Guitar Center reviews

The pay structure is horrible. Example: the local REI sporting goods store starting pay is $11.25/hr multiply that by 40hrs per week = $1800/month Guitar center will not give a new employee 40hrs/week that's reserved for assistant managers. They say it's because I won't hit commission goals with 40 hrs. Ok so guitar center in my area is $9/hr with commission. Commission structure in its simplest for is: your gross profit has to equal or exceed you paycheck in order to get commission. At $8,000 of profit you get $200 bonus same at $10k and 12k. So with average of 28hrs/week as a full time worker, with the 3 tiers of Comission bonuses (which is nearly impossible to obtain) my monthly paycheck would be $1,608. What I would need to do to actually hit $12,000 in profit per month: - steal fellow coworkers customers - put myself on sales tickets that I had no part of - hover by the front door and talk to customers first. - presend I'm talking to employees in other departments when my department is slow so I can try and get their customers. - whine, complain and fight my way into others sales claiming I should be on a sales ticket and make management change the ticket to give me a percentage. - issue a gift card payment to a customer I know a fellow employee was working with , then use that gift card to purchase their items so the records don't show that original employee should get any credit for sale because it was a gift card purchase associated to the purchase rather than physical items. I am personally not the above type of person so at most on a good month I can reach tier one of comission (especially on my weekly hours) which would be $1,208 per month. I would say a 40hr/week job at REI beats guitar center.

With the assortment of Pro's I've listed, you're probably wondering what leads me to giving Guitar Center a 2 Star rating? Well there is one major issue that GC has failed to address properly for years, Compensation and reward for store level employees. Before you dismiss my "typical" complaint, take a moment to read in full, the situation that this has caused for all of us. Guitar Center makes the vast majority of it's earnings off of money made at the physical retail store level. Employee motivation at the store level is the essential life blood of the company. Everything from selling gear, to credit cards, coverage plans, and more. Unfortunately the very poor compensation that Guitar Center provides these employees is what turns folks from hard working members of a team, to another statistic in the enormous turn-over ratio held by the company. I myself having been working for GC for 3 years, In that time I have received various awards, a promotion to manager in training and a few other accolades. My position requires me to be one of the most depended upon people in my store. I am constantly relied upon by my managers to complete tasks that unfortunately no one else in my department is qualified to complete. Where many companies properly recognize hard work, and motivation,Guitar Center essentially rewards you with nothing more than a pat on the back. In my 3 years, with the achievements I've gained,My time as an employee, and the store's overall reliability on my work, I make roughly $1.50 more than when I started. Looking at salaries of employees from various companies that work within the same fields as we do, It's no surprise that GC falls extremely short in terms of comparative compensation, all the way from new hires, to store managers. After a chain wide plan was generated in mid 2013 to restructure not only the compensation of employees, but the structure of store staffing, Many of us had regained some hope in the future of our company. After having been told in Spring of 2014 that this plan was to be expected in late summer of the same year, As soon as that time frame rolled around it was announced that the program had been delayed until 2015. Needless to say that in my entire time as an employee, I have never seen store wide motivation so low as it currently is. Hardly anyone is pushing to sell gear, or make any kind of goals that have been set for us.After talking amongst ourselves I've come to learn that at least 50%, if not more of our staff are currently seeking new employment. Usually this would present a problem to upper management correct? Wrong, Guitar Center has a extremely high turn-over ratio for a reason. It's not hard to imagine how many people would love to have a job at "Their favorite music store", so there is a huge pool of people who are willing to work for this company at any given moment. In a 3 year span I have seen countless hardworking people be forced to quit a job they love due to financial issues. Guitar Center may be a great place for you to work if you need a fun part time gig, without too much worry about money. If you're looking for a job to build a career, unfortunately this is not the place to do such. It's a shame that many employees (myself included) are having to look for new work, instead of continuing to do the work that we love to do on a daily basis, simply because we can't afford it, and feel under appreciated by a company that we have worked so hard to help succeed.