Barnes & Noble Reviews

Former Employee – worked at Barnes & Noble part-time for more than 3 years

Pros – The staff and customers are generally friendly and it is a nice store to work in. There is a 25% discount on books and food from the cafe. The management is fair and isn't constantly on the employees back.

Cons – The pay is low and there is no room for growth or promotions. There are a lot of responsibilities for the people who work in the cafe. There are millions of dishes to wash and employees are constantly cleaning up after dirty customers. For the amount of work that needs to be done it is not worth the pay.

Advice to Senior Management – Cross train every employee and do background checks.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Barnes & Noble

Pros – -Nice environment ( I guess this depends on your location). For me, it was always a bunch of AP/Honors high school students and college students studying.
- At the time I got 50% off cafe food (in store "starbucks," not all B&N may have this).

Cons – -A lot of work for the pay if it is one of your first jobs. You will get minimum wage and will have to take care of a very large area. It's not even the work during store hours that is annoying; it's closing.
-If you aren't working in the cafe, you have to return all books to their proper sections and make sure the decorations/furniture are in order.
-If you work in the cafe it's like closing a starbucks but worse. There is a much larger sitting area to clean, and a lot more dishes to wash because of the policy of B&N cafe (every single plate has to be washed every night).

Former Employee – worked at Barnes & Noble part-time for more than a year

Pros – deep discounts on books and all merchandise
ability to special order books
can hold items on reserve
meet some cool people

Cons – Terrible hours (like all retail, you'll work closing one night and opening the morning after)
Have to work during holidays
Painful customers on occasion
Nametags
No room to advance
Low pay

Advice to Senior Management – Give lower level employees a reason to try--if no one can advance or be promoted from within, what's the point?
Try to raise base salary or offer more incentives to stay with a job here

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Barnes & Noble part-time for less than a year

Pros – The discount was definitely good for food and it was pretty good when buying books as well. Also you get to "check out" hardcover books like you would at a library, although it can be hard to find many books in hardback.

Cons – The pay is extremely low. I don't think the pay is enough compensation for all of the things you have to do and people you have to deal with. Also, the managers are really reluctant to cross train people despite the fact that most of the employees want to be cross trained. They'd much rather higher an entirely new person than have a current employee cross trained.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Barnes & Noble full-time for more than a year

Pros – Some of the employees are good people...mostly mid to lower level employees. Good quality and character based people.
If you are at the end of your career or just starting off and need experience then this would be a good place of employment

Cons – 1. Managers and leaders are promoted into their position based off tenure only...skillset and ability to do the role are not a factor
2. Unethical decisions around people are made
3. HR not value add..the function is a joke

Advice to Senior Management – Start fresh- get new leaders that can drive grow with the business and empower their employees. Make equal and quality decisions for all employees

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Barnes & Noble full-time for more than a year

Pros – the people were interesting and intelligent and were encouraged to be friendly to customers which taught employees people skills and how to engage clients.

Cons – the management were ignorant and the employees were never allowed anytime to really catch their breathe. It was always work, work, work, even if that meant ''finding'' something to keep you busy.

Advice to Senior Management – start to treat your employees with dignity and respect or they will keep quiting in droves as they do.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Barnes & Noble full-time for more than a year

Pros – Creative freedom and almost no corporate politics as well as a non-competitive friendly environment with a positive and proactive approach make it a really nice place to work at

Cons – Management manages a tad too much up, and tends to forget to manage down. Communication could be better.

Advice to Senior Management – Communicate more with your teams, and put them above all else. Spending most of your time making decisions with higher-ups in a vacuum does not help anyone succeed in the long-run

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

Current Employee – been working at Barnes & Noble

Pros – You get to work with books!
Best co-workers!
Everyone is friendly!

Cons – The only problem is that they dont pay well

Current Employee – been working at Barnes & Noble full-time

Pros – Good working environment and good salary. Workplace to learn basic technologies. Company is growing towards advance software technologies.

Cons – Good work not appreciated due to lack of visibility to senior management

Advice to Senior Management – Motivate employee who are doing excellent and adding value to technologies.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Barnes & Noble part-time for less than a year

Pros – book discounts, intelligent customers, if you are passionate about books you will be happy to work here, great managers and co-workers.

Cons – the emergence of digital prints is making the business suffer, but if your store is in a great location probably your will working lots of hours.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend