Pros
Modern system for clocking in and out. I didn't know how amazing this was until I left. When you come in you type your employee number on the computer and voila. You do the same when you leave to clock out. You can clock in 5 minutes after your shift if you're running late and if you want to start early you can clock in 5 minutes before your shift. Managers willing to accommodate your schedule. Coworkers are pretty cool people. Just when you clock in, dreading the work day ahead, a coworker will come along to make you feel better. At Victoria's Secret, I can honestly say they hire a variety of people, giving the job an eclectic mixture of personalities. Competitive pay, sort of. I started off making 9.50 then finished making around 11, which is on the high side for retail. I wind up getting a two dollar raise because the company was afraid workers would start unions, so to shut them up they gave out raises to certain stores. My guess is that if workers didn't start pressing the company for a union then we would still have been making about 9.50.
Cons
Rampant favortism. This will drive you practically insane. Nothing will get under your skin more than to work hard to prove yourself only to have someone new come in and be groomed by the managers for a position you were aiming for, especially when that new person is has less experience than you. I've seen this happen time and time again to a point where I realize that the managers simply choose people they like to become sale leads or sale specialist. On several occasions I have even seen managers *create* a position for someone they like, just to have them promoted. Call in system. A call in is a designated time in which you may or may not come in. You have to call two hours before your shift to find out whether or not the store is busy enough to take your call in. So, for example, if you have a 12-6 shift and a call in for 10 to 12, then you have to call around 8 to find out whether or not you should come in. The problem with this is that you're pretty much on standby until you find out whether or not to come in. Then when you do call sometimes no one picks up the phone. And if you don't call or they think you didn't call, you can potentially get written up. Managers can be pretty fake. They tend to listen to you then smile, the kind of smile that makes you feel like maybe they don't really care, and 50% of the time that is the case. I've also seen managers enforce a rule, only to break it themselves the next day. The store policy is to wear all black, no leather pants or jeans, and black shoes and sneakers (for stock only). Yet I've seen managers wear flip-flops in the store and Uggs. It's this elitist behaviour that enforces an "Us vs Them" mentality. Lack of recognition. I can't tell you how many times I've worked my butt off only to not have my work acknowledged. Now I don't need what I do to be noticed every single time and moment, but it is nice every now and then. In the time that I've been there, nearly two years, I've hardly been recognized for my work, save for a time when I happened to sell a few items. This gave me the impression that I was only there as a tool, a means to an end, and because of this, I stopped putting so much effort into my work. Random hours. I suppose this is to be expected in a retail store, but it's pretty extreme at VS. One week you can have a nice 27 hour work week, only to have a 12 hour work week the next. In January hours dip significantly to an average of a 10 hour work week. Working at VS is good if you want to see how retail is, but I don't recommend staying more than a year, a year and a half at most. Your success in the store is contingent upon whether a group of people like you and if they don't, you will not move up at all. No benefits. As a part time associate you get no benefits. None.