I have had a fairly tough time mentioning all the pros of working at Cabela's of lately. Ever since the company went public several years ago, it seems like things have gone downhill internally.
I have been incredibly lucky enough to move around in the store because I would like the think that I was a happy and upbeat person and management really liked that so that gave me more opportunities. I feel like this is no longer the case. Older management has left leaving groups outside managers from Home Depot to come in and fill the spots. Lately, if management feels like you are needed in a department, they will prevent you from transferring to an another department. Management does not have your back as much as they should. In March 2014 Cabela's as a company made major cuts and laid off hundreds of employees throughout the company. I approached one of my managers asking them why are they letting so many people go, especially knowledgable ones and their response was, "It's not about knowledge. It's about getting sales through the register." That sums up the future of Cabela's to me. Cabela's is considered the "World's Foremost Outfitter" so it's supposed to be ALL about customer service.
And to me that is about training outfitters properly about products and how to talk to customers and sell products. There is no training. Sure, employees get assigned a couple of computer modules of "training" on some Cabela's products in whatever department you are working in but that's about it. The training is really just merely specs on some of the Cabela's products. No real vendor training. You don't get to learn about the differences between some top brands vs Cabela's products. That is something you kind of just have to learn on your own. What is such a shame is that I have been seeing people being hired and not knowing the product and just having to read the specs off the box to a customer if they ask about it. Or worse, I have had employees tell customers the wrong information completely.
Also what has been really upsetting to me is that I find a horrible trend in Home Depot managers coming to Cabela's. First, I have nothing against Home Depot personally but I find it weird that there is such a huge amount of their former employees coming to Cabela's. I remember how Home Depot used to only hire qualified people to work in certain departments in their store. You would be able to talk to a certified electrician if you were dealing with electricity. Those days are now gone. You can't walk into Home Depot generally wanting specific advice and I feel like that is the direction that Cabela's heading in.
If you work in the warehouse you'll have some fairly steady hours, otherwise you'll have a pretty bad work-life balance. If you are full time, you have to have open availability and work whatever schedule they give you. I have done plenty of clopens (open after closing the store the night before) and definitely expect that if you are full time. In fact, if you're part time then you will have a much much easier having a set schedule than a full timer. That's what upsets me. Usually a lot of the part timers work at Cabela's as their second job and their first job is usually enough to pay the bills. It's that case where 'the rich gets richer' and it hurts. As a full-timer, who works hourly at just barely enough to live, it's really difficult. And because as a full-timer you have to have open availability, it's almost nearly impossible to have a second job.
