Pros
Masterclass training with all your favourite cosmetic brands. You will learn a LOT - there is ongoing training and personal development plans. You will get the chance to work in other departments than the one for which you were hired. There are decent benefits for full time staff. VERY fast-paced environment. You do NOT need to be a makeup artist to work there; they will train you. GRATIS ++++ The chance to work with creative people and the chance to have fun with makeup. There are always new products to try.
Cons
The person managing the floor changes EVERY hour. Therefore, everyone thinks they are in charge and everyone gives you a different answer. I'll be told one thing by one person and another thing by someone else. You will be micromanaged. -- Expect to work with a barebones skeleton crew. Our #1 feedback from our customers was "get more staff" and despite having almost 30 employees at my store for some reason they will often only put one person in each department during peak times. Clients will complain that there's no one to help them and management will complain if you can't help everybody. ---There is never any "downtime" at Sephora. If you are not servicing multiple clients at once you will be cleaning or stocking. You will be cleaning the bathroom, mopping floors and constantly removing lipstick and nail polish from everything. The work hours are long (9 hour shifts on your feet) and you will be there very early in the morning and stay very late at night. If you can't work nights and weekends, or want Christmas week off this job is not for you. ---You are expected to look your best 100% of the time. The dress code requirements are incredibly strict - they will send you home if your socks are not black, for example. The workload is high and the pay is minimal; you will get more responsibility, but they will not pay you more for extra work unless you make it into management. To advance you will likely need to transfer to another store. ---You will need to push client card signups and surveys on people, you will be expected to gain X amount of responses which unless you force the client to do right then and there is completely out of your control.