Bloomingdale's Reviews

Pros

The quality of the staff/networking potential ( and turnover due to the realization that there is no room for advancement ) is tremendous. Bloomingdales attracts top talent on reputation alone which can be useful for development of professional relationships as employees eventually develope and grow past the organization. ( a common occurance Ive observed over 2 years)

Cons

A real churn them and burn them atmosphere. Recruiting paints a very positivee picture of career advancement through hard work and commitment. Unfortunately this gives way to a very demanding environment of very detailed daily, weekly, monthly review of sales performance, # of items sold per transaction, clienteling conversion and credit card new acccounts. Inaddition if you are a brand specialist, this translates to managing and boosting sales on your selected accounts/chosen deptpartment, all for the joy of getting 1 day off at a time and making $200 a week. Subsequently good people come and once they figure it out, hey leave just as fast. Avoid.

Advice to Senior Management

Resting upon your history is not going to get you where you want to go. Good enough for now becasue there are plenty more who need work behind you is not a good long range plan. Certainly not for the growth of the company, market share or innovation. One need only look at the devaluing of Macys and the subsequent gain in consumer loyalty to Target to realize you have only two choices innovate and go for quality in product and environment or drive the organzaiton into the ground as a tired icon whose day has passed.

Pros

The pay, if you hustle, is fair.

Cons

Management that is over zealous in reaching goals, forgoing common sense sales techniques for hard numbers

Pros

the discount... 20% off on reg days about once a month u get 20/20 around xmas u get 30/20/20 and every season u get 30/20/20 for work clothes. thats the only pro!

Cons

- whether u are on commission or not u will always be battling another associate for a sale.
- floor hogs exists in every dept. That one person that must ring up every customer as if there arent other ppl on the floor workin 2
- when u call a manger to help with a customer issue its impossible to find one and when u do get in touch they ask u if u can just deal with it
- all management is inconsistant... one will take the return another won't... they're never on the same page
- my schedule plus is the worst thing invented. sometimes it wont schedule someone in the morning or have one person on a sunday in the juniors dept then ur manager is buggin you tryna change everyones schedule bc the comp made a mistake
- managers vacation way to much... i swear my manager is on vacation for months at a time and has like every other weekend off. on top of that she makes statements like this "if u wanna drive a beamer like me, u need to sell"
- i dont chase sales, thats just not me... but i will have the floor lookin spotless and everything merchandised to standard but i never get recognition for it but she makes sure to schedule me the ngiht b4 every vist
- visits from corporate are a complete waste time. Basically the store is told to put on a show for these ppl that walk around 4 2 seconds really lookin at nothing
- IMPOSSIBLE TO MOVE UP- i've been workin here for 4 years in hopes that when i get my masters in marketing to move up to asst buyer... i have yet to get in touch with corporate and everytime i apply for the internship they deny me.
- managers have favorites
- Hr makes up rules as to why u cant take such n such day off
- this is a numbers company... u mean nothing,... its all about how much money you make for them
- most managers treat u like ur beneath them which is funny to me since i'll b sitting on a degree higher then theirs in a few months.

Advice to Senior Management

Dont put on your website that you hire within when u dont. Rehire all store managers n choose ppl with people skills. Ur HR manager shouldnt scare the crap out of your employees n make up stuff. Pay more attention to what your employees do instead of just looking at a sheet of paper with their name on it. Honestly just act like you care more about then just the bottom line numbers.

Pros

You get to be around clothes all day. Sometimes you are lucky to have a great manager. Sometimes you are lucky to work with great girls.

Cons

The HR manager was really cold and unfriendly. They expect a lot of work and do not give raises instead they want you to work harder to make more money. Some of the managers are cold. You work around girls all day so it can get really catty. Its in Los Angeles so there are a lot of wanna be divas who are really full of themselves. Its retail.

Advice to Senior Management

Step out of the office sometimes and get to know the people you work with. In addition get to know people other than the ones you directly work with. Get a new HR Manager.

Pros

recognized reputable name, in every major city for the most part, employee appreciation days and employee discount, proud to work there, Smart POS

Cons

Owned by Macy's, high turnover, costly benefits offered to employees, horrible shift scheduling system, lack of information sharing re details of sales, even to full time employees, expected to open new accounts continually!

Advice to Senior Management

You get what you pay for. Equality for employees is expected of management. Management should celebrate and compensate for ALL successes, including positive customer comments, not just opening accounts or numbers for the day.

Pros

If you are looking to break into the fashion industry, you can learn a lot from the company.

It is a great job for students (especially those who want to get into advertising, business, fashion, or related careers).

Exposure to all of the latest trends, fashions.

Retail is a good area to have experience as it trains you how to deal well with people.

Cons

Store associates are not allowed to take corporate training classes, e.g. computer, professional development.

Upward mobility from stores to corporate Bloomingdale's and Macy's can be very difficult.

Discount (20 % and periodic extra 20%, 30%) does not always make the products sold very accessible to store employees.

When sales are down, employees are pressured by management to "take it for the team"
and purchase more from the store.

Antiquated computer and office equipment.

Lots of red tape. Company is so large, it is sometimes like working for the federal government.

Advice to Senior Management

Red tape that prevents employees from advancement creates bad morale.
Give credit where credit is due.

Pros

You get a discount of 20% all the time and double discount for employee appreciation days

Cons

Poor management skills, terrible schedules, never able to take days off until after one year and you can't take time off during a sale, which there are always sales. I had to miss my grandfathers funeral because they wouldn't give me the time off for a Big Brown Bag sale

Advice to Senior Management

listen to your employees and respect that even as a sales associate they might have more work experience than you.

Pros

Good way to put your foot in the door if you' re interested in merchandising.

Cons

Politics. You have to be fake to advance

Advice to Senior Management

Keep it real.

Pros

Discount is great and I met some nice people.

Cons

Management has no interest in any ideas from employees.
Regional V. P. makes all decisions for the store (as per store management)
If Regional V.P. doesn't like you on first impression, you will never advance (as per store management)

Advice to Senior Management

Listen and learn from the stores; give them some respect.
Conduct an employee survey on your Regional V.P.s
Why is store management turnover so high?

Pros

Decent employee discount and frequent double discount days, liberal sick time policy (as long as it does not become excessive), the diversity of some of my co-workers makes for an interesting environment.

Cons

Antiquated technology, stale management most are simply waiting to retire, very limited opportunities for career growth, no suport or mentoring from management who generally take a passive approach to the welfare of their employees, highly unproductive Human Resources department, no communication about company performance unless your are an executive and can attend the monthly central address.

Advice to Senior Management

Clean house-start with evaluating the productivity of Mid evel executives first, you may be confronted with the realization that many do not bring much to the table. Employees are not inspired or motivated, either behaviorly or monitarily. The increasing availability of jobs in the workplace will further erode what talent remains and it will be difficult to replace those who truly add value.