Pros
The only pros that I found for working for Sterling jewelers are the discounts and the ability to take the DCA course. The jewelry discount is pretty amazing and was the only thing keeping me there... And it is the only reason why I rated Sterling 2 stars instead of 1.
Cons
Where do I begin? It's a dog eat dog world at Sterling. Sterling Jewelers prides itself on offering the 6 standards when it comes to customer service and sales. They are Sales, Credit, ESP which are extended service plans, Repairs, Add-ons, and PPP/payment protection plan. Every employee must meet the minimum percentage requirements and if not, then they will be harassed non stop until they are 6/6. CREDIT. All Sterling cares about is making their coworkers beg unwilling customers for credit applications. It gets to the point where they stop caring about the customers needs and wants and focus mainly on taking advantage of the poor people. I have worked in stores where coworkers and managers will trick customers into signing up for credit, just to achieve their 6/6 standards. If you happen to fall low on credit, be prepared to call your district manager every night explaining why you did not get a credit app, including a full credit app presentation. My manager even went to the extremes of calling employees in on their off days to attend 30 minute "credit training" sessions. It can become quite extreme, to the point you will want to beg a customer to fill out an app, just to avoid the manager's wrath. ESP. These are service plans you sale with jewelry purchases. They aren't too hard to sell. Really, if a customer cares about the jewelry, they will pay the additional fee for it. REPAIRS. These are external repairs... Every now and then you will have some little old lady stumble in with a ring in poor condition, stones missing, split shank, etc. You send it out for repair for her, have it fixed, she pays 300 bucks for it, and you smile and pat yourself on the back. However, most of the time, it's not like that. You will mostly receive watch batteries, which are 8.99 or 14.99. ADD ONS. Just having more than one item on a receipt. Not too complicated. Easy to attain if you're good at selling. PPP. This goes with the credit. And are pretty hard to attain. If a customer applies for a Kay card, or other Sterling account, they have the option to enroll in a plan that will protect their credit in case they die from a tree falling on them...or something like that... Most people will say no because it costs more money. SALES. Each day you have different sales goals. If you sell that much, then yay! If not, and you happen to be at a lower volume store where management will squander your sales because they have higher goals and will attempt to steal yours, then boo... it's harder to achieve. I worked in an environment where management constantly stole sales from coworkers. Not only that, but one manager believed that there should never only be one coworker on a sale...even if there was only one person working with them... So if you happen to sell a Tolkowsky 1 ct ring all by yourself, she would rering the sale, split it among all the other associates, including herself, just to teach you a lesson that everyone should be involved. I never understood her logic..... Other than that, you will have special events with outlandish sales goals. A normal day you are goaled 400... and at a special event, that turns into 5000. Good luck with that... it will make or break you. Oh commission depends on how well your store does... we only made half of one percent of anything we sold... not a lot if you make 8 bucks an hour as a base... Overall, if you want to maintain your sanity, go, please, go look somewhere else! There is a lot that happens behind closed doors that corporate does not see...
