Boots Careers: Recruitment Process/Assessment Tips
Updated November 11, 2023
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What Is Boots?
Boots UK Ltd was founded back in 1849 by John Boot, and since then, it has grown into the UK’s leading health and beauty retailer.
With a presence in airports and in countries like the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Indonesia, Thailand and the UAE, the mission of Boots is 'To be the first choice for pharmacy health and beauty – caring for people, customers and communities everywhere.'
The 2,200 UK stores are a combination of small local pharmacies and destination beauty shops, with a selection of the following services and products in each:
- Prescription medicines and off-the-shelf medicines
- Health products
- Beauty products
- Photo printing services
- Clothing (maternity, baby and toddler)
- Lunchtime food and drink
- Opticians
- Hearing care
- Mental health care
As one of the biggest pharmacy-led retail groups in the world, working for Boots can open many doors to a growing career, whether that is in retail, as an optician or a pharmacist, or in head office or as part of the warehouse team.
There are many ways to get into a role at Boots, from normal recruitment through to apprenticeships and the graduate scheme; however, it can be a competitive process.
Boots Careers: What are Available?
While the storefront nature of Boots might make it seem that there are only retail positions available, the range of roles that you can apply for at Boots covers almost every area of work – from qualified medical professionals through to warehouse, customer service, and finance and HR.
Boots Vacancies
The following are examples of the types of Boots openings that are often available. Boots job vacancies include:
- Retail – Customer advisor, beauty specialist, Liz Earle, No. 7, retail management
- Pharmacy – Pharmacist, newly qualified pharmacist, trainee pharmacist, healthcare support, pharmacy store management, locum pharmacist
- Support Office – Corporate functions & business support, buying & merchandising, finance, HR, marketing & communications, product development
- Digital – Data & insights, technology, digital
- Opticians – Optometrist, pre-registration optometrist, optical support, opticians store management, franchise
- Supply Chain – Pharmacy distribution, warehouse
- Seasonal – Airports, christmas, part-time
With a focus on caring, Boots offers each member of staff a personal development plan, which can include various Continuous Professional Development training opportunities for Pharmacists and Optometrists as well as relevant development for retail, head office and warehouse staff.
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Benefits of Working at Boots
Some of the benefits that working for Boots offers include things like enhanced maternity, paternity, and adoption leave pay, holiday entitlement that grows with the length of service and salary sacrifice schemes for things like a discounted gym membership, dental care and life assurance.
You can also expect generous employee discounts as well as corporate discounts in places like shops and cinemas as well as on holidays.
Boots Recruitment/Job Application Process
The application process for a role at Boots is broadly the same, whatever position you are applying for.
Some of the steps might have added details or might be skipped depending on your level of experience and the type of role.
Online Application
This is the first step for any role at Boots.
All available roles are advertised on the Boots website, and they do not accept in-store applications or speculative CVs.
To get started, you need to find the role that you want to apply for and hit the ‘Apply Now’ button.
You’ll be invited to create an account, which will be the hub of your application and allow you to upload all the relevant information.
You will need to add a tailored CV and a cover letter to your application form at this point, ensuring that the details on the CV highlight how you meet the requirements of the role in terms of education, experience, and skills.
If you are applying for a graduate programme, you will also need to answer some free text questions as part of Boots assessment. These are usually about your motivations for applying and why you would be a good choice for the role.
You have 500 words to get your point across, so make sure that you spend some time making it easy to read and understand and really get your point across so that the recruitment team can see how you would be a great fit.
Boots Assessment
If your application meets the role requirements, you will be invited to complete a short online assessment.
This is not timed, and the questions are about evaluating your cognitive abilities as well as your judgement and your personality.
You can expect to answer three different types of questions on the assessment.
-
Situational Judgement – In these questions, you will be given a fictional yet realistic workplace scenario to read through. This might be something to do with other members of staff, or it might concern dealing with a customer. You will need to read the scenario and decide from the multiple options given what the best course of action would be to solve the problem that is presented.
-
Verbal Reasoning – In these questions, you will need to quickly read and understand an unfamiliar passage of text and answer the question that follows. These questions have multiple-choice options, and you will need to find the answer in the given text.
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Numerical Reasoning – Numerical reasoning questions are all about applying basic mathematical principles to data to solve a problem and find a reasoned answer. You will be given some numerical data in the form of graphs or tables, and you will need to perform a basic function to find the right answer from the multiple-choice options presented.
The test is designed to be completed at home and in your own time.
Prepare for the Boots Assessment with JobTestPrep
Interview
In some cases, the interview will be the final stage of the process.
During the interview, you will speak with a hiring manager in your work location, and you can expect to learn a lot at this point about the role, the business, and what you will be expected to do.
The hiring manager will ask a couple of different types of questions, so you will need to be adequately prepared. Some of the question types you can expect include:
- Getting to know you – They might ask about your previous experience, what you do as a hobby, or about things that you mentioned in your CV or cover letter.
- Motivational – Why do you want to work at Boots? Where do you see yourself in five years? What made you choose this role?
- Competency – Tell me about a time when you gave excellent customer service. What happened in a situation where you were working as a team and something went wrong? What does good customer service look like?
Assessment Centre
If you are applying for a graduate placement, you might be invited to an assessment centre. This is an in-person event where several prospective graduates will be assessed on different skills throughout the day.
There are different exercises that will take place at the assessment centre, and they are designed to get you to use various soft skills that are needed for success.
You will need to demonstrate skills like teamwork, leadership, communication, active listening, and confidence throughout the day, as the recruitment team want to see what you would be like in the workplace.
You can expect to complete the following:
- Individual exercise – This might be a presentation, or you might be asked to complete a role play with an assessor.
- Group exercise – You might be asked to complete a case study as a team and come up with a plan of action to support a fictional customer.
- Interview – If you are invited to the assessment centre, the interview will usually take place here.
Pre-Employment Checks
If you are successful through the process, it will be at this point that you will have a job offer. If you are not successful, then you will be able to ask for feedback.
Once a job offer has been made, you will be subject to some pre-employment checks. Not all of them will be performed – it all depends on your job role. Some of the checks that might happen include:
- Employment References
- Driving Licence (for driving roles)
- DBS (for roles that require access to confidential patient information)
- Professional registration/membership (for Optometrists and Pharmacists)
Example Boots Application Questions
Example Situational Judgement Questions
Choose the best course of action to solve the problem in the below situation
You have just come back to work after your annual leave, and you notice that there has been an upgrade to the kitchen facilities. There is now a coffee machine that can be used by staff members. When you go to make yourself a coffee from it, you aren’t sure what you are doing, and it doesn’t seem to be working properly.
What should you do?
a) Just return to your desk without a coffee; someone else will deal with it
b) Find a manager and report the coffee machine as broken
c) Speak to a colleague to ask how it is meant to work
d) Try and find the user manual so you can figure it out yourself
A woman has come over to you while you are restocking the beauty aisle and is asking for help to choose the right foundation. You have only just started in your position and have not had any training in colour matching, but you want to provide the best service to the potential customer.
What is the best course of action for you to take?
a) Help her anyway – you have personal knowledge about colour matching and can still help even though you have not had training
b) Tell her to go and ask someone else because you haven’t had training
c) Take her to a colleague who has had the training so that she can get the right help
d) Ignore her
Read the below passage and answer the two questions that follow
James and Edward wanted to go on holiday together, but planning the destination was just as challenging as choosing an itinerary. James wanted to go somewhere where he could relax in the sunshine, preferably at a beach, while Edward wanted to take in some culture as part of the break. The budget meant that going too far afield was out of the question, so they decided to look at European destinations. With a gorgeous summer ahead, it was decided that Italy would be a great place – and that they could intersperse some sightseeing with relaxing around the pool at the hotel.
1. True or false: James was not interested in going somewhere that was hot.
a) True
b) False
c) Not enough information to tell
2. True or false: Edward and James decided to go to America.
a) True
b) False
c) Not enough information to tell
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The table below shows the unit sales of cars in six European countries over a six-month period. Use this information to answer the following questions.
| Month | Germany | France | Italy | Spain | UK | Other | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 200 | 150 | 100 | 80 | 180 | 70 | 780 |
| February | 180 | 130 | 90 | 70 | 160 | 60 | 690 |
| March | 220 | 140 | 110 | 90 | 200 | 80 | 840 |
| April | 210 | 160 | 120 | 100 | 190 | 90 | 870 |
| May | 230 | 170 | 130 | 110 | 210 | 100 | 950 |
| June | 260 | 180 | 140 | 120 | 230 | 110 | 1,040 |
| Total | 1,300 | 930 | 690 | 570 | 1,170 | 510 | 5,170 |
1. What percentage of the overall total was sold to the German importer?
a) 22.0
b) 25.4
c) 25.15
d) 24.1
e) 24.6
2. How many more cars were sold in May than in January?
a) 170
b) 150
c) 90
d) 185
Tips for Applying for a Role at Boots
Step 1. Research Boots
To make a real impression on the hiring team, you need to be able to demonstrate that you know all about Boots, their history, and their impact on the health and beauty industry.
There is plenty of information on the Boots website about the company, and you should also try and follow them on social media to see what their latest campaigns are.
This information should be used throughout the application process. You can refer to it in the free text parts of the application form, and you should also remember that information when you are in the interview too.
Step 2. Tailor Your Application for the Role
From the CV, cover letter and all the way through to the final interview, you need to demonstrate that you have exactly what the recruitment team are looking for.
That means that you need to make a note of all the requirements of the role as written in the job description and use that to create a CV that shows you tick all their boxes.
Highlight areas of your experience and life skills that match the competencies that they are looking for and focus on achievements that demonstrate you can use skills and abilities.
This should be something that you are referring to throughout the whole application process, so you know what the recruiters will be looking for when they are evaluating you.
Step 3. Practice the Tests to Ensure Maximum Score
Any pre-employment test can be challenging, but you can improve your performance with a little bit of practice.
Not only will taking practice tests make you feel more familiar with the test structure and environment, but it will also give you an idea of the type of questions that you will face, so you can work out if there are any areas you might need to work on to get a better score.
Practice tests help candidates to perform better, and there are both free and paid-for resources available online.
Step 4. Make Sure the Computer Is Working
The online assessment can be taken at home or wherever you are. As it is an online assessment, you need to make sure that your technology is working properly for the best experience.
You’ll need a reliable and fast internet connection, and these tests are best taken on a laptop or PC. You will need to have the latest browser version installed, but you won’t need to download anything – you can take the test by following the link that you will be sent in your email.
Also, ensure that you are somewhere you won’t be disturbed and turn off notifications on your phone and your computer so there are no distractions.
Step 5. Self Care
Assessments and interviews can be tough, especially if you are nervous about them. Taking some time for self-care before you face a new challenge will help you feel more prepared, and it will give your body and your mind the fuel it needs to perform.
This means aiming to get several days of decent rest. You should be aiming for six to eight hours of rest every night – this is the optimum amount of sleep for most people and encourages the best cognitive performance.
Food and drink are important too. A healthy, balanced diet and good hydration will make you feel more able to concentrate, whether that is in the assessment or in the interview.
Step 6. Practice Interview Questions
Answering interview questions well is a skill that you can develop, especially if you know the type of questions you are going to be asked.
Make sure you know your own CV inside and out so that if you are asked about specifics in the document, you can easily answer them.
Have your research ready to help you answer motivational questions – when they ask why you want to work at Boots, you can say something that ties in with a past accomplishment of the business or something that they are planning to achieve in the future.
Try and think of examples from your own experience where you have used some of the skills and abilities that are mentioned in the job description.
You will usually need to describe these events, so practice responding with a description of what happened – you might find the STAR mnemonic useful for this.
If you can get a friend or family member to role-play a practice interview, that will help you get used to the situation and feel more comfortable in the real thing.
Step 7. Send a Thank You Letter/Email
Thanking the recruitment team for their time and consideration is a great way to not only demonstrate some key competencies, but it will also help to keep you top of your mind when decisions are being made.
You can ask about the next steps in this message or simply say thank you.
Jobs at Boots range from retail opportunities in stores to Pharmacists, Optometrists, and other medical professionals.
There are positions in corporate areas like HR and finance, as well as supply chain and warehouse options.
Boots also offers a robust early career provision, including apprenticeships and graduate programmes.
The average salary for a retail-based role at Boots is an hourly rate of £10.66, while Pharmacists are paid £22.66 per hour.
To apply for a job at Boots, you need to visit the career page and choose an available role. Boots do not accept in-store applications or speculative CVs.
The qualifications you will need for a role at Boots depend on the role that you have applied for – there is such a wide range of positions available that it would be almost impossible to list all possible combinations.
The recruitment process at Boots is simple and straightforward, and it is mostly the same no matter what position you have applied for. It follows this structure:
- Online application form and CV
- Online Assessments
- Interview/Assessment Centre
- Offer and pre-employment checks
The length of time that the recruitment process at Boots takes depends on the role that has been advertised, but it is usually around two weeks. You will be kept informed of your progress through the system by the recruitment team, though.
Boots employees enjoy a range of benefits and perks, including excellent corporate discount schemes, enhanced support for maternity, paternity and adoption, and a salary sacrifice scheme for things like gym membership, travel and dental care.
Boots is an international company with a presence in several other countries as well as the UK and Ireland, so you can apply for an international role if there is one available near you.
Boots is all about care, and they are working to build a company culture that reflects that.
Your experience of what that means will depend on your location and department, but you can expect to work in a diverse, inclusive and supportive environment.
Retail employees will be expected to work a shift pattern to cover store opening hours, and this can range from full-time to ad-hoc or seasonal.
Corporate positions are more likely to follow office hours of nine to five.
There are lots of opportunities for career development at Boots, wherever you are in the business.
Pharmacists and other professionals are guided through all the CPD they need, while other employees can develop through their careers using mentoring and learning.
Boots are open to employees applying with no experience, and they are particularly keen to work with young people looking for an apprenticeship.
Boots have specific skills that they are looking for, and these can be demonstrated even without any relevant work experience.
Final Thoughts
If you want to work for Boots in any role, the application process can be rigorous – they want to attract and retain talented and passionate people at every level.
While the steps themselves are simple, for some roles, there is a lot of competition, so you must be prepared to put the development work in to get the best results.
Using the information above will help you prepare better for what is about to come, and then you can perform at your best.
