Best Buy Reviews in Portland, OR Area

Pros

Customer friendly sales techniques
Respectful work environment
fair oppurtunity for growth and learning

Cons

Always changing focus
Although non commission results are still driven by sales quotas
Seems preoccupied with WalMart

Advice to Senior Management

Decide if you truly want a non commission company

Pros

If you can find your way into a territory or corporate level job, you'll find yourself exceptionally satasfied. If you work in a store, it's definitely a paycheck.

Cons

Management at the store and district level are unprepared and unwilling to make profitable business decisions and their performance results showed for it. The willingness to respect regular sales staff shows in the ebb and flow of the store. Every co-worker of mine felt like a "walking zombie" when at work because of the lack or morale.

Advice to Senior Management

Store leadership? Leave. The entire leadership staff was chosen by favors and gender quotas not performance. Only two of a staff of 15 deserve the roles they are in. Corporate leadership: excellent decision to purchase five-star and buy a stake in carphone warehouse to begin international expansion. Contract a new marketing group. Again. It doesn't catch to our primary markets very well. And speaking of our market, why does Best Buy only sponsor NASCAR? The closest thing you have to brand exposure outside of NASCAR is a few ESPN halftime show sponsorships. I would seriously consider more sponsorships that expose you to your core demographic

Pros

I have worked for BBY for almost six years while in college and graduate school. From the beginning I always felt like I had a ton of friends at work. As a part-time employee I felt like every day was fun and I truly enjoyed coming to work. Whenever I needed time off I just simply put in a request and it was granted - with the exception of the holiday months. The pay scale is hourly with no commissions on sales. This makes for modest to little pay but I think that it made it more enjoyable to come to work and not worry about competing with other employees or sale stealing. The employee discount is nice too!

Cons

The mentality of the company is very heavy on paperwork and worthless business plans. As I continued to work my way up the retail ladder I found that I had to spend more time filling out forms and coaching employees with machine-like scripted sales presentations. I felt that over time there was mass-favoritism in the eyes of management. If you pushed back on any of the store initiatives you were signing your own death sentence. Working up through the ranks was more of a product of how much butt you kissed than your own hard work. I enjoyed the whole experience but I felt that there were some areas for improvement.

Advice to Senior Management

I understand that this company being the size it is only allows you to do so much. With the interests of the shareholders there is not much room for subtleties. All I have to say is bring the hammer down hard on poor managers and keep the company name squeaky clean.

Pros

This really depends on which location and/or department one works in. I work in the field in customer's homes, on a team of about 20 people with one direct reporting manager. In my situation, I absolutely enjoy my job. The pay is very good, the hours are plentiful and scheduling with days off is usually not an issue. We're left to our own devices for most of the workday, and as long as we are reporting success, we don't have any pressure or other negative motivators. We schedule our own days, we manage our own inventories and customers, and we track our own progress. Of course, being into electronics means that I definitely value our discount, which in some cases can be as high as 70-80%. Many people I work with are like minded, and as long as one fits in with the prevailing social atmosphere, you shouldn't have much trouble having a great time with your coworkers.

Cons

Your job experience is completely dependent on the management running your department. I've been witness to many, many acts of various egregiousness from various members of management. Luckily, my manager is very by-the-book and very accommodating. Being a profit driven company does tend to pressure those on the bottom. When goals are not being met, the crap surely does slide downhill, so part timers and small department workers can sometimes be expected to work far above their paygrade. On the same note of the management, this tone will resonate throughout all aspects of the store or department you're in. It's important to know what is really valued by the people you report to, so as not to be looked over for promotions and raises.

Advice to Senior Management

There are many small pieces of feedback on various things I could provide, but there's only one, large, blunt object of advice I would offer: Control your people. Because management across the company is given such free reign, they often find new and inventive ways to disappoint those working under them. I've been to the corporate headquarters, I've talked to senior leadership, and I completely admit that these people are true believers. They think they are doing right, and they really want their people to feel their best. The disconnect happens at the territory level, where corporate initiatives are supposed to be disseminated. For whatever reason, after that level, management can turn a deaf ear, and the good whims of our folk up on the hill are never heard. We'd like to fight the good fight on a local level, but it's inevitably difficult when our backup is on the other side of the country and we have to go through three or four levels of intervening ignorance before our heeding reaches the promised land.