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Why do you want to work at Best Buy?
Try to refer to two points in your answer. First one, refer to something that makes the company special in your eyes. It can be their environmental policy, strong focus on team work, or the fact that they are the biggest consumer electronics retailer, and offer the best selection of products to all demographic groups.
One way or another, they should get an impression that you did your homework, know a lot about their company, and have some positive associations when it comes to their brand. Reference from a friend (who works at Best Buy and praised their working environment) will also do the trick.
The second thing to mention is your passion for electronics. You will stock them, sell them, move them around, you will work with electronics all day long. Ensure the interviewers that you understand how electronic devices make our life easier, and better, and won’t get bored while working in their store.
Please tell us something about your previous working experience.
If you had more jobs in the past, focus on the most relevant one. Applying for a position on the sales floor, this includes any sales or customer service experience. Best Buy advertises all kinds of jobs, however. If you apply for a position of a warehouse operator or engineer for example, other experience will be relevant…
The key is to talk positively about your former colleagues and duties. They shouldn’t get an impression that you look for negatives and mistakes (in your colleagues, in yourself, in the world). Oppositely, try to praise your former colleagues, tell them what you learned in your last job, and how it prepared you for your new role with Best Buy.
Lack of experience isn’t a disadvantage, however. Best Buy has one of the best employee training programs in the United States (see the list here). So even if you have no experience, but there is passion for sales and electronics in your heart (and can demonstrate it with your enthusiasm and interview answers), they will give you a chance.
If you lack experience, refer to their excellent training program and your desire to learn and become an excellent sales employee. For sample answers to this question, check our separate article with 7 sample answers: How do your skills and experience match the job requirements?
What are your goals? What do you want to achieve in this job?
In an ideal case you should connect your future goals with your employment in Best Buy. Now, even if you start as a part time cashier, you can move up pretty quickly with the company.
Sales floor is a must-stop for everyone, but once you prove your communication skills and leadership, and a position becomes open (someone else is being promoted even higher, or someone is leaving the company), they may offer you a supervisory role. There are documented cases when this took less than a year, and from supervisory job it’s just one step to management...
Feel free to talk about your ambitions in an interview, but stay humble and ensure them than you want to start from the bottom (and learn along the way).
If you have other aspirations, however, such as going to college, try to talk about them in a way that explains your reasons for applying for this job.
For example you have a free summer, you want to earn some money for your studies, and hence you decided to apply for the job with Best Buy. You will see later, perhaps you can keep the job while studying at college as well. What are your goals is a popular interview question, and we have 7 sample answers for it here.
Are you a team player? How important is teamwork for you?
Teamwork is very important at Best Buy. Ensure your interviewers that you always feel responsibility for your colleagues, that you do not want to compete with them, but cooperate, helping each other to achieve the best possible sales volume, and great level of customer satisfaction.
You can also demonstrate your attitude with an example from your last job. Talk about a situation when you helped your colleague, for example to overcome a crisis of motivation, or to improve their sales skills.
How do you want to be paid? Do you prefer a flat-rate, or a commission from each sale you make?
This is actually one of the points that sets Best Buy apart from many of their competitors. Sales employees do not receive sales commissions, and so they have no reason to promote certain products or to try to deceive customers, while hoping to sell the product with the highest commission.
Ensure the interviewers that you are aware of the policy. You can actually refer to it as one of the reasons why you like Best Buy, and why you want to work for them. And while you prefer a flat rate, you will still try your best to ensure that you and your colleagues on shift generate good sales volume, and that each customer leaves the store satisfied (even if they do not purchase anything).
See this mobile phone on the table? Try to sell it to me.
Role plays are common in Best Buy job interviews. At the end of the day, asking you to make a short sales presentation is by far the best way to test your sales skills, or at least your capacity to become a good salesman (saleswoman) in the future (after the employee training).
Interviewers do not expect a flawless sales pitch from you. You will learn how to deliver such during your training. But they expect you to show some courage, to accept the role play, and to at least try your best.
Ask questions (what they expect from a perfect phone, for example), and explain how the product you are supposed to sell can meet their expectations, or fulfill their needs. Do not forget on your non-verbal communication. You should keep an eye contact with “the customer”, and you should show some enthusiasm for the product.
The question is also your opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge of consumers electronics (in this case mobile phones). Fee free to point out some features that make the phone special in your eyes… If you need more advice for this one, have a look at our in-depth analysis of “Sell me this pen” interview question.
What does excellent customer service mean to you?
You can say a few things. Perhaps that it is your utmost priority, that you understand that unless customers receive an excellent service, they won’t return to the store again (and will spend their money in some other store with electronics). What’s more, if they receive bad service, they would spread negative feedback. You don’t want it to happen.
You can also define such a service. If a customer feels welcome, heard out, respected and recognized, from the moment they walk into the store until they leave it (and even afterwards, if they decide to return the product for example), we can certainly say that they received an outstanding service.
Special Tip: This is a popular interview questions and we have an entire on it. Check sample answers to the question (and more) here: Describe your definition of outstanding customer service.
Other questions you may face while interviewing for a job with Best Buy
- Describe a conflict you had with one of your colleagues in your last job.
- How would you deal with a disruptive customer?
- Try to describe the brand of Best Buy in three words.
- When can you start the job?
- What motivates you the most in work?
- After everything that has been said in this interview, do you have any questions?
* Special Tip: You can also download the questions in a one page long PDF, print it, and practice your interview answers anytime later:
Conclusion, next steps
Getting a job with Best Buy is more about your attitude and motivation than about your experience (at least when we talk about retail and warehouse positions).
The company has an excellent training program for new hires, and you will learn everything from successful employees who’ve been with the company long enough to know the ins and outs of the job.
Learn as much as you can about the company, and try to find things that resonate with your values (such as their “no sales commission” policy, environmental practices, cooperation instead of competition, in-house brands, etc). Once you know the information and prepare for the questions from this article, you should make it. We wish you good luck!
P.S. If you apply for other than retail job, head to our section “Questions for different job titles“, find your job title in the list and prepare for the interview questions specific for the position you try to get with Best Buy.
May also interest you:
- Lowe’s interview questions.
- Target interview questions – 25 most common questions you may face while trying to get a job with another retail giant.
- Gamestop interview questions.
