American Eagle Outfitters Reviews

I have been working at American Eagle Outfitters full-time

Pros – Discount, Work-life Balance, People First Company, Advancement Opportunities

Cons – Typical Retail Hours, Sometimes 50+ Hour Work weeks

Advice to Senior Management – Nothing! Please Stay Focused On Being People First! This Is The First Company I Have Ever Worked For That Actually Values Their Employees And Retains Their Employees!

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at American Eagle Outfitters part-time for less than a year

Pros – It is a lot of fun to work here because you are constantly meeting new people, and your coworkers are nice and fun to be around. I really like all of my managers and coming to work is a lot of fun. I was late the first two shifts I had to work and my manager was fine because I was able to call in beforehand. It is a very relaxed environment and the employee discount is great.

Cons – Your hours are based not on your sales ethics, but how many rewards and credit cards you get out. You can be extremely friendly and add on tons of clothes to raise the store's conversion, but if you can't sell the credit cards you get the worst hours. Some employees work 6 days a week and others work only one. Another thing that sucks? Call-in shifts. You have to call before you go in and sometimes they will tell you you don't need to come in, or sometimes they will tell you to come in and then will send you home early.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at American Eagle Outfitters as an intern for less than a year

Pros – AEO is a big company that has been successful for many years so I was able to learn from people who understood the retail industry very well. The internship program is very structured and allows you to get a survey of the different aspects of the apparel retail industry through classes, in addition to giving you hands on experiences by working for a mentor. The people were friendly and helpful and there was an open door policy. The company also held fun occasional events for employees. Also, there were a lot of other perks: free merchandise, 40% off discount, free/discounted concert tickets etc.

Cons – Very hierarchical. I found it very intimidating to approach higher up management with ideas. The DMs and DMMs made you feel like your time was not worth anything and would hold up meetings for an hour to take personal calls. Also, the city of Pittsburgh is not an ideal place to live (terrible weather,no diversity!)

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at American Eagle Outfitters part-time

Pros – They have a great discount program, great staff, and they have a lot of room for growth. I can't wait to see how far I make it in the company.

Cons – There really are no downsides at this point in time. I have had nothing but great experiences since I began working here.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I worked at American Eagle Outfitters part-time for more than 3 years

Pros – I believe that this company has great sales associate opportunities for college and high school students; however, when you are a 26 year old recently finished graduate student then you become a bit more disgruntled towards AE Inc. My store was a great store with fantastic management and a wonderful sales team. Our sales team had outings such as going to the beach (as our store was at the beach), or to the movies on a Friday night. We were a disfuntional family, as all would say. The management team was amazing nevertheless. The managers would not put up with gossip or drama. The cause of the problems were given a warning and if it continued they were let go. Also, the ongoing trend with work place bullying was not a problem at our store, and I am sorry for those who were on other reviews I have read. Bullying was not tolerated at our store, and the management let new hires know that bullying would result with instant termination, despite the severity of the bullying. As I have seen, this mostly happened with new hires who thought they were smarter than people who had been at the store for a while. I saw a new hire once get led out of the store by a member of management for making fun of someone's look, size, and sexual orientation to a team member who had been there for a while. The team member told management, and she was led out of the store that day, no questions asked. I had a great experience with this company, and I have thought about going back and working on the weekends due to my now having a big boy job. I would recommend this company to anyone who was looking for a parttime position within retail clothing establishment.

Cons – With the positivity, there is also negativity due to the fact that there is absolutely no opportunity for advancement. I wanted to advance with the company, and I applied for corporate positions in Pittsburgh and Warrendale; however, the management never gave me a recommendation to do so. I helped train new, and existing employees, on how to ascertain credit applications as well as came in super early on black Friday, and cancelled vacation plans to work. I showed my devotion towards the store, but nothing happened. My DM stated that she had 'connections' within the corporate office, but she never recommended me namely because I applied for the position without her permission. For that I understand, but that should not have been taken into consideration when I applied. I was so interested in stepping forth into making a career out of American Eagle, but I seemed to be grounded by middle management. I had a meeting with one of my managers on my six month anniversary, and she asked me where I saw myself with the company. I told her that I dreamt of working in the corporate office. She told the other management team, and they were so impressed with that statement; however, the ball never started rolling. All I wanted was a chance; an opportunity to show the corporate office what I could do. I thought of advertisement campaigns to show my interest, but they were never noticed. I quit and took a store associate position with a luxury retailer.

Advice to Senior Management – If someone shows interest in wanting to pursue a career help them with it. Give them a chance to succeed and allow them to show the corporate office, and other stores, to show them what they are made of. That is the only complaint I have with this company.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at American Eagle Outfitters part-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Great Management, AE is a great company to work for.

Cons – No complaints with the company.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at American Eagle Outfitters part-time

Pros – they give raises, nice people, awesome discount, sometimes free stuff, flexible schedule

Cons – pushy when it comes to goals

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at American Eagle Outfitters part-time for less than a year

Pros – Employee discount was the best.

Cons – Call in shifts was ridiculous. Many employees were on reserve status and had to put aside plans to see whether or not you could come in or not. It was a complete waste. If you did not call in 1 hour prior to your call in schedule time, it would be considered a NO CALL NO SHOW. Horrible. Due to the high capacity of employees your guaranteed little to no hours a week. I work one month a total of 16 hours, and it was horrible. Your income will fluctuate. The enviroment was great but management was stupid.

Advice to Senior Management – High an amount of people where they can get hours that are given. Not where you hire 50+ individuals and majority of your employees are getting little to no hours at all.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at American Eagle Outfitters part-time for less than a year

Pros – Good Employee discounts, that's about it!

Cons – Very high recovery standards, very cliquey store. you must meet the stereotype to be successful here.

Advice to Senior Management – Little feedback on performance. Very little interaction with management except when you do something wrong. You're on your own.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at American Eagle Outfitters full-time for more than a year

Pros – Casual work environment
International growth
CEO pushing the company in the right direction

Cons – Home Office is laden with red tape and mired by bureaucracy. It is impossible to implement change when there are so many people who want to exert their opinions on projects. There is little to no autonomy or creative control over new ideas.

Middle management has been around too long thus they are stuck in their beliefs.

Despite the CEO's mantra that he wants the company to be defined by "wicked smart and fun people," their is an ideological assault against smart people perpetuated by people willing to work as puppets for middle management. Most "wicked smart and fun people," get frustrated and leave or get pushed out.

Advice to Senior Management – Loosen control and let talented people shine instead of micromanaging them into a corner.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend