I had mine today.
I turned up 20 minutes early and had a play with the make-up with my model (friend from current job!) and then I went to ask where the trainer was.
She told me about the sanitizing (I made sure I did it!) and then told me to a smoky eyed look. So I ran off and grabbed everything - concealers, foundation, liner, eyeshadows, lipgloss.

So I did concealer & foundation first, forgetting that smoky eyes is gonna cause problems with fallout... I used the 190 brush and just a small pointy brush for concealer (number rubbed off!), then applied Dollymix blusher on the cheekbone to the hairline with the 187 (I had 6 of them on the belt they gave me!).

I put Phloof! All over the lid as a wash of colour and highlight, then along the crease and outer V worked in Knight Divine. Then she asked me to start explaining to the model, as though she is a customer, how to achieve the look at home. Oops! I forgot about that when I was doing it! So I backtracked a bit and mentioned what I had done so far and then explained what I'm doing next, and why and with which brush. I packed Black Tied onto the lid under the line I'd created with Knight Divine, then after blending with some Knight Divine on the brush I went on to do eyeliner. I used Fluidline in Blacktrack, on top of which I put on some more Black Tied.

Then I went to put mascara on, oops, I'd forgotten to pick some up. I ran to the mascara stand and grabbed one, and it was empty! Oh noes! The trainer ran off and grabbed me one and I cleaned up the eyeshadow a bit while I waited. So I did mascara.
Then I applied Viva Glam V lipgloss, mentioning to the trainer I liked the Viva Glam thing and how it all goes to AIDS charities. She asked me if I knew which charities the money last went to and I sorta laughed and said 'no!' apologetically, and she told me

Then she told me time was up and I worried a bit. She told me what I'd done well, what I could improve, what she prefers to do with certain things (foundation and concealer after eyes, which I said 'I should have done but was worried about the time limit), and how to improve my brush technique (hold more towards the end of the brush than right at the metal bit).

She was asking me questions all through about my previous experience and other things from my CV. She asked a couple of 'would you be ok with theme days' etc questions. I was like 'no problem, who doesn't like to dress up!!'
I now have the agonizing wait to find if I get the job!

I know you posted this awhile ago, but I am SO grateful it's on here! I have my demo tomorrow and your description really really helped give me ideas about how to talk to my 'customer' THANK YOU!!

You are so welcome!!! GOOD LUCK :-D

<3 <3 <3

.........

Soooooo, my demo was AWESOME. I've never had more fun in my life.

Quick run down? Sure. (skip this if you want to!)

I got there w/ my sister (aka my model) and was told that I could start right away OR wait for the counter manager (I opted to wait...) so we went and matched her foundation/concealer and looked at brow stuff (which I ended up not using anyways...) -- And apparently I was chatting it up with the regional trainer person and didn't even know it. Hahaha! Nice.

So the CM came and told me that she knows I've got the techniques and she wants me to take into account my sisters age (18) and do something for day wear. She said she WAS NOT going to hover because she hates it when people do it to her, but she'd just check in...Being no dummy, I asked my "client" what kind of look she was looking for... she said everyday but with a splash of color. So I strobe cream'd her, prep and primed her, and mineralize satinfinished her =P Harmony for a contour, Dame for a blush and we're onto the eyes. We used Honesty, Shroom, and Patina with a "color pop" of Freshwater on the bottom...(thank you leesha for being such an inspiration!!!!!!!!) Teddy kohl for the liner, X for the mascara...charcoal brown (lightly) for brows...Rosebound l/l, Syrup l/s, and Nymphette l/g and we're good to go! THEY LOVED IT! (one staff member who I get along with pretty well tried to "intimidate me" as a joke...hover...keep checking in...but it didn't work...muahahah!)

The CM looked at me and said "ok, VAMP it up like I know you can!"...alright...an inner corner of Fade, a wash of Tilt...Flashtrack on the crease blended up, Black Tied in the outer >...Top it off with some more shroom to blend out the lines (which my blending is "impeccable" according to the CM), a nude l/l (by now I've forgotten what I used...), High Tea l/s and Instant Gold lustreglass...

the CM came over, checked my work, didn't critique it at ALL (which I thought was weird...I was looking for some CC!) but anyways, told me she'd talked about me to her RM and the RT earlier, and she'd call me the first of the week to fill out my paperwork

I was pretty surprised that they just let me at it...I had a whole set of brushes to use, no time limit (but I aimed for under 1/2 hour, and then 10 minutes to transform...and I kept it within that!), and she didn't even go through the sanitizing stuff with me..."because you already know how to do it" Haha. Theater background definately helps. Anyways, it was SUCH a great experience!!

So I'm a FL/OC for our counter now

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...her face looks like it was pounded in by a drag queen at the MAC store!...

this whole thread is great! i just got a call back to do the demo and i can't wait!

OK deep breath here goes...

My demo was on wednesday and I got the position and had so much fun so I'll get as much in here as I can!!

I arrived early, full faced with lashes on and my bare faced model... The trainer who would be holding my interview introduced herself and also all the girls on the counter which I thought was quite nice so I felt at ease right away. She asked one of the girls to show me around the counter and all the products (at this point I went with her even though I knew all the products, I asked her a bit about what foundation would be best as my model suffers from excema and she recommended the most suitable one which i really appreciated)

back at the area I was going to be working at the trainer asked if I had my portfolio with me and I didnt!!!! But she said it was ok and that she had heard good things about it from my first interview so not worry (wish I had took it again though!)... She then said she would grab me some brushes but I told her I had all my own cleaned and ready, she said I could use them as long as they were MAC and when she looked she said 'wow good collection!'

She said I had 30 minutes to do a daytime to nightime look, and that she wouldnt be constantly there but to give her a shout when I had finished daytime before I started nightime. She gave me 5 minutes to get everything together that I needed but told me not to worry if I forgot anything. I made sure I asked her about sanitising the products and she seemed very impressed, she said most people dont even think about that in the interview, it can be taught later... I was pretty pleased I knew already, I kept my station immaculate all the way through, threw all rubbish away immediately and placed everything in perfect order on tissues on the counter in front of my model.

So I got started (if anyone wants me to go into major detail about every product used then just ask and I will... I made up my model for daytime using 25 minutes (I had a plan here) the trainer said it was gorgeous and loved the colours but did I realise I only had 5 minutes left??!! I told her what I wanted to do was show my customer that a nighttime look can be achieved quickly (for example for drinks after work) with just a few products in a few minutes... I used my 5 minutes to maximum effect, did dark cats eyes and really made an impact with a few products, she looked great! I had spoke to my model like a customer all the way through, naming products, brushes, placement, effect etc

The trainer came over and said she loved it, to which I said 'actually theres one thing Im not happy with' (I wanted the eyes to be darker in the corners like jet black) so she gave me a minute to do whatever it took to make it perfect, when I had done it she said 'now THATS perfect!' She asked me to explain why i had used what i had so i literally named every product and explained how it had contibuted to my final look so she knew there was a thought behind my work...

She only gave me praise really, she said I had picked the prefect foundation colour, she loved the shapes I had made on the eyes, had good blending etc...

Afterwards, she asked me model to have a wander around and I had a seperate interview with her, it lasted about twenty minutes where she asked me what i liked about mac, what would i bring to their team, what do i expect a day to be like on counter, what i knew about colour correction - quite a varied few actually!

I offered to put my products away and she told me not to worry and that I should hear back within 7-10 days... I walked out of the store, round the corner and she rang and offered me the job straight away!!

Good on ya girl!! You'll have a ball!!
xxxxxx

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M A C - a lifestyle...

thank you to all your ladies for your storiesss!!! you guys are soo inspiring.. lol.. makes me wanna start practicing on my three brothers right now!

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I love MAKEUP !

Thank you so much for this useful post as every bit of info helps for doing the best!!

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COME SHOP MY SALE!

I've been hearing that's its been getting harder to get a job with M.A.C since I strated, but it sounds like they tightend up ALOT! When I had my fist interview for an artist position I new very little about the product (comming from a mostly SFX background) and for my call back all I had to do was coppy a look form Kevin Accoins (sp?) making faces book and the women didnt even watch me applly it. But I've defently lerned alot along the way. Had I applyed now knowing what little i new then about M.A.C then I don't know if i would have made it past a first interview. LOL

Congrats to all of you who got your jobs though... your going to be very happy! I LOVE MY JOB!!!!

Okay so I have a few questions, do you NEED to have a portfolio to be hired at MAC?

Can you stand your customer up and bring her with you to the foundations/concealers to match up the colour, or do you bring it to her?

For the petri dish, can you put more than one item in there? Obviously not mixed together lol.. Or do you get a seperate petri dish for each item used?

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Sabrina's the name, life's the game.

THANK YOU LADIES---I have my demo tomoro @ 11:30 and am super excited and nervous but do feel a bit better reading everyones experiences!!!..I will post my experience also!! WISH ME LUCK!

I posted this in another thread but I'll post my experience here too:

Okay, I had my demo this morning. I took my mom as my model. I was only at the MAC store for about an hour and a half which wasn't too bad. It was still pretty early in the day so there weren't a lot of customers there. I had 30 minutes to do a Day Look and 15 minutes to turn that look into a Night Look. The girl who watched over my Demo was SUPER nice and made me feel comfortable. She wasn't hovering over me while I was doing the Demo so that was good! I felt like the Day Look that I did was just okay. I think I was really nervous about getting done in time and I don't think the look ended up reflecting my skills as much as it could have if I'd had more time. I also used a shadestick as a base on my mom's lids and didn't realize her lids were so oily! So when it came time to apply her eyeliner (Powerpoint in Engraved), after I applied it some of it got on her crease area and I had to blend like crazy to make the black smudgies disappear! I think I did much better when I did the Night Look. The colors I used looked great with my mom's coloring.

I had full access to all of the makeup and skincare products but I wasn't able to use all of the brushes that I thought I was going to be able to. I had to kind of make-do with the ones that were available. For example, the 219 wasn't there and I was all set to be able to use it. I had to borrow the 187 from one of the artists there. I tried to be as sanitary as possible and clean up after myself. A petri dish was available to use for foundation and moisturizer. Mascara wands, disposable lipbrushes, kleenex, and sanitizing alcohol were all available at my workstation.

I had already had my interview with the counter manager of the department store I would be working for and with the Regional Manager prior to my Demo. My Demo was the 3rd interview.