Friday 4 February 2011

Benefit Audition.

Thanks for all the lovely comments yesterday! I had my Benefit Audition today and it was one of the worst experiences of my life! Needless to say, I didn't get the job.
I'd read a few things online about how Benefit are sales driven and don't care about makeup but I don't think I was prepared for this. Overall, I think I did quite well. I knew most of the products already and how to use them, so I was good at demonstrating the products... but that didn't really seem to matter.
To start, we were told a bit about the products; what they did, their ingredients, how and where to apply, benefits etc. and then we were shown how to use them from the demonstrator - this meant putting the four Benefit products on top of (and therefore ruining) my perfectly applied MAC makeup. Honestly, this was awful! The four products were Dr. Feelgood (a waxy complection enhancer, like a primer), Rebel Lite (a tinted moisturiser), Benetint lip & cheek stain (which I have never been a fan of) and High Beam (highlighter). I got this all applied to me twice. Badly. But nevermind, I didn't complain and we moved on (with me looking like a clown - pale face, blemishes on show, bright pink stained lips and massive red circles on my cheeks...) to the traffic stopping.
The demonstrator explained that traffic stopping is what the job consisted of, so if we didn't enjoy it then to let her know because we weren't right for the job.
We were to go out into the shop floor, but not near the beauty counters... so that was just the handbags and swimwear sections (a very small area) and find customers to drag over. Keeping in mind, this is Debenhams so a lot of older women who weren't interested in having a makeover as most were on their lunch break. We were basically told not to ask them to come over, but to drag them over. It was awful! I'm not a quiet person, I'm chatty enough but I draw the line when someone says no, they don't want to come over. We were told not to take no, just use a whole list of lines to lure them in.
You really did have to be forceful about it, I backed down after they said no. I felt so mean, preying on middle aged women who had things to do, but couldn't say no to me! I got three girls over to do a demonstration altogether, but I had a feeling they didn't really want to be there and they didn't want to buy any products.
The demonstrations went well, but obviously that was the reason I applied for the job, I wanted it to be about the makeup. I was awful at traffic stopping, and the trainer noticed that.
I was dismissed after two hours, thankfully. Any longer and I think I would have asked to leave.
At one point, I noticed a group of girls with dark skin who looked like they would be up for a demonstration, but then I remembered we only had the Light tinted moisturiser, so I asked the trainer what I should do and she said to just "use it anyway" uhh... these girls would have to continue their day with a pale face! Is it just me or does that seem insane? Obviously the light version was faarrr too pale for them! At that point I think I sort of thought 'this is enough!' and gave up.

Overall, I am slightly disappointed but I'm more disappointed that that's what Benefit is all about. They don't care about the makeup, it's completely sales driven. I'm pleased I didn't get the job, I couldn't have handled doing that all day.
Has anyone else had any experiences with Benefit or any other makeup brands? I get the feeling other brands sell themselves so there's no need for traffic stopping...

Edit: Ps. I've been getting a ton of views on my post about my Homemade Studded Leather Jacket and a heap of searches on google, so I'm thinking about doing a tutorial on it if anyone's interested? Let me know!

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