Hi darling,
i work for MAC in London and it's true, it's quite difficult to get in. It helps a lot if you have MA qualifications but just because you don't, doesn't mean you have no chances. If you have some retail experience and passion for make- up you can have a go. The process is as follows: you need to ring the Lauder reqruitment line (08700342435) and then, if they have any positions available in your area, you need to go through a telephone interview with a reqruitment consultant, they will ask you questions about your past retail experience, make-up qualifications, customer service etc. It takes about 10-15 mins and at the end they will tell you if you were successful or not. If You are, you will be contacted by an area manager for a face to face interview, it usually takes up to 2-3 weeks. At the personal interview you would need to bring your cv in and a portfolio if you have one. They will ask you similar questions to the ones they ask in the US (what do you know about MAC, why do you want to work for them, what would you contribute to MAC, how would you deal with a difficult customer, where do you see yourself in 5 years time). At least that's what they asked me. Then if you're successful, you get invited for a make-up test, where you need to apply make-up on a model (usually you have to bring your own with you). That's the most important part of the interviewing process so you really need to try your best, if you apply the make-up perfectly, you're half way there. The last stage is a short interview with your store/ counter manager but that's a formality. As i said it is not easy to get in, as the turn over is not big, people are simply not leaving MAC once they're in but if you try hard enough you have great chances. It took me over a year to finally get my dream job but it was worth it. Just don't take no for an answer and you'll be fine ;-)
Good luck and let me knwo if you have any questions.
xxx
