Extremely unprofessional and insulting interview process. The interviewer called me to arrange a time, and I appeared my usual ten minutes early, wearing a business suit. The store was staffed by very young women, busts bursting out of their tops, bra straps showing, layered on makeup, Frederick's of Hollywood shoes - extremely unprofessional, urban casual chicky-babe attire. None of them acknowledged me when I walked in, even though I could have been a customer. The interviewer acted like this was an enormous pain to her, and said we'd do the interview "upstairs". She didn't introduce herself or so much as offer a handshake. She took me to the mall food court at noon, during school summer vacation. The place was full of people, including screaming kids running around. She sat me at a filthy table smeared with ketchup and proceeded to read the interview questions off of a sheet of paper, acting bored and not paying attention to my answers. She said nothing about jewelry and didn't seem interested in my experience and only talked about the various sales goals that associates have to meet, including the requirement that the associate open one credit account for every shift they work. She didn't ask me if I had any questions and didn't probe on any of the questions she asked - just read them off a paper and made single word notes as to my answers. She told me to fill out a personality test online and that then they would place me in a store as a sales associate. Then the interviewer just got up and walked away, muttering something about "nice to have met you." She went over to a Belden Jewelers (owned by the same company that owns Kay Jewelers) and started talking and giggling with the sales people working in there. I have an extensive background in jewelry sales and design. The interviewer did not ask me one question pertinent to the jewelry trade - not about gold, not about diamonds, nothing. When I tried to bring these topics up, my impression was that she really didn't know anything about them. I may as well have been interviewing for a job at Walmart. My main impression is that the company only cares about opening credit accounts and that they hire immature kids, because they only pay minimum wage and a pretty sad commission. I saw the staff ignoring customers that walked in while they chatted. Overall the atmosphere was completely unprofessional, the store was grungy with dirty carpet and fingerprints on the glass display cases and the sales staff and the person who interviewed me (I guess she was a manager, though she didn't let me know her position, or even give me her name) all acted like I was beneath them. I have been on a lot of job interviews, but I think this was the most unprofessional and insulting one I have ever been on. The idea that a good place to interview anyone is in a mall food court at noon is mind-boggling. The noise level was awful, it was terribly hot and the smell was nauseating. Perhaps there wasn't a room available in the store itself, but we could have sat elsewhere in the mall, where it wasn't so noisy, hot and smelly. It was actually difficult for us to hear each other speak, not that this interviewer was really paying any attention to anything I had to say. My impression of the company culture is that it's very much like all retail these days - the emphasis is on selling people far more than they want or need, including credit accounts with ridiculously high interest rates. Meanwhile, the people who they want to do this sort of marginally unethical selling are paid next to nothing and put under continual pressure to meet unrealistic sales goals. The morale I saw displayed in this particular Kay Jeweler couldn't have been much lower. The people seemed listless and unhappy, and couldn't care enough to acknowledge me or several other people who walked in as potential customers. The interviewer acted listless, disinterested and bored. She kept emphasizing the sales goals and need to sell one credit account per shift worked, and the fact that if you didn't meet these goals, you would lose your job. Not a company culture I could recommend to anyone. It's one thing to have sales goals and to offer credit accounts, but it's obvious that the big moneymaker for this company is the credit account interest. My impression is that this company would hire anyone with any retail sales experience. It's a shame, because the atmosphere of the store was terrible - like walking into one of those teenager boutiques where the staff just curl their lips at you if you're over twenty-five and don't live up to their impression of "cool". A far cry from how fine jewelry stores used to be run.