What is the hiring process like at Hot Topic?

- Wear whatever you want - Flexible hours - Great Discount

- Conflict of Interest, I noticed people that were besties with management would get promoted over people with seniority and good work ethic - Always hiring new employees vs. investing hours and coaching into employees with seniority - Management Clique, I would notice that the managers would wander to a corner of the store to talk and I would over hear gossip walking by while working and some were “besties”. - Performance Bias, I noticed other employees that constantly wanted to work were favored more hours despite other employees that had second jobs or school wouldn’t get scheduled for weeks at a time despite having a good work ethic. I feel this was in favor of KPI goals.

This company attracts some of the best personalities. I’ve made some lifelong friends and been inspired by some amazing people. I’ve gotten to express my creativity and learn how to run a whole brick and mortar operation. I have learned skills I can transfer almost anywhere. I also love that there’s no BS about respecting pronouns and identity. I love being a safe space for customers and employees.

It’s retail so it’s retail wages. There have been a lot of program implementations and new skill requirements that aren’t expected of other retail SMs over the years. I once had a new manager tell me that HT managers are overqualified for other SM positions simply based on the amount of reporting and payroll regulation we do.

The employees at a store level are amazing and the discount is good.

Dm's can either be the best people ever or the worst. My first dm was amazing but we switch to a new one through covid who was one of the worst managers I have met.

Supportive environment Fun atmosphere Opportunity for advancement Continuous training and development Flexibility

Work life balance Hiring in retail is a struggle everywhere

you get an employee discount, coworkers were cool

one of the managers made me feel bad for asking for help when I was new

I truly enjoyed my time at HT. The environment is incredibly collaborative, HT is filled with teams of genuinely talented individuals. I want to specifically highlight the Hiring Managers and the Talent Acquisition team they were amazing to work with and set the tone for a supportive, high energy workplace. It’s a rare find to have a corporate team that is both results driven and deeply invested in the people.

No cons at this time.