Benefit Audition

On thursday, 11 March, I went to Benefit cosmetics audition. I was veery nervous as I had read many bad stories about it online... So I got there 15 minutes earlier and then the area manager told me to look around for 15 minutes and then come back. Okay so when I went to the counter on time, there were 3 other girls on the audition besides me. They were all very nice - one of them had already worked for Benefit, but she just wanted to change the area and had to go through the audition again, one girl was 18 years old and the other was in her 30s.

At first we were asked a couple of questions like do we use Benefit, which products etc. After that the manager talked about their company's strategy how they get their clients. As Benefit doesn't have any ads in magazines or Tv or anywhere, they get their clients by traffic stopping people all around the store and convincing them to come to the counter to do them a little makeover and introduce products. They also have their own techniques for that.

You have to say: Heyy! Have you ever had the Benefit experience? And then they can answer whether yes, no or maybe.. But for every answer you have to say - excellent! Come with me! I'll show you! You'll love it! Basically you can't ask them if they would like to come or not but you just have to tell them to come as this always works better than the asking technique (which is true..). And then as most of the people will say that they don't have time etc, then you have to try to convince them to come by saying something like ''There's always time to look beautiful!'' etc. And after second trying you can leave them alone and had to say ''Okayy. Have a nice day!''. After that we tried it on each other and the manager showed us what is a bad traffic stopping and what's good.

Then she introduced 4 products. I was the volunteer on whom she showed how to apply the products. First one was Porefessional which is a pores and fine lines minimizing creme and also a good primer. The second one was Some Kind-a Gorgeous foundation which looks oily in the packaging but is actually oil free and leaves a satin powder finish. Then the third product was Sugarbomb- a really nice 4-colour blush. And the last one was High Beam- a pink highlighter for cheekbones, nose, browbones and chin (Kylie Minogues favourite product!!). So at first we had to show all of these products on the half of the face so that people would see the difference and then do the other half quicker and ask the person if she sees herself wearing these products. In the end you have to ask ''Should I get these for you?'' and if the person says no then you just give her the catalogue, if maybe then you can give advice what you think looked the best on her and if yes thenn.... YESSS!!:D Soo after that we tried all of the makeup on eachother and then had to go and try to traffic stop strangers all over the store.

So at first it was really hard and weird to just approach all the different people you don't even know and try to convince them to come with you... ALL of them said whether they don't have time or they are on their lunchbreak or they are not interested. After first 15 minutes the other 3 girls all had found people and were doing makeup, but I was still running around looking for people to come.. I was starting to lose hope and it was so stressful that I could just see from peoples faces that they were so annoyed by me.. Also the fact that other girls all had customers and I didn't made me very nervous..

So I talked to the manager and she asked me many times if I am sure I want to do this etc. In the end she found me one customer and I did makeup on her and she bought 2 products!!! YAY! Then I started to gain more confidence and found another client- all by myself!! I was so happy! And she also bought several products!:))) And then I found a black girl who told me that she never uses makeup, because she has always thought it doesn't fit her... But she was sooo surprised if the foundation matched her skintone and that it actually reallly made her skin look better! That was the nicest feeling ever to see someone being so pleasantly surprised and happy that makeup can actually change your skin so much smoother and glowier!

So in the end I can say that all of the customers I got were very pleased with the result they saw so I am really happy about that:) But yeah I could've gotten more clients but it might have been because I was soooo nervous and under pressure.. I can honestly say that this traffic stopping really works! Although you have to get used to the whole technique how they get people to their counter... I just messed up with some words etc... but if I would get used to that I would be more confident and definitely get more clients:)

What else I like about traffic stopping is that some of these people would have never even thought something would look sooo good on them, or did not even know this kind of company existed.. And the packaging of the products is also very pink and colorful so most of the people would think that it is for teenagers mainly.. But actually these products are REALLLY good quality.. And I am not lying.. I tried these products on several people including myself and they really are great! The Porefessional hides the pores soooo well!! The foundation looks oily and heavy but when on skin it is so light and nice.. And the Sugarbomb is my favourite blush!!! High beam was also veryyy glowy and nice. So I liked to do it because I really liked the products... If I wouldn't have loved the products it would've been so weird to try something on other people that actually does not look so good..

All in all.. I would like to get this job, but I'm not that sure if I got it as I was so insecure at first... But I think in the end Idid quite good:) So we'll see... They told me they would call on monday and tell me if I was successful or not.... I'll tell you then..

Hope you enjoyed and hope that this post is helpful to some people who might do the audition in the future!:)

Jane xx