Pros
-Training and education: Sephora really invested in training employees and invites brand partners to train cast. -Gratis: The gratis can be very generous. Some brands give gratis to the whole company which gives you the ability to try products out before they are sold. -Networking and Relationships: You really have a great opportunity to showcase your skills around brand reps who take notice, so when you do decide to leave Sephora, you may have the ability to interview with some of the brands. I have made great friends in my time with Sephora, and have really built long lasting relationships. -Technology: Sephora now has invested in great technology which really sets it apart from other retailers. Starting out with Scentsa to now Color IQ, they have really come far in incorporating technology in all of their stores. -Innovation: Sephora is constantly looking for ways to be better than the competitors, and at times they really succeed. They are constantly changing which from a business side is great, but at store level can be very frustrating (see cons below). -Values: The values the company is based on are great, if they are incorporated. -Discount: The regular employee discount is not so great, but getting 40% off Sephora collection including makeup brushes, is great. -Bonus: Sephora is one of the only retail companies that I have worked in that offer a sales bonus to all of their employees, not just management.
Cons
-Opportunity for advancement: It really depends on how well you get along with or how often you suck up to the District Manager, to be considered for a promotion. Having worked nearly a decade there, getting praised by management and brand reps, being able to efficiently train new employees, knowing the inside and out of your store operations, being already seen as a leader by your peers, gets you nowhere. People that I trained were being promoted over me. I was told that I would be promoted, yet it never happened. That seems to happen very frequently in multiple stores. They also tend to hire from the outside, rather than keep promoting their employees just to save a few dollars. -Management: Some managers are great and they really take care of you. The good ones also work hard, know the business because they actually work, feel your frustration, especially with other management and clients; the bad ones remain either in the back all day, or on the cash wrap to avoid helping clients with questions. They never get a real sense of what it is working with clients all day. -Wages: When I first started, raises were great. A few years later, the raises we received were a joke, from $0.10 to $.25. Sephora really needs to be competitive with their wages. Being a talented makeup artist or expert in skincare in other companies, you can make a lot more than working at Sephora. They also seem to have a cap on wages. After a few years I didn't get a merit raise because I was already "making too much". When I was promised a promotion, that never happened, they informed me that although I would become a lead, I would not be getting a raise due to the fact that I was already at the maximum that I could be paid. -Scheduling: While some management is understanding if you have scheduling needs, the company as a whole is not. We were told that as full time employees we cannot have special scheduling needs, and need to have 100% open availability and if we didn't like it, we could switch to part time. This was a new company initiative. Schedules are also not given in a timely manner. Sometimes you won't know when you're working until a few days before. You will also get your hours cut if it is a slow day and the store isn't making goal, so you may be scheduled for 30+ hours, but maybe only work 20 in a week. Promises of more hours are always made and never delivered. -Innovation: While I do consider this a pro, in some ways it is also a con. Let me explain.The SOS program has drastically changed from being an interactive fun group training, to a boring lengthy in store one-on-one training. When I started with the company, trainings were constant and plenty, as the years went by, the really scaled down. At times, only certain people (favorites) were given the opportunity to go to trainings. The videos you have to watch now, instead of being trained by a person are boring and not interactive. When brand reps go to train employees, they get a measly 10-15 minutes to train you, and if it happens on stage, it may be less if you get pulled away to cash wrap or by a client. Sephora has really made trainings and education a very low priority. In almost a decade working there, I went through about 6 store directors. Some got promoted, other went to other stores, some were let go. This his a strain on employees and also really drains morale. The constant change in certain programs and ideas is also really confusing to employees. You are asked to do things a certain way, then a month later, it changes. This also causes a lot of miscommunication between management and employees and within the management itself. Since the former VP sadly passed away, things have really gone downhill. Sephora seems so much colder and machine-like. I understand that profits are very important for a corporation, but if employees are unhappy, underpaid, and treated like they are not an important part of the corporation, you will have a high turn rate, which already seems to be happening in some stores.