I applied in-person. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Trader Joe's (Temecula, CA) in Mar 2015
Interview
I had 3 interviews. The first one was with a mate, and the second was with a captain. The last one was with the regional manager and was pretty bland and short, but the first 2 were about 15 minutes and went great. I was so confident I was going to get hired. They look for personality and good work ethic. They asked me things like "Why Trader Joe's?" "What products do you like?" "If I were to call your boss, what would he say about you?"I thought it was a bit much to have 3 entire interviews just to work at a grocery store. The whole process really wasn't hard though. They basically have a conversation with you and they do ask you some questions here and there where you need to come up with a good answer fast. Things like "What are your weaknesses?" "Why should we hire you out of all the other applicants?".
I had 3 separate interviews. 1 was over the phone. 2 were in person. I never heard anything after the third interview. I called the store about a week later and they let me know they didn’t actually have any available positions. Really felt like they wasted my time.
I applied in-person. I interviewed at Trader Joe's (West Hollywood, CA)
Interview
Casual, took place outside of the store. First I had a phone call interview. Then another which was in-person with 2 of the mates in the store, and finally a third in-person with the captain of the store.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What was something I did for a friend that was above and beyond?
Different questions than I have experienced in past job interviews, but seem to be their traditional hiring questions. They want to make sure they are hiring sociable people more so than just someone that can do the job.