GC Corporate is not long term.. - Finance Department Guitar Center Employee Review

1.0
Dec 27, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Learn how NOT to act as a VP, manager, or exec

Cons

1. Corporate HQ has too many managers, directors, vp's, execs and not enough employees to do all the work that is expected. The gap between management and staff level is too big. No wonder they are going broke. 2. New CFO, Tim, never implemented any changes to fix or help with the constant turnover in the Finance Dept. Tim never bothered introducing himself to the accounting/finance team or thanking them personally. His team works 12-14 hour days. The department is in need of changes. Salaries are 10-15%% under market for LA county. 3. HR VP, Gina, too busy blowing Mike P, does not give a sh*t about the turnover either. Hired all her inadequate buddies and paid them $100k plus salaries. Major compliance issues in the HR and payroll dept. (And YES they are dating). Soooo, classy. 4. Company operates in the red every month, but management has not made any sacrifces or adjustments. Execs get a $100k BMW lease, BIG bonuses at the end of the year, expense accounts... etc... the staff level people might get a 1% raise. BUT, your health insurance will go up that year too. So, you are basically making less every year that you work there. 5. Company is totally delusional. Not employee friendly. They do not promote within. The people that have survived at corporate are scared out of their minds to do anything better. 6. Company is not diverse, mostly white men.

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5.0
Jul 16, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Management takes good care of you

Cons

No complaints that I can think of

1.0
Jun 29, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Employee discounts are the biggest reason why people work here, as the discount is really good.

Cons

Your experience working at Guitar Center will largely depend on which store you work at. Some stores have a good management team and employees and are fun to work at. But a lot of stores do not have a qualified management team and they have a staff that is not fun to work with. My location needed a new store manager and instead of promoting the ops manager who knew the store better than anyone else and was with the company for 15+ years working at multiple locations, corporate instead promoted a customer service lead who had been with the company less than 2 years and didn't have management experience. These are the people that corporate decides so often to run their stores.

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