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Guitar Center Job

#23
Apparently to Work at GC you have to be arrogant, snotty, lack all knowledge of anything musical, and be able to either ignore customers, or crawl up their backsides. Oh and know the words Fender and Ampeg...lol

based on my expereinces at every GC i have ever walked into
 
#24
wow.

i'm sorry so many of you have so many bad GC experiences.

to the OP: it is a sales job. gear knowledge is a must, but just as important (more important, actually) is the ability to sell yourself. sales is about transferring enthusiasm, yes... but i think it's more important to gain the buyer's trust. that goes for the person who's interviewing you, too. be enthusiastic and show them that you're willing to work. once you get hired, keep your enthusiasm up and follow through with hard work.

the people that lie about products and sell them just because they make more money seldom last long.

and: you should be able to lift 25lbs at least.

i've been working at my store for 3 1/2 years now, and i've loved (almost) every minute of it... even the cacophony. good luck to you!
 
#25
The BurgerMeister said:
wow.

i'm sorry so many of you have so many bad GC experiences.

to the OP: it is a sales job. gear knowledge is a must, but just as important (more important, actually) is the ability to sell yourself. sales is about transferring enthusiasm, yes... but i think it's more important to gain the buyer's trust. that goes for the person who's interviewing you, too. be enthusiastic and show them that you're willing to work. once you get hired, keep your enthusiasm up and follow through with hard work.

the people that lie about products and sell them just because they make more money seldom last long.

and: you should be able to lift 25lbs at least.

i've been working at my store for 3 1/2 years now, and i've loved (almost) every minute of it... even the cacophony. good luck to you!
Click to expand...

It should come as no surprise to you - GC has a 400% turnover rate. GC is a terrible place to work for those who are actually out on the sales floor. Sure, the noise is a problem, but the main reason they lose so many employees is the way GC management treats them. They encourge people to work off the clock, they push them to work six and seven days a week, they discourage any life outside of work, continually keep lowering pay and comission rates... it's a top feeding down sort of system. The upper management makes MILLIONS in dollars of bonuses every year, yet they continually cut their sales staff off at the knees. They've been slowly working their way towards eliminating comissioned sales for years, and now that they've eliminated most of the major competition, they have eliminated discounting. It's only a matter of time before they eliminate sales and drop everybody to minimum wage. Why? Because the stock price is all that matters - if stock prices drop, the first thing to cut is the guys at the bottom.

It's also untrue that those who engage in shady business practices don't last long. In my experience, liars and cheats are those who have lasted the longest. There's a particular salesperson at a GC I used to manage that is the dirtiest, low down, cheating snake I have ever met - yet he's impossible to fire. His sales numbers are ALWAYS sky high, mostly because he's stealing deals from other sales people (I've even caught him re-rolling deals several times!), and refuses to do any work besides selling. He's been there now for seven years, despite that I tried to fire him several times. The GP (Gross Profit) shield is in full effect around him, and even when he's been caught doing something illegal RED HANDED, the district managers step in and refuse to fire him. He's been in an altercation to varying degrees with EVERY salesperson there over the last seven years, and almost every single one of them quit, largely due to being sick of him and sick of management putting up with him. This is not an isolated case - GC is full of people like this, lying, scratching, and kicking their way to higher profits. With GC's "Whatever it takes" approach, this kind of behavior is not only tolerated, it's encouraged - despite what is said openly.

Fact is, GC is a terrible place to work.
 
#27
i wouldn't tell them that you plan on it being just a summer job. my buddy tried to get a job at one of the music stores here and told them it was just gonna be a summer job, guess what, didn't get it. most people don't want to hire someone they think'll leave after just a few months.
 
#33
Current and former GC employees are divided into two camps: Like the experience and didn't. Sales isn't for everyone and the only way to find out is to try it. The primary difference in the GC experience and sales of general merchandise is this: Musicians are passionate about the music and the gear so it MATTERS to them in their own personal way. Hence the passion in the blogs about working for GC.
"We help people make music" is the GC motto. Those that "get it", mean it. The guy on the sales floor meets a customer, listens to their needs and guides them to the gear that will fill the need. More experienced salespeople are able to deliver a better customer experience and, as a result, make a decent living. Skills and sincerity count.
 
#40
gc friendly said:
Current and former GC employees are divided into two camps: Like the experience and didn't. Sales isn't for everyone and the only way to find out is to try it. The primary difference in the GC experience and sales of general merchandise is this: Musicians are passionate about the music and the gear so it MATTERS to them in their own personal way. Hence the passion in the blogs about working for GC.
"We help people make music" is the GC motto. Those that "get it", mean it. The guy on the sales floor meets a customer, listens to their needs and guides them to the gear that will fill the need. More experienced salespeople are able to deliver a better customer experience and, as a result, make a decent living. Skills and sincerity count.
Click to expand...

I've been involved in the music business since I was 18. I have worked in just about every facet of the MI industry, from sales to management to manufacturing, and for the most part I really enjoyed it. I'm one of those sincere, honest, experienced people you are talking about. I really loved helping somebody figure out what they needed, even if I made less money doing it.

GC is not the kind of place that encourages honesty. It encourages profit over service, greed over compassion, and shady business practices rather than fair competition - both with outside competitors and between salespeople. I had a very difficult time squaring my honesty and my desire to help people with how GC management drove me to do my job. When other sales people were ripping customers and each other off, they were rewarded. My honesty and integrity did gain me some upward momentum managementwise, to be sure, but also my pay suffered horribly because I was still expected to sell as well as cover all my managerial duties. The customer, nor the employee, ever came first - it was always about profit, profit, profit - at the expense of truth.

syciprider said:
Well , let's not forget that some folks here work @ GC and insulting them could lead to infractions.
Click to expand...

I'm not concerned about infractions - I am not insulting anybody personally here, nor do I intend to. GC's turnover rate is 400% nationwide - they've gone through literally tens of thousands of employees over the last five years alone. GC will take just about anybody they can get, because they can't keep anybody for longer than three months.
 

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