A Hobby Lobby employee is a professional who sells various arts and crafts goods in retail outlets i.e. department stores. In addition to product presentation and the sale of goods, the main areas of responsibility of a Hobby Lobby employee include professional advice to customers on their purchases.
But before starting your career in Hobby Lobby, you first need to go through the interview process. Therefore, we present you the top 25 Hobby Lobby interview questions with answers.
1. Why Are You Interested In This Role?
One of the most satisfying tasks of working with Hobby Lobby is talking to customers. Here, expertise and product knowledge should shine to support the customer in the purchase decision. In addition to talking to customers, the customer-oriented presentation of goods is one of the most important tasks. It is important to work quickly and efficiently. Not only do the goods have to be scanned quickly and correctly, but attention must also be paid to discounts and anti-theft devices. Special care is required when removing the anti-theft devices since improper removal can result in defects in the goods. You have to handle complaints of all kinds.
So, the position asks the employee to enjoy serving others and be of help. I have found that I feel accomplished when the client leaves the shop satisfied.
2. What Are The Roles Of A Hobby Lobby Employee?
The roles of a Hobby Lobby employee are very diverse. Due to the possible assignments in different job aspects, the tasks and areas of responsibility can also vary. This includes:
- Work with different product ranges
- Advise customers and sell goods
- Checkout and billing
- Participate in the design of the assortment
- Procurement and purchasing of goods
- Assist in warehousing and shipping
- Process orders, complaints, warranty claims
- Placing and presenting goods to promote sales
- Participate in inventory and stock control
- Maintain product catalogs for online shops
- Mark goods
- Check the completeness of the range of goods on the shelves or sales areas
3. What Are The Qualities That A Hobby Lobby Employee Needs To Be Successful?
The job profile of a Hobby Lobby employee is very diverse. As such, a Hobby Lobby employee must possess the following skills and qualities: bookkeeping, commercial management, calculation, and warehousing. They should also know about marketing and pricing. There go complaints processing, assortment design, and sales promotion.
4. What Major Challenges Did You Face During Your Last Role? How Did You Manage Them?
When they are not serving customers, Hobby Lobby people keep the salesroom in order and put goods back on the shelves. They get supplies from the warehouse if necessary and decorate sales stands and shop windows, so-called visual merchandising. As retail clerks must know the market and changing customer needs first-hand. You observe the product life cycle of goods and the competition, do market analyses or deal with current market trends. The aim is to always keep the range up to date. Before ordering new goods, retail merchants obtain various offers, assess the quality of the items, and conduct purchasing negotiations. When determining the purchased quantity, they monitor the existing stock, the shelf life of perishable goods, and seasonal aspects, for example when ordering decorative items.
They receive deliveries, unpack them, check the quality, mark the goods with the sales price and, if necessary, bring them back. They put security labels to prevent theft. If necessary, they store them professionally and keep storage files and statistics. When stocktaking is due, they carry out the inventory check using mobile data acquisition devices.
At my previous job, I was at least concerned with customer service. I have always been good at selling. But these accompanying duties scared me. In time, things just started to get easy, and I enjoyed every aspect of my job.
5. Describe Your Daily Routine As A Hobby Lobby Employee?
Hobby Lobby employee mainly advises customers and sells goods. Other common tasks include receiving complaints from customers and helping them with a possible exchange of goods. You are also responsible for the entire purchase and sale process of the goods. This means that you order the required products. In addition, as part of the team of Hobby Lobby, you must store the ordered goods properly and place them in the shop in a customer-oriented and appealing manner.
As a result of this area of responsibility, you will spend most of your working hours in the sales and storage rooms. But office work is also an integral part of the job since that’s where the orders are taken and the invoices processed. You will take on business management tasks in human resources and accounting and be actively involved in product range design and marketing campaigns.
6. Describe Briefly About Your Experience?
I worked as a retail clerk in a fashion house. My responsibilities included customer service, assisting with purchasing, warehousing, and administration, as well as issuing invoices and collecting the goods purchased by customers. In my day-to-day work, I was responsible for tasks behind the scenes of the store. I controlled the inventory, reorder goods, accept deliveries of goods and check them for quality and compliance with the order. In addition, I am always informed about new trends and developments to adapt their range accordingly.
I have commercial experience, based on completed training as a retail clerk. Then, I have experience in advising clients. High level of professional competence about the goods offered in the shop to be able to advise customers accordingly. I have the willingness to continue learning. I am communicative, polite, and customer-oriented appearance as well as an independent and responsible way of working and high-quality awareness.
7. What Kind Of Strategies And Mindset Is Required For This Role?
Dealing well with people and customers is extremely important and a basic requirement for successful work at Hobby Lobby. At the same time, however, you should not underestimate the fact that dealing professionally with people as a service employee places certain demands on you that you may not necessarily need in dealing with other people personally.
The following applies to the workers in Hobby Lobby: You should be friendly to the various customers, but not come across as fake. An honest and positive attitude is therefore mandatory and is also one of the basic requirements of the profession.
8. What Is The Biggest Challenge You Foresee In This Job?
Retail and salespeople have a lot of customer contact. Friendly advice is their top priority. Does a customer just want to look around first? No problem. The Hobby Lobby employee remains polite and approachable, even if a customer initially reacts dismissively or is stressed. In the sales talk, they determine what customers want and, with the right arguments, suggest suitable goods for purchase. This requires specialist knowledge of the products offered. Hobby Lobby representative guides the customers to the right shelf, inform them about the properties, handling, functions, and advantages of certain products, and, for example, demonstrates technical devices on request. Before the sale, they inform the customer about warranty periods or special services, such as the in-house repair or delivery service, and calculate discounts and other discounts if necessary. They accept reservation requests, put goods back and also help with the exchange of goods. And what is most challenging, in the event of complaints, they remain friendly and courteous, respond to customers and suggest solutions.
9. How Do You Stay Motivated At Work?
I strive to provide a perfect in-store shopping experience anytime. I like to perform a variety of tasks accurately, efficiently, and productively, while still being there for customers when they need it. A satisfied customer is my top priority. Next on the list are making a good deal, and hitting my sales targets. But, the real motivation is providing excellent service and gaining loyal customers.
10. Describe A Time You Failed In This Role And The Lesson You Learned?
As a Hobby Lobby employee, you have many different tasks that you have to carry out almost simultaneously during peak times. Familiarization requires a bit of concentration, but those who diligently write down the instructions will certainly master it.
In everyday work, no shift is like the other. As a retail employee at a fashion store, you are an advisor, security guard, salesman, cashier, and fashion guru – all in one person. I was prepared for all these roles. But, there was a time when a customer was insisting on getting a discount. I was not in charge of pricing and discounts. The company is part of a greater retail brand, so the discount is determined outside of our shop. The customer left angry. I felt like I failed, but there was nothing I can do. I learned that working in service sometimes means dealing with unreasonable requests. And disappointing a customer once in a while.
11. Why Do You Feel You Are Qualified For This Role?
I have completed training as a salesperson. Also, I have professional experience in sales. I feel joy in selling and giving shopping advice. I know how to inspire customers and enjoy working in direct customer contact. I also enjoy working in a team and can be deployed flexibly in terms of time. I have analytical and commercial thinking, as well as resilience. I have an interest in commercial-organizational, administrative-organizational, and social-consulting activities. I am customer and service-oriented.
12. Share With Us Your Greatest Achievement
At my previous job, after a certain time, I was assigned a role in marketing. I conducted sales promotion and advertising. Some of the jobs I took were:
- Place and present goods to promote sales (visual merchandising )
- Carry out decoration work in shop windows and salesrooms
- Plan or change shop fittings (e.g. the arrangement of shelves).
- Plan and carry out special campaigns
- Plan and carry out advertising campaigns, plan and design advertisements in the media, and plan and carry out online marketing measures if necessary
- Observing customer wishes and market needs over the long term
13. How Well Do You Work In A-Team?
As a Hobby Lobby employee, I expect to work together with other colleagues. The customer experience is highly dependent on the climate between each other. The ability to work in a team, therefore, plays a major role in your work in retail. This also means working in clear hierarchies. A team works because everyone is willing to support each other and work in a solution-oriented manner. I am ready for this.
14. What Is Good Customer Service?
To me, the heart of good customer service is accommodating customers. That means greeting them cheerfully and having the knowledge to answer their questions. I always smile and greet customers and try to get to know the inventory as well. This ensures that I am ready with an answer if a customer has a sizing or fit question.
15. What Would You Do If Your Replacement Doesn’t Show Up?
My first step would be to reach out to my replacement to get a feel for the situation. I want to know if the person is completely out of sight or just stuck in traffic. Then I would find my manager and let them know about the situation so we can figure out options together.
16. The Credit Card Machine Is Broken. What Do You Say To The Customers?
The sooner people know the machines are down, the better. First I would make sure my manager is aware of the situation. Then I would suggest putting up a sign to let customers know the machine is down They can run to the ATM before they get to the cash register. If customers have paid, I would apologize for the inconvenience and thank them for their understanding.
17. Why Do Customers Shop At This Store?
It’s all about the experience. For example, at my local shop, a candle is always lit. In other branches, I saw fresh flowers. And I’ve noticed the staff give me a cheerful greeting and personal recommendations. Nobody ever seems to aggressively sell to me. From start to finish I think customers enjoy the experience of stopping by Hobby Lobby Company – it’s such a treat.
18. A Customer Gets Mad At You And Demands To Speak To Your Manager. How Are You Dealing With The Situation?
When I speak to customers, I always try to be empathetic and try to understand and fix the problem. But sometimes a problem isn’t fixable or a customer is just cranky. If a customer asked to speak to my manager, I would agree and also apologize for not being able to resolve the situation. Then I would grab my manager as soon as possible and explain the circumstances so that my manager would be willing to take care of the customer. I would probably ask my manager for feedback if there is anything I can do to avoid a similar situation in the future.
19. Have You Consistently Met Your Sales Goals?
At the company I worked in before, I’ve been one of the top sales reps in the department for the past six quarters. Before that, I had a really difficult quarter. I was discouraged but then realized that this was an opportunity to rethink a strategy, and it was really exciting to see these adjustments pay off in such a positive way.
20. What Interests You Most About Being Part Of The Hobby Lobby Team?
What I’m most impressed with is the difference your product can make in a buyer’s life. I think it is clear that owning a Hobby Lobby product will make the customers’ life easier, or more interesting. It’s important to me to only sell items that I truly believe in myself, things that I would recommend to a friend.
21. How Would Your Colleagues Describe You?
My colleagues at work always mention my persistence. So often I think sales are lost due to a lack of follow-up. That’s why I’m always committed to having a strategy with benchmarks planned when it comes to interacting with prospects – that way, I never miss a potentially powerful touchpoint.
22. What Do You See As Your Greatest Strength?
Strong communication skills mean I can work well with other team members and also feel very comfortable dealing with clients. I tend to think of myself as a real person and enjoy interacting with customers and helping them find the items they are looking for.
23. What Did You Like Or Dislike About Your Previous Job?
I liked the progressive, graded training program my employer used to teach new hires the ins and outs of financial services. There was always something new to learn and we knew that as we gained experience we would steadily be promoted. However, I don’t like the commute which is why I am now applying for jobs closer to home.
24. How Do You Deal With Stress And Pressure?
I’m pretty good at recognizing when I’m feeling stressed. In this case, it takes me five minutes to focus on my breathing. I also practice guided meditation for 30 minutes in the morning before work and work out for an hour in the evening. That keeps me on an even keel.
25. What Are Your Goals For The Future?
My goal is to enroll in a national retail organization where I can eventually take on a role as a regional sales manager.
Conclusion
So, are you ready for your upcoming Hobby Lobby job interview? One of the most important parts of interview preparation is being ready to effectively answer the questions that employers typically ask.
Because these interview questions are so common, hiring managers expect you to be able to answer them smoothly and without hesitation. Be prepared, and leave a good impression on your interviewer!
