A great place to learn and build your resume, not a great place to stay
Pros
If you remain open-minded, you will learn a lot about business and how to motivate a team. There are a lot of tools the company gives you to be successful in your role. It can be seen through two lenses, but a positive aspect of there being so many metrics to which you are held accountable is that there may be other factors that your SM may look at to determine your proficiency in your role as a manager. If you like to move and try new cities and are open to trying new things, you may find yourself at home with this company. Depending on if you make the time to sell (and if your team allows it), you can make decent money, especially during Anniversary, Holiday, or special events (trunk shows, PAs, etc). You will also meet some of the best people in your life working at Nordstrom- there's a cultural commonality that people outside of the company will never understand. Some leaders will be some of the most inspiring, motivating people you will ever meet in your life. You will form lifelong relationships with many customers over time as well.
Cons
#1: Work-life balance. As a Department Manager, you can set the tone for your team's WLB, but your own is determined by your Store Manager. I'm sure there are some SMs out there that promote healthy WLB, but I haven't met them! You "earn" your PTO time, are "encouraged" by HR to take your time, and ultimately never enjoy that time while you are out because: a) your employees will most likely still contact you while you are away; and b) you will be welcomed back with smiles for the first three to four minutes of getting back to work before you have to answer for whatever blown out of proportion and seemingly minor issues took place while you are out. Gear up for having a coaching conversation, unsolicited questioning and interrogations regarding employee to employee and customer issues, and otherwise made to feel horribly for taking the time off in the first place. Oh, and yeah, nights and weekends. Sundays. If your family doesn't live in or near the city you work in, you will never get to enjoy any holidays with them unless you cram everything into less than 36 hours including travel time. 2) There are really no more advantages to being a manager. You will be stuck as a DM for longer than your predecessors, without a doubt. There is so much re-structuring that is constantly going on; there has been a stark slow-down of managers promoted out of the stores in the last three years it became down right depressing. Being a retail manager is a means, not an end! As well, retention has gotten to be such an issue, salespeople can pretty much do whatever they want and never get termed. If you have product issues and your team's SPH goes down, it's your fault and you are supposed to adjust your staffing. You're understaffed because their SPH is low, and a customer complains they had to wait until a salesperson finished with their customer to help them with a return? Your fault. Coaching conversation. You simply can't win! Meanwhile, you are completely disarmed with regards to getting better talent in the door because you are charged with "motivating and inspiring" your team without being able to flex the "get better results or you'll be out the door" mentality. As a Department Manager, if you miss your metrics, I guarantee your SM won't have that mentality with you during quarterly business reviews. As well, don't think you have preferential scheduling because you are the boss now and have worked your way to this position. Now-a-days, your Assistant Manager also gets royal treatment and you will be stuck working weekends you need off so they can have a balanced work-life, all in the name of being a better "servant leader". Wasn't one of the reasons we wanted to take on the extra responsibility and work harder as ADMs to get promoted so we can have preferential scheduling? Guess not. 3) Your SM. I have worked for some that are great, understand how you run your business, and otherwise know you as a person. I have also, however, worked for SMs that have zero idea of what happens in your business and try to over-compensate by cracking the whip and making blind accusations. And speaking of servant leadership, many SMs are so detached from the sales floor, they have adopted a "do as I say not as I do" work ethic surrounding leaving early, working nights and weekends, and spending time with their family. How can you address work expectations when you yourself work less than 30 hours a week?! 4) Customers. Most customers are great! They are regular Nordstrom customers, walk in, know what to expect, say hi to their favorite salespeople, buy, return, and are otherwise awesome. Then there are the minority of customers that are not so great. I'm not even referring to the criminals, because they're what comes with the territory, but the ones that will over-embellish a service complaint and make your life miserable. See, a customer can make up whatever story they would like in an attempt to get attention, something for free, perform a heinous return, etc etc. Regardless of whatever work of fiction they brew, as a Department Manager, the buck stops with you. You will get in trouble. You will get coached. You could do everything in your power to take care of the customer, going step by tedious step to try and accommodate them, and to no avail, you will still be in trouble. Some customers feel that, because of the changes in the retail industry, they are gracing any store they stomp into with their business. And, as such, they should be treated like the trashy princes and princesses they feel they are. Ultimately, if you are lucky, you won't fall victim to these emotional vandals. Your odds go down if your department handles any alterations or repairs as these are things that make customers go ballistic and fire off deceitful letters to the Nordstrom family in Seattle. 5) Lastly, you are never able to unplug. I received text messages from employees at 2am from time to time. You will be texted on your day off. You are held to staying on top of your email on your personal phone. And, as mentioned before in the PTO paragraph, you are always concerned over the goings on in your department while you are not there that you end up checking in on your days off and having the closers text you the final figures of the day at close. This is sick! No, the pay wasn't too bad (especially in the second and third DM roles I took on), but we are not doctors on call! We are running sales floors that generate capital that ultimately goes into the coffers of the millionaires running the company! There is no reason managers should be under as much stress as they are! Pressure? Sure, we all need it. But I feel like many leaders take this too far in the name of results. True end result? We end up quitting and taking our education, work ethic, talent and dedication elsewhere.
