Ever wished you knew the interview questions before an interview? Well, at the John Lewis Partnership, your wish is our command!

In 2024, we decided to do something a little different: we published our interview questions for everyone to see. No more guessing games, just fairness and transparency – for ALL. So, why did we do it?

Our decision to open up about our interview questions was not just a strategic move but one with our core values and a desire to create the best possible candidate experience for everyone at heart. Here’s why we published them:

1. Level the Playing Field: We want everyone to have a fair shot, regardless of their background or how much interview experience they have. By publishing the questions, we help demystify the process and reduce anxiety, making it easier for all candidates to prepare effectively.
2. Get to know the real you: When you know the questions, you can focus on truly demonstrating your skills, experience, and how well you’d fit in with our culture, rather than trying to guess what we’re looking for.
3. Staying true to our values: Transparency, fairness, and respect are huge for us as an employee-owned business. Publishing our questions perfectly aligns with who we are.
4. Attract the right people: Being upfront about what we ask means you can figure out if our challenges and culture are a good fit for you. This helps us find people who genuinely connect with the Partnership.
5. Smarter hiring for everyone: Believe it or not, this actually makes our recruitment process more efficient. If you realise early on that we’re not the right fit for you, it saves your time.

What Does This Mean for You?

Of course, when we made the decision, it was you, the candidate we had in mind. Having the questions readily available means:

• Less Stress, More Confidence: Seriously, knowing what’s coming can drastically reduce those pre-interview jitters. You’ll walk in feeling more prepared and confident.
• Supercharge Your Prep: This isn’t about memorising answers. It’s about giving you the chance to think deeply about your experiences and craft thoughtful, well-articulated responses that truly showcase your skills and potential.
• A Truly Fair Chance: Everyone gets the same opportunity to shine. You don’t need insider tips or extensive networking to be prepared.
• Understand What We Value: The questions themselves offer clues about our core competencies and values. This insight helps you decide if the John Lewis Partnership is the right cultural fit for you.
• Boost Your Performance: Better preparation naturally leads to a better interview performance, increasing your chances of success.

The Interview Questions

Now that you know why we do it, let’s talk about how you can use this transparency to your advantage. Our published interview questions are categorised by the level of role you’re applying for. Click on each of the below titles to view the questions for that particular category:

• Leading Self – for our roles that do not involve managing others (e.g. no People Management responsibilities like our shop floor roles).
• Leading Partners – for our roles that lead people (e.g. Managers of people).
• Leading Leaders – for our roles that lead leaders of the Partnership (e.g. People Managers of those with their own teams to manage).
• Leading the Partnership – for our roles that have responsibility for leadership at organisational level (e.g. Senior Leaders, Heads of, Directors).

Preparing your answers

Knowing the questions is one thing, but articulating your answers is the most important part towards making your interview a success. Here are our top tips for preparing answers to our published interview questions – plus a few helpful extras!

• Don’t Plan for Every Single Question: Instead of preparing an answer for every single published question, review your past experiences. Identify a range of different examples that could fit various questions and demonstrate your skills, experiences, and potential.
• Relevance: Pick examples that align with the job requirements. Look for where you’ve demonstrated relevant skills or knowledge, or even transferable skills.
• Success: Choose situations where your actions had a significant impact or produced clear results. Highlight achievements that show specific outcomes.
• Variety: Show your versatility by using examples from different roles, projects, or experiences.
• Complexity: Show how you handle challenges and solve problems effectively. Highlight situations where you faced obstacles and navigated them successfully.

1. Master the STAR Method: This is your secret weapon for structuring your answers and ensuring you cover everything a hiring manager looks for. Each answer should follow the STAR method. This way, you’ll be sure to get out what the hiring manager is asking of you.

• S – Situation: Briefly set the scene. What was the context?
• T – Task: What was the specific goal or task you needed to accomplish? What were you responsible for?
• A – Action: What you did to address the situation or complete the task? Be specific about your actions, including any skills or techniques you used.
• R – Reflection/Result: What was the outcome of your actions? What impact did it have? Include any quantifiable results and what you learned from the experience.

So there you have it, everything you need to get you ready. By being open about our interview questions, we’re aiming to create a recruitment experience that’s fair, transparent and, most importantly, sees you ready to thrive and succeed on your journey to becoming a Partner. We can’t wait to see what you bring to the table!

Find out more about our recruitment process on our ‘How to Apply’ page.