Staples Interview Questions & Tips

How to Get a Job at Staples

Hiring managers at Staples use the job interview to look for a myriad of qualities in a candidate. The ideal applicant possesses a desire to learn, strong work ethic, communication skills, attention to detail, and the ability to multitask. Applicants should exhibit these traits along with positive attitudes and open availability to gain hiring consideration from the office supplies retailer over other potential workers.

Preparing for the Interview

Prior to any interviews, applicants should perform research on the company. Job hopefuls want to learn about company history, the desired position, and the office supply industry, in general. Applicants should also visit the location desired or the company website and learn about the products and services the store offers.

What to Wear

In addition to performing research, applicants should prepare for interviews by dressing sharp and bringing resumes. For sales floor jobs, applicants simply need to dress in casual business attire. Candidates vying for higher-level jobs should consider wearing more formal attire. Arriving early to each interview and acting in a calm, confident, and relaxed manner further demonstrates preparedness to Staples hiring personnel.

Common Interview Questions for Entry-Level Candidates

For sales associate jobs, Staples typically conducts causal one-on-one interviews. Hiring managers largely ask situational questions. Job hopefuls should expect to field interview questions, such as:

• “How do you handle an upset customer?”
• “What do you do when you catch someone shoplifting?”

Candidates should incorporate professional experiences where their actions led to positive results. In addition to work experience, applicants may also reference experiences from their personal lives, school projects, clubs, and sports teams. In some cases, applicants are tested on basic math skills.

Interviews For Management Positions

Management opportunities typically require applicants to go through several job interviews. Most commonly, managerial candidates need to interview one-on-one with general managers and district managers. In some cases, managerial candidates may need to participate in panel interviews with a recruiting team. Common Staples interview questions aspiring managers receive include:

• “What are the most important qualities a manager should possess?”
• “Describe a time when you had to have a difficult conversation with an employee.”
• “What are some ways you could increase productivity?”

Tips for a Successful Interview

Job seekers should maintain confident demeanors during Staples interviews. When given the opportunity, applicants should ask questions to show interest in the position. Typically, candidates should ask interviewers about career development opportunities, work and life balance, company culture, and the training process. At the conclusion of the interview process, workers should wait a day or two and then send thank-you notes via email or handwritten letters to follow up on hiring status.

Staples Front End Associate Interview Video

Video Transcript

Interviewer: Please describe your job title and primary duties.
Staples Employee: My job title as a front-end associate involved ringing customer up, selling them attachments to our electronic products such as laptops. We had to always push for sales and help customers answer questions around the store.

Interviewer: What was the work environment like?
Staples Employee: I thought the work atmosphere was pretty fun. When I was working, it was bunch of people, students my age at the time. The atmosphere, sometimes a little stressful during holidays, such as Christmas, but overall just really calm and chill.

Interviewer: Did you experience any promotions or career growth?
Staples Employee: Yeah. I was there for three years. Eventually, they gave me more responsibility as a cash office lead, and that involved making deposits, handling the store’s money, and just carrying manager keys, some manager functions but not all.

Interviewer: Please describe a typical day as an employee.
Staples Employee: I would usually work eight-hour shifts. They’re really lenient with schedules. They can go based off how much you want to work, how much you’re able to work. I would go in from 2pm, stay on the register for most of the time, sometimes help out on the floor with customers. We would close the store at nine. We would just clean for the hour until 10pm and then get to go home. They also gave breaks and lunches. It’s not like you’re working eight hours straight. It’s just working, taking breaks, working, taking breaks.

Interviewer: How would you describe the application and interview process?
Staples Employee: The application is an online application; it takes about 30 minutes. They ask a lot of questions, tricky questions about your personality. They want to see if you’re fit for the role. Then, they call you for an interview. It’s a short, 10-minute interview. They just ask you scenarios in which how you would act if a customer was to do a certain thing, and based on your responses, they will hire or disapprove.

Interviewer: What questions did the interviewer ask during the job interview?
Staples Employee: They want to know if you’re actually dedicated or if you’re just kind of there just to do nothing and get by. They want to see that you’re actually working and actually able to be really good with social skills and kind of persuasion skills, because you have to sell a lot of attachments.

Interviewer: What set you apart from other candidates?
Staples Employee: I think just the positive attitude. I went in there, and most people would be nervous because there’s three managers standing in the room with you. They’re all looking at you without a smile on their face. You just have to be really positive, really calm, and not shy.

Interviewer: What other advice would you give to a job seeker looking to gain employment?
Staples Employee: Tell them to keep open to what they want to do, because some people go in there wanting to do just cashiering, but be open to the other roles like office supplies, copy center, easy tech. There’s an area for each expertise, like if you’re good with technology, then you want to be an easy tech. So, just broaden your skills.

Staples Copy and Print Associate Interview Video

Video Transcript

Interviewer: Please describe your job title and primary duties.
Staples Copy and Print Associate: I worked for Staples a while ago and I was in a copy and print section. We had a journal and we would have jobs that we had to do, like business cards, invitations, things like that for businesses and also personal.

Interviewer: What was the work environment like?
Staples Copy and Print Associate: I guess really good because a lot of customers that we had for a while, they would already know us so it was more of a personal experience. We already got to know those customers for a while. Even though I didn’t work there for a long time, it was more of a … It was kind of like a close … We just got to know each other really good so we would know and they would bring us gifts and stuff like that. It was good. I liked it a lot.

Interviewer: What was your favorite part about working there?
Staples Copy and Print Associate: Some customers were really nice and like I said, they would bring us things. Also, on top of that, they would also say good things about us and they would always come to us so they were just kind of committed customers to us. They would look for us personally.

Interviewer: How would you describe the application and interview process?
Staples Copy and Print Associate: It was mostly a lot of paperwork and he just asked me questions about the experience that I had before, my previous experience and my resume, and watched a couple videos of … I don’t quite remember but I’m sure it was like what the job was going to be about.

Interviewer: What questions did the interviewer ask during the job interview?
Staples Copy and Print Associate: Oh, what did I do or … Yeah, what did I do in my previous job about … It was a cashier so we had to handle transactions like that too in a copy and print so they just wanted to make sure how did I handle customers, and their actions, and things like that.

Interviewer: What other advice would you give to a job seeker looking to gain employment?
Staples Copy and Print Associate: Just be very customer friendly. A lot of customer service there really, so just connect with your customers a lot because they come back and the experience that they get is very important for them. Also, the job quality. They want to make sure that you promise them a good job, do a good job.

Related Links:
Staples Application