Retail sector earns third place globally for positive interview experience

A quarter of unhappy candidates will actively discourage others from applying to a company, while more than half have turned down an offer because of bad interview experiences.

Interested in the best and worst sectors to interview for, digital PR agency Reboot Online analysed the 100 best employers’ Glassdoor profiles and more than 300,000 reviews to reveal those with the highest percentage of negative and positive experiences, alongside their difficulty rating.

Key findings

• Despite the high difficulty of interviews, 71% of retail candidates report positive experiences – one of the highest of all sectors

• Lego Group and IKEA have the highest percentage of positive interview experiences

• Just 12% of candidates report a negative interview experience

Sectors with the most positive interview experiences

From retail assistants to store managers, Reboot Online discovered that interviewees in the retail sector report overwhelmingly positive experiences. More than two-thirds of candidates report a good interview with higher-ups, ranking the sector third overall for the best industries globally.

With just 12% of negative experiences reported, the sector showcases its clear people-focused values. Interestingly, retail records a high difficulty score of 3.1/5, second only to arts & design and research and science. Despite this, candidates still leave feeling good about the process.