Graduate Fashion Merchandising Scheme

I can't give you specific tips for New Look, but I can give you some general advice. I used to work in recruitment for several fashion retailers, so I know a fair bit! Could I ask you tho - if you can - please give us some information about your assessment day after it takes place too? That would be very useful for WikiJob!

First of all I'd say some general advice about retail right now - the industry is in dire straights. Retailers haven't been doing very well for ages (more people buy things online now than on the high street) ..and the credit crunch has, is and will see retailers continue to struggle and probably some big names go bust. I'd do some research into the retail industry in general, and specifically research fashion retail too. You'll probably be asked some questions about it, or at least for your views on it. Think about what New Look need to do to stay ahead of the credit crunch and keep their brand afloat.

Saying that, its worth noting that fashion retail is doing better than general retail overall and that the New Look brand is doing ok compared to some of its competitors (e.g. Monsoon). Have a think about its main competition (Topshop, H&M, etc) and how they compete with each other. Also think about internet only brands such as ASOS.com (As seen on screen) who are doing very well right now, and think about what New Look could do to improve their sales - for example, developing their internet sales division.

Have you seen the WikiJob page on Merchandising? Have a look if you haven't. Bear in mind that the people fashion retailers hire for merchandising roles are people that are good with numbers AND have a passion for fashion retail, rather than people who just like fashion.

It is just, if not more important that you demonstrate good numerical ability, good teamwork/communication skills and good analytical skills, than just your enthusiasm for fashion and of course the New Look brand itself. This is where most people fall down in fashion merchandising interviews... don't spend too long talking about fashion and how you want to break in to buying/design/some other part of fashion even if this is what you want to do.. your interviewer wants to hire a MERCHANDISER.. so you need to demonstrate the relevant skills for this position - numerical ability. I can't stress this enough!