Costco Assessment Tests, Hiring Process & Interviews Online Preparation & Tips – 2025

What Is Costco?
Costco is a membership-only warehouse club headquartered in Issaquah, Washington. The first Costco was opened in Seattle in 1983 and in 1993 they merged with San Diego based Price Club which was founded in 1976. There are 785 Costco warehouses globally. 556 are located in the U.S, and there are also locations in Canada, the UK, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Australia, Spain, Iceland, France, China, and plans to open a location in New Zealand.
Costco sells a variety of products, many are bulk food items, but they also sell everything from flowers to furniture and jewelry. They are able to keep their prices low by keeping their overhead low, which is why they adopted a warehouse-style. Their corporate rules state that no item can be marked up more than 14% over cost. Costco also offers pharmacy services, optical centers which customers do not need a membership to use, photo services, and a travel agency.
Costco is known for providing a good environment for their employees. As part of that they provide excellent employee benefits that include:
- Health insurance plans
- Retirement savings with company match
- Vision and pharmacy plan (must be at a Costco location)
- Paid time off
- After-hours shopping
There is a huge variety of roles offered by Costco, both in-store and in their regional offices and headquarters. Sales, marketing, technical writers, pharmacy techs, truck drivers, human resources, maintenance, and accounting are just a few of the positions available.
What Is Costco’s Recruitment Process?
Application Process
Costco applications can be found on their website. Open positions at all locations are listed. You can apply for a specific position, or search for opportunities near you. You will need to create a profile before you can fill out an application. It will remain active in their system for 90 days.
Costco Psychometric Tests
Not all Costco applicants will need to take online assessment tests. It is dependent on the store region you are in and the position you have applied for. If you are asked to take an assessment test, the most common online assessments are:
- Situational Judgment Test – The SJT test is made up of work-place scenarios that you may face. You will be given a selection of responses and will either need to rate them based on how effective they would be or pick the response closes to the way you would respond.
- Personality Test – Personality tests will give a prospective employer an idea of the way you work, and how well you function as part of a team. These are often given to find candidates that will fit in best with the team that is already in place.
- MS Word/Excel Test – Some candidates may be given a test to demonstrate your proficiency with these programs. These are as simple as writing a letter or entering data using an Excel spreadsheet.
- Retail Math Test – Some locations give a test in simple math equations that you may need to use in a retail setting. You will be given a calculator to use and the test is timed.
Interviews
The Costco interviews may start with a phone screening. During this short conversation, you will be asked questions about your resume and your experience. You may also be asked to schedule an in-person interview at this time. Many of the face to face interviews are done with more than one member of management. Many of the questions will be behavioral and will be used to see if you are a good fit.
There may be a second or third round of in-person interviews for higher-level positions. These interviews will focus more on your situational judgment and ability to work under pressure.
Examples of questions you may be asked during your Costco interview are:
- If you are working on an important task, and you are approached by a customer, what would you do?
- It is a slow day on the floor. What do you do?
- What trait do you have that makes you a perfect fit for Costco?
How to Prepare for Costco’s Assessments?
Although Costco does not rely as heavily on online assessment tests as some other companies you should still approach the hiring process prepared to take them. Situational judgment tests and personality tests can be hard to prepare for since there are no wrong answers. You can, however, learn as much as you can about the company as possible so you can think through your responses. It is important not to answer the way you think the company wants you to but respond the way you actually would on the job.
For any skills tests such as Excel or word, spend some time working with the programs, so you feel comfortable with them. Since these are programs many people use daily, you may already be proficient, but practice never hurts. Brush up on any retail math you may know you will use frequently just to be certain your skills are fresh.
The Costco hiring process is not as intense as that of some other companies. That being said, they are very selective over who they hire. This strategy is effective for them since they have an employee retention rate of around 94%. If you practice for the few assessment tests you may have and prepare for the interviews you will also have a chance to join this team.