Overall positive employee atmosphere, high pressure on management level employees
Pros
Trader Joe's is one of the best places I have worked when it comes to employee treatment - this is to say that they try to treat their employees as humans with consideration to home and family life. They are flexible with your scheduling needs. Trader Joe's does not get too caught up in appearance in the hiring process. Tattoos and piercings are definitely not a problem. They are looking for intelligent, like-minded individuals. I enjoy working in a crowd of people who are fairly intelligent. The workday in Trader Joe's is not too monotonous. No one is typically hired for just one function. Everyone stocks, cashiers, etc. The day is broken up into hour-long blocks and you are usually not on one task for too long. The rate at which they hire employees is largely based on prior experience. This can be a huge benefit to those who do have management experience, but aren't necessarily entering TJ's as a manager. They value the experience and pay you higher rates based on such experience.
Cons
There is certainly heavy-lifting involved. Everyone is expected to do all aspects of the job. So if you are afraid of manual labor, this may not be the place for you. If you are looking to move up, expect to work here for quite some time. I was hired at a pay rate much higher than most of the people in the "crew" level because of my extensive management experience in previous jobs. However, after having been working here for 4 months, I am no closer to any higher level of responsibility and the general consensus seems to be that it takes 1 year or better before there is any chance of moving up. As with most retail, if you are part-time, your hours can vary greatly. Summer-time up north is a slow season and your hours can get cut drastically. Don't expect to always have a steady income if you are not a full-time employee. Management seems to sometimes get a little puffed up and often do not follow through with things. As a manager myself, this is a little irksome because I feel it impacts the trust and respect from the employees, which impacts morale.