Staples General Manager interview questions

Spoke with HR Recruiter twice for two positions in a six month window and she was great. Very clear and upfront. Once I was connected with the HR Manager it was just a phone screening with a bunch of shotgun questions. Very impersonal and let me get through these questions mentality. I was passed on to a third phone screening with someone who didn't even introduce themselves and gave feedback that they didn't see me as a general manager abut still wanted to talk. Set up a meeting 45 meetings away for an undisclosed position. Not the interview experience I expect from such a company. If they treat applicants like cattle then imagine employees.

I've first went through a recruiter through Staples. She was slow to respond after sending me an email with no contact info, then caught me on a Monday during work without confirming the time first like she original stated. She seemed unprepared as well, and it took a few minutes for her to pull up my record. The main problem that I've had with Staples is that they seem to outsource recruiters who don't really understand what they're hiring for. The mistake I made was trying to talk about my experience, rather than cherry picking and saying the right buzz words that they were screening for. Part of it was my fault in that I was caught off guard during lunch break and I've over 10 years of experience, so she cut me off early on and stopped listening or seeing how I fit in (and she's the one who should've read my cover letter and resume, she should've known how I fit in already). If I got in front of the district manager or someone who knew what he/she was doing, I would've been fine. Staples do not use intelligent recruiters who are great at their job - learn from my mistake and IMMEDIATELY, ONLY say specific key words and experience exactly to the position you're applying for. Think simple and pigeonhole yourself, dumb down your answer and talk ONLY about few specific things - don't even explain things, just list a few very short, easy things like you're reading a grocery list. Then you'll do fine and will go on to meet someone in person who has real world experience in the field. I've done my research and went and talked to the people at my local store. What I didn't expect, since I've done a lot of interviews in the past and assumed professional hiring managers would handle hiring for a big company like Staples, is that they're using recruiters who are essential people looking at computer screens and matching key words to *screen* (NOT INTERVIEW) the candidates. This first part IS NOT A CONVERSATION - they're working off a checklist and are clueless otherwise. It doesn't matter how knowledgeable you are or how experienced you are. Learn from my mistake and only say the stuff your specific recruiter wants to hear, because they don't know better (might be a bit of a lottery). Good luck!