L2)

• Review frameworks for mini-cases and retail math

• Determine competencies shown in each accomplishment story. Put stories into S-A-R framework

• Practice • Why retail / role X / company X• Behavioral, mini-case and retail

math questions • 1Y Peer Groups and 2Y Mocks

• Seek feedback; concentrate on improving development areas (e.g. style, content, non-verbals, ability to connect with interviewer)

• Refine how you tell your stories – body language, tone, word choice

• Prepare questions for interviewer

• Attend MBACM Fireside Chats

• Decide on what you are going to wear to the interview

Continue Enterprise Networking

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Enterprise Recruiting Resources & Tips• MBACM Workshops

• Navigating the Enterprise Job Search [PDF]• Pitching to Startups [Link]

• Events

• Feb 24th Graduate Retail Conference• Mar 17th NYC Networking Expo

• Use FRP “downtime” wisely

• Develop / refine your enterprise job search plan• Start / continue networking… be purposeful

• Tips for Success:

• Leverage Wharton network: peers, alumni, faculty• Get on firms’ radar early, and aim to build rapport and credibility through

initial conversations• Prepare to be on the ground often (Fridays in NYC)

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Q&A

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Source of Internship Offers: Class of 2017*Preliminary data as of 7/2/16

55%

17%

16%

5%4% 1%1%1%

Wharton Job - On Campus RecruitingPersonal Networking ConnectionsWharton Job - Job PostingOtherWharton Alumni ContactTrek NetworkingCareer FairMBA Career Management Contact

35%

23%

20%

8%

6%

6% 2%

Wharton Job - On Campus RecruitingPersonal Networking ConnectionsWharton Job - Job PostingOtherMBA Career Management ContactCareer FairWharton Alumni Contact

All Industries Retail

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Timing of Retail Internship Offers: Class of 2017*Preliminary data as of 7/6/16

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