Pros
- I worked in London and things move pretty fast. You don't have to wait years to become a manager. - The team is super nice and we feel each other's pain. - The commission does help. - 25% discount, especially good during sales.
Cons
Where to start? Be prepared for serious hard work. At Zara it's all about putting the product out in the shop floor, costumer service is not a priority AT ALL! - Managers shouting on the radio all the time, asking you to do the impossible. Always pushing you and pushing you until you can't take it anymore. - "Running" is the most common word in Zara stores, product must be available for customers to grab it and you have to run hundreds of items at the same time. Sometimes during your entire shift. Good luck if your in a big store where the shop floor area is huge, you'll end up doing a marathon by the end of the day. - 20min break. So... nothing. I'd have to run if I wanted to eat and do something else. - Managers change the rota from one day to the other without even letting you know. A college was off on Monday and Tuesday, they changed the rota and she had to work on Tuesday and they didn't let her know. She didn't show up on Tuesday (had no way of knowing) and managers told her off. - If you work 7 hours, they only give you 20min break and not a full lunch hour. - overtime, overtime, overtime. Closing take hours and you never leave on time. Every closing. You get paid but you end up working until late. - Blame culture like I've never seen before. The store manager blames the department manager/floor managers, who blames the sales assistants. You're fine, as long as you have someone else to blame. - You get a funny look from managers if you put too much effort on costumer service. - No respect for personal life. - Salary is quite low. - Hard to communicate with colleagues that barely speak English, as in not knowing what "hat" means. - I'd go crazy if I didn't leave the company. Not good for your health, mental and physical. ******* I understand that this does not apply to every Zara store, but I do know it happened in mine on a daily basis.