See's Candies Reviews

Pros

Friendly people and environment, free candies/chocolates!

Cons

The uniform! No store music

Pros

Stable workplace. Not as much office politics compared to other large companies. Flat organization. Work-life balance.

Cons

Because many employees stay long term, you have to be very patient in terms of advancement opportunities.

Pros

friendly and understanding staff, flexible scheduling, management is approachable and easy to work with. you get to try free samples and get an employee discount.

Cons

the uniforms are outdated and difficult to work in, especially for females. the training is decent but could be better. the hours and responsibilities can be overwhelming.

Advice to Senior Management

provide more training for employees and change the uniforms for female employees. it is very difficult to bend and stoop in and is not comfortable to wear for extended periods of time.

Pros

I worked on and off seasonal in high school, through college and beyond. Worked at 4 different locations and there experiences were always great. All you can eat while at work (watch your waistlines!) great co workers, fun customers. When I got the job in high school it was by FAR the highest paying job I had yet, and to a 16 year old $9 an hour is MORE than adiquit, esp in 2001 where minimum wage in California was probably 6.75. Not sure what they pay these days, but i'm sure it's still quite worth it

Cons

the uniforms! And no music!

Advice to Senior Management

keep being awesome!

Pros

Lots of free chocolate while working, good benefit, avg pay, never over time without pay, support from district manager if you are in a good district

Cons

The ugly uniform, free samples, rude customers, too much paperwork, too much upsell, crazy during the holidays, pay could be better with in the industry

Advice to Senior Management

get rid of the uniform and free samples

Pros

All the free See's chocolate you can eat while you're working. Employee discount. Fun atmosphere working with other chocolate people.

Cons

Too much chocolate... The management was interesting. Working there seasonally meant no real benefits. Almost all sales clerks at that store are young teenage girls... kind of weird.

Advice to Senior Management

Some managers were great, others were a bit moody. Moody is not conducive to a professional work environment, and does not garner the respect of your employees. Review and incentive would be great as well. Feedback is important, and it shouldn't come only when you do something wrong.

Pros

repeat customers store hours medical and salary

Cons

Upper Management doesn't know what they are doing none of them have worked in one of the stores do not promote from within

Advice to Senior Management

Uper management does'n;t know how to run a store

Pros

great hourly wage.
friendly atmosphere( i.e. co-workers, customers, managers)
creativity encouraged through store displays, gift baskets and gift wrapping.
every once in a while a customer will tip you if you do a superb job on gift wrapping.
free uniforms are provided.
access to free candy while at store only, also discounts for employees.

Cons

too many seasonal employees are hired but are given very few hours.
when hired you are told that depending on performance you can become a permanent employee, but of course that RARELY happens.
the uniforms are free but they're also horrendous, outdated and non-practical.
specially the women's uniforms look like a potato sack and require to wear pantyhose, how annoying is that.

Advice to Senior Management

please change the women's uniforms and make them more practical. It is very hard to bend down and pick up a huge box of candy while wearing a sack.
be honest with your new hires and tell them that the chances of becoming a perm are very slim.

Pros

You're selling a happy product that people really like and customers have a lot of nostalgia and fondness for See's (in areas where they have a strong presence, like CA). In the non-holiday periods, you have a lot of regular customers that you get to know. See's also empowers employees to help any way possible to give great customer service. Shops tend to have small staffs (about 5 or 6 regulars) so you get to know the people you work with. In CA they are union, so it's a pretty good pay scale with excellent benefits--I don't know what it's like in other states.

Cons

Like most retail, the holidays suck, and after being there 3 years, it pretty much ruined X-mas for me. Not crazy about the uniforms. If you start in a shop, manager seems to be as high as you can go--there's an unspoken policy of not promoting beyond that--managers don't become division managers, etc. And oddly, some of the division managers aren't very well trained, but you only see them 5 or 6 times a year anyway.

Advice to Senior Management

Promote out of the retail shops. Better training for division managers (they absolutely should know the correct way to pack a pound of chocolates--it's bad when their subordinates know more than they do).