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    Barnes & Noble Reviews

    Updated August 22, 2017
    2,818 reviews

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    Full-timePart-time
    3.6
    StarStarStarStarStar
    Rating TrendsRating Trends
    Recommend to a friend
    Approve of CEO
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    Leonard Riggio
    181 Ratings

    2,818 Employee Reviews

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    Pros
    Cons

    • Lot of hard work expected for minimum wage (in 153 reviews)

    • got less working hours due to a vast number of seasonal part time hiring (in 144 reviews)

    More Pros and Cons

    1. "book teller"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      Pros

      a lot of hours though

      Cons

      no hours but good books

    2. "Be ready for change."

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Store Manager in Charlotte, NC
      Current Employee - Store Manager in Charlotte, NC
      Recommends
      Negative Outlook
      Disapproves of CEO

      I have been working at Barnes & Noble full-time (More than 10 years)

      Pros

      Products, customers, and company core values.

      Cons

      Senior management and constantly changing vision

      3. Join the Barnes & Noble team
      See Our Latest Jobs

    3. "Really Good"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I have been working at Barnes & Noble part-time

      Pros

      Really nice people who are highly respectful and love to help with what you need.

      Cons

      Hours are the only problem and the time of closing.

    4. "Bookseller at B&N"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Bookseller in San Mateo, CA
      Former Employee - Bookseller in San Mateo, CA
      Recommends
      Neutral Outlook
      Disapproves of CEO

      I worked at Barnes & Noble part-time (More than a year)

      Pros

      Good community, everybody who stayed there for longer than seasonal hires respected each other.

      Cons

      Corporate dogged managers to dog employees about pushing memberships. For most people, getting a B&N membership doesn't make fiscal sense. Not being able to approach the problem rationally (instead just being bullied by management) made working there frustrating.

      Advice to Management

      Find a better way to tackle the membership problem other than repeating the same condescending training exercises and pressuring staff. That one person who always gets memberships for the month is not a realistic goal for the whole team--that person tends to be borderline sociopathic in their relentless pushing of memberships onto confused customers who don't really know what they're doing. The rest of us aren't bad at our jobs, we just care about respecting customers' distance. Customers appreciate employees who do this overall.

    5. "Bookseller"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee

      I worked at Barnes & Noble full-time

      Pros

      Great staff, easy work, and great discount.

      Cons

      Very little opportunity to move up in the company. Strict membership goals.

      Advice to Management

      Be more present on the sales floor to encourage that everyone is on the same team. Staying in the back and only coming out to tell sales progress makes for less of a team oriented work environment.

    6. "Challenging but rewarding."

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Retail Store Manager in Buford, GA
      Current Employee - Retail Store Manager in Buford, GA
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Barnes & Noble full-time (More than 10 years)

      Pros

      I get to talk books with people everyday and find new and interesting reads from customers. Lots of repeat business and regulars that come into the store. Just being able to share a passion of books.

      Cons

      Business has changed a lot in the last 5 years. Trying to do more with less and keeping the staff morale up and motivated.

      Advice to Management

      Remember to walk into stores more and see and feel what I'd actually happening in the retail store.

    7. "A great company!"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee

      I have been working at Barnes & Noble full-time

      Pros

      B&N is a great company for someone looking to work in the book industry. Tons of great jobs between the stores and the corporate office.

      Cons

      The industry seems to be shrinking as more and more people move to digital content.

    8. "Love the atmosphere"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Bookseller
      Current Employee - Bookseller
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Barnes & Noble part-time (More than 3 years)

      Pros

      Everyone at my store is a big family and always has each others back. It's a big higher than minimum wage, and for retail it's pretty awesome.

      Cons

      Sometimes you are short staffed or the company tries too hard to make changes

    9. "Customer Service"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Sales Associate in Camp Hill, PA
      Former Employee - Sales Associate in Camp Hill, PA
      Recommends
      Neutral Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I worked at Barnes & Noble part-time (More than a year)

      Pros

      The coworkers were great and overall it was a well run place. I wouldn't say a lot ever went wrong and compared to other companies I felt the guest weren't bad at all.

      Cons

      There are a lot of mangers and when they didn't agree lower level workers would get blamed. I was also told I wouldn't work the coffee shop, but then they put me in cafe at least once a week for an eight hour shift and didn't really train me for that area.

      Advice to Management

      Make sure you're clear where employees should be and what they should be doing.

    10. "Cafe Barista"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Doesn't Recommend
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      Pros

      People, food, management, and customers are all amazing

      Cons

      Barnes and Noble is pretty far away

    Showing 2,818 of 2,845 reviews
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