Whilst on a frantic job hunt during early September of this year I applied online for a position at Benefit Cosmetics as a Beauty Consultant, after applying I took into account the fact that I had no previous experience working on a make-up counter nor any professional qualifications in make-up application and so didn't ever expect to actually hear from them again. However, to my surprise about two months afterwards I received a phone call from an overly enthusiastic woman informing me that my online application to Benefit Cosmetics had been successful and I had now moved on to the next stage in the application process, a telephone interview, which will occur now! Bearing in mind I had completely forgotten about even applying for this job and had already cast out any hopes of even gaining a position with them anyways, I was a bit surprised to say the least. So now I found myself in the position of having to blag my way through an interview without any warning or prior research, and personally my performance in the interview very much showed my lack of preparation. I couldn't name any of Benefit's products and the only words I could use to describe the company (and so constantly repeated) were "amazing" and "creative". But despite this, I still, some how, managed to pass the interview and so was invited to an audition at a Benefit counter the following week. I think my high pitched enthusiastic and very excitable tone of voice (I literally just mimicked her persona!) is what won her over in the end. So really that says a lot about what Benefit are looking for I guess, just appear as if your constantly on high and they'll probably want to give you a chance at the audition stage.
The Audition
During the run-up to my audition date I decided to do some research into Benefit's audition process, just to see what I should expect from the day and possibly get some tips. Although after a quick google search I was confronted with horror story after horror story about how horrible and pushy Benefit staff are and the fact that loads of people are told to leave or just simply walk out of the audition themselves because they couldn't handle the traffic-stopping aspect of the job or Benefit just didn't think they were suitable. This left me understandably nervous about the whole thing, and at one point even considering not turning up to the audition at all. But seen as I'm the type of person that almost never listens to other people's opinions, preferring to make my own judgments, I carried on with my research (looking up product ingredients etc) and decided to attend the audition.
I had been informed by my interviewer to wear all black, and so wore black and gold shoes teamed with black tights, and a dark grey (nearly black) River Island dress with a black cardigan.
I arrived 15 minutes early to the HOF branch near Monument Station, and made my way to the Benefit counter on the ground floor straight away. I approached the first 'Benebabe' I saw and told them I was there for an audition, she gave me a warm welcome but then told me I was early and so should walk around the store and then come back on time. I did so, but then when I came back was sent away again as not all the girls for the audition had arrived yet. In the end only one other girl showed up, when apparently there were meant to be six of us (maybe the horror stories scared them off).
The audition began with her asking us a few questions about Benefit and then explaining to us what exactly we would be doing in the audition, making sure to point out that traffic stopping would be a huge part of the process, I actually had no real issue with this tbh. She practiced a few traffic stopping techniques with us and told us all the lines we would be required to say to the potential customers. For example:
You: *Approach customer, touch them on shoulder, be quite close to them* Hi honey! OMG, LOVE the bag! How are you today?
Customer: Fine thanks, you?
You: I'm great thanks! Now, can I ask, have you ever heard of Benefit Cosmetics?
Customer: No.
You: OMG! *literal shock horror face* You haven't?!?! Let me show you something, come with me!
Customer: Sorry, I don't have time.
You: Do you know what, snap! I've got about 5 minutes until my lunch, c'mon it won't take a second!
Then, she showed us the products we would be using on customers that day, there were seven in total and they included:
- Its Potent
- Poreless
- You Rebel
- You Rebel Lite
- Benetint
- High Beam
- Moon Beam
We were also expected to mention They're Real mascara to the customers once we had finished applying the make up to them, but not actually apply it. After this, she then showed us how to apply the make up to the customer, using me as a dummy. Then we were left to practice applying the make up each other, so in the end I was left with three layers on make up on! Luckily I didn't put on my usual amount that morning as I had read that we would have make up applied to us during the audition.
The part I found the hardest was remembering all the clique lines that had to said along with each product, such as Moon Beam - "J Lo glow in a bottle!"
Following this quick training session we were then set free onto the unsuspecting public. Aware that we were being graded on how many "bums on seats" (but not how many products we sold) I went straight into it and immediately started approaching customers. I think my experiences in retail so far has helped me to build up a wall of confidence when it comes to situations like this, I literally have no shame when it comes to talking people into (and maybe even sometimes harassing) them to do and buy things I want them to. This is a characteristic that I found really helped me throughout this audition, and is something you'd probably need or be willing to work on if your considering working for Benefit. I just kept thinking in my head that the worst thing they can say to me is no, and even if they are a bit rude just laugh it off in your head, its nothing personal. I did feel like I was bothering people a bit at some points, but hey, they know its just your job.
The traffic-stopping and applying make-up to customers task lasted around 3 hours, in the end I managed to draw in about eight people and nearly all of them brought something! I think Poreless was the easiest product to sell as the effects were the most obvious to the customers.
I was really impressed with my performance personally, because even though I did feel I could do it I still had doubts on how many people I could actually convince to sit down.
Strangely I found I actually enjoyed the traffic-stopping aspect, it gave me a bit of a thrill finding people that I could get to sit down and let me slap make-up on their faces! But it did leave me wondering why exactly Benefit choose to use this particular style of selling, their products are quality and they even have some very much best sellers on their shelves so why do they feel the need to still persuade and drag customers off the street to try their products?
Anyways, after the task was over, the counter-manager took me into a small back room and gave me some quick feedback about how I'd done that day and then asked me some typical interview questions (Describe yourself etc). She then asked me about my availability and told me that I'd be contacted within the next few days about whether or not I'd been successful and informed on any vacancies available in my area. So yeah, fingers crossed I get this! Despite all the horror stories I'd read about Benefit prior to my interview I actually found that I really enjoyed the experience, but it is defo true that it's not a job suitable for everyone, it just depends on what you enjoy and the type of thing your looking for.
I hope this post has helped answer any of the questions you might of had about the Benefit audition process you might of had, if your reading this for that purpose, or if not I just hoped you enjoyed reading it in general!
Thank you,
Kristine xx
