sales associate

sales assistant

stocking associate

assistant store manager

sales supervisor

Michael Kors

I have happily spent two and a half years at Micheal Kors. This company basically taught me everything I know about how to make a customer feel special and how to learn about products. I really liked this job, even if there wasn't a whole lot of opportunity to get ahead or to change your job title. The management team are made up of very kind individuals who for the most part understand when things arise in ones personal life. They try to make the atmosphere all about family and working together and, surprisingly, for a job with almost all female employees there is rarely any "girl drama", for lack of a better term. The managers are very good at keeping "girl drama" out of the workplace and for as long as I've worked here if they noticed any drama such as snarky remarks or verbal attacks on or off the floor they have professionally and privately settled the issues. There is not one girl who acts cruelly to any other girl. That's very important, a healthy work atmosphere that is about business and not about any llama drama. 

When I first started working at Micheal Kors they had agreed to work with my school schedule and that was also very important to me. They usually are a very pro-education company and so long as you're available every holiday and weekend they're pretty understanding. The bad part about this is that you need to be available /every/ Weekend. You never get a weekend off just because or even one day out of the weekend just because. This isn't that surprising because this is the standard for retail life, so I suppose I'm just venting for the sake of venting. Besides, if you request your weekend off with enough time in advanced the management team usually approves the request unless multiple people have asked off that day, and the managers try and make it a priority to give birthdays off even if it is a Saturday or a Sunday.

The company takes Luxury and Customer Service very seriously. Employees are extensively trained in the jetset service and the jetset lifestyle. If you're looking to be trained in a chic, intelligent, fashion-foreword atmosphere that takes the job into a lifestyle this certainly is the place for you. You simply need to have a want to learn about products and a passion for fashion! Here you will learn how to identify the wants and needs of customers, and should they  not want or need anything you will learn how to create it by simply asking questions. On a personal level working at Michael Kors will toughen your skin and make you a more confident woman (or man). Working here has taught me to take chances, to actively seek out the sale, to be bold. 

The hardest part of the job is working with customers whom are having a bad day and whom feel they need to take it out on you, though once again anyone who works a retail job has to deal with this. This problem isn't special. The next closest difficulty with the job would have to be memorizing product knowledge and or the style in which employees are trained to sell. The selling style is different in this establishment than in most other establishments. 

The best part of this job had to be learning about the proper dialogue and learning how to talk with customers and shop with them instead of sell to them.

So, why am I looking for a new job? It has been brought to my attention that my schedule for school this semester can't be worked with. Normally Michael Kors works with school schedules but presently they are short staffed and are in need of employees with open-availability. Until there are more employees at Michael Kors I cannot work there any longer because Education takes first priority for me. If you have open availability I strongly recommend you apply to work at Michael Kors, it's a wonderful experience that you will not soon regret.

Working at MK was very awkward for me. I worked there for about 2 years and at first I loved my new job, but sadly that came to a distributing halt. The environment is extremely catty and unfair in so many ways. There was a lot of unethical practices on and off of the sales floor. To top it off there was a TON of discrimination towards me (not trying to pull the race card but it was extremely prevalent to anyone looking from the outside in) and there were a lot of discriminatory remarks made towards me as well. 
1. I will start off with the pay. Before I began working at MK as a Sales Associate I had a generous amount of retail experience to back me up, and I was started off at $12.00 an hour. The other two girls who I was hired on with (both non minorities with only volunteer work experience) were getting paid $13.50/$14.40 which discouraged me at the time but I was grateful having Michael Kors as a job.
2. Commission was a hit or miss, especially during certain seasons. With MK being a commission environment it was definitely catty sometimes, but getting your sales deliberately stolen from a SUPERVISOR was extremely unacceptable and proves that there is NO integrity in some of the workers in this company. When I worked at MK (2017) Commission ranged from 1%-5% depending on your sales. 
3. Hours were SO trash and they literally gave me leftover hours. SO I would work 10-13 hours a week. Then when holiday approaches and everyone BUT ME gets their requested time off Im DROWNED with hours. hmm. Interesting. ALSO ALL OF MY TIME REQUESTS WERE DENIED. I didn't spend Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Years and ALMOST my Birthday (they really tried it) with my friends & family. 
4. WARDROBE. We were to dress in MK clothing and shoes. Wearing those ATROCIOUS clothing and then getting ridiculed about your but being too big in all of the clothes was annoying and vexed me at times. ON TOP OF BEING FORCED TO WEAR THE MERCHANDISE, you were taxed on the clothes they gave you.. so it was definitely not free. If that was the case I should just be able to wear all black and keep it pushing.. I barely work anyways.
5. Lastly the management was lacking leadership skills. Non ethical practices were always happening on the sales floor. You would be talked to like you were an idiot and I would get a lot of racial slurs from my co-workers and supervisors: "your butt is making your dress rise up its inappropriate" "your hair is frizzy (Afro) go to the back and fix it" "you look tired go put some makeup on" HUH?! EXTREMELY Inappropriate for sales professionals. Im done ranting. MK did teach me skills that I have took to other companies and flourished in, but my experience was definitely not pleasant.

Overall, my work experience at MK was fun but shorten due to Covid-19.  You get nice discounts on the items in the outlet store, retail store, and online when it is employee appreciation week/month. Wardrobe is given 10xs a year, excluding the month of june and december . Wardrobe are mostly dresses, dress pants, blouses, jumpsuits, and blazers. 

As a cashier, you do not have to worry much about making a sale or meeting a goal. Your main responsibility is asking if a sale associate (coworker) helped them and signing up for a free one year warranty for their bag/wallet or two year warranty on sunglasses and watches. (Don't worry, it is not like signing up for a charged card. Plus people love the words free warranty). Let them know that the warranty only applies on manufacture damages. You also aim to sell protective sprays and key chains. You help with unwrapping Small Leather Goods (SLGs) and stock them when it is slow. 

My store management team was amazing and understandable. Very flexible with you on scheduling you on for shifts. You have to be able to communicate that you have other obligations with your management team. I have seen youtube videos about people sharing that MK management teams telling them to fix their hair or wear MK appeal from head to toe. My MK outlet store management team was never like that. I could only speak for the store that I worked at. The team encourage diverse, ethnic hairstyles such as box braids, natural hair, and natural hair buns. Just keep you hair at a natural color and stick to clothing guidelines.

If you are new, wear business casual in these colors: black, tan, navy, white, and gray. Professional close toes shoes during the fall/winter and sandals/gladiators in the spring/summer. You do not have to buy MK clothing once hired. Pick out four to five of the natural colors when it comes time for wardrobe. Then play around with the other colors. Say you picked a yellow dress for wardrobe, once that yellow dress is out of stock, YOU CAN NOT WEAR THE YELLOW DRESS ANYMORE!! Picking a natural color wardrobe will allow you to wear it all the time. Nails, keep them at 1/8 if you get them done and only allowed natural polished colors and french. If you have tattoos, they need to be covered and not visible. Tattoos are frowned upon, sorry. Piercings, none on the face, tongue, cheeks, or excessive amount on ear. Nose ring is up to management, but having a small stud is fine. The only time management will talk you about your outfit is if you are out of the guidelines, which was rare. 

Overall, the MK staff kept the energy of the work place exciting.

A typical day at work is coming in and ensuring that both back and front of house is sound.  Once the operations is completed, I ensure that all employees are "floor ready".  Also, I conduct a walk thru of the store and deliver product knowledge with all the associates so that they are empowered when conducting the "Michael Kors Selling Ceremony".  Furthermore, I touch base with each sales associate to support them on their client retention goals.Lastly, I review and confirm any task that need to be completed for all upcoming in store events.

Since working at Michael Kors, I have learned to be patient and not assume that everyone processes information the same.  I have learned that in order to be successful in management it is important to achieve the staff's trust, remain composed and to  lead with results. It has become evident, wayward thinking guides me through some of the toughest challenges. Moreover, I have also learned how to analyze the business using qualitative and quantitative data.

Management at Michael Kors is composed of 8 including myself.  We are each responsible for a department in the store, for me Ready-to-Wear and Shoes, and we are to increase that specific business.   We support each others focus  by constantly communicating our department goals, challenges and successes.

The hardest part of my job is training.  Because Michael Kors hires candidates with little or no luxury retail training it seems their talent lacks the basics of customer service (ie. client book, retention,conduct and selling techniques.)  Changing the culture is the most challenging because Michael Kors  continues to hire inexperienced candidates who are more transactional then client focused.  The most enjoyable part of the job is when an individual finally comprehends the Michael Kors' selling culture and they excel in their role.

• Ranked within the Top Five Salesmen since joining the company, a retail chain of stores focused worldwide on a vision of a Jet-Set luxury life style to women and men with emblematic products
• the highest standard of quality; including apparel, accessories, fragrances and beauty products; that require creativity and expertise for mastering the sales transactions with language and suggestions that level, suggest and align both the vision of the designer and
the stores, in a perfect communion with the customer’s demand for his complete satisfaction, at the highest level of communication.
• Keeping abreast of fashion trends to diversify the products offerings in a variety of ways; namely bit self, through accessories or adding products in layers, aligned with season and customers’ taste and desires. Starting from fragrances, sunglasses, ready to wear
to the most important department: Handbags of any line offered.
• Team Member of the Visuals Department: Participant in floor set planning of the store location. Participate in development of perspective of fashion trends, to communicate demand requirements to enable the attainment of the Company goals. An introductory
selection enabled the exercise of my competences to improve the visuals standards and achieve and surpass store sales objectives during in my capacity.
• Weekly analysis of both the highest and lowest seller’s products of the assigned departments, seeking for optimization of productivity and profitability, duplicating the results in all of them.
• Acting in capacity of the Department of Eye Wear and Fragrances, followed by In-charge of the apparels department, and most recent handbags.
• In-charge of capture, the creation and collection customer complete information that positioned the store from the bottom 3 to the top 3, with a 65% increase.

I started working as a Shop Manager for Michael Kors a couple of months ago. I can honestly say that it was not the worst job, and I actually liked it.. BUT now I regret leaving my old job. MK ruined my career.

I will say the good things first:
You get paid holidays, which is great! 
You make your own schedule
You get 50% off discount 
You get clothing allotment (But you pay the taxes and it takes FOREVER for you to receive it).

Now, the bad:

To begin with, you are NOT a manager AT ALL. The only person you manage is yourself. The associates within the retail partner store do not see you as a manager, because they do not work for Michael Kors. Most of the associates are rude and moody and you feel powerless because you do not have any authorization over them.

They do not offer proper training. During my first week, I was very lost. They just threw me in the store and that's it. I did not even know how to get my daily sales. I was lucky enough to have another shop manager working in that mall who guided me.

Many shop managers complain about the amount of recaps we had to write on a daily basis. I enjoy writing, so that was not a problem for me. However, if you lack writing skills this WILL be a big problem. Also, deadlines are very strict.

Ok, now...THE WORST:

After I got my position, sales were doing great and I was very happy and motivated to continue reaching my goal. However, one day SUDDENLY and OUT OF NOWHERE I received a call from HR saying that my position with the company had been terminated because my store was not meeting a "threshold", and they decided that this particular store does not need a shop manager after all.

Just like that. 

One day I was being congratulated for my awesome performance and the next day I was laid off. 

I left my job as a store manager to move to MK and now I am unemployed...

Awesome learning and selling environment with a brand I love. Although meeting sales goals was important and competitive, I got along with all my coworkers and management team, where we established a fun, passionate, and diligent work atmosphere. A typical day at work would include greeting customers and making them feel welcome, generating sales to increase conversion, focusing on developing new clients while maintaining long-term relationships with old ones, accommodating to customer issues, and making sure hourly, weekly, and month goals were met and/or surpassed. The most enjoyable part of the job was pushing myself to be the best sales associate and supervisor I could be by really learning from my colleagues and taking constructive criticism. By being positive and hard-working, I am recognized as a top seller.The hardest part of the job was how it took some time to get to know certain employees due to their schedules. As Michael Kors became more and more mainstream and popular, the brand expanded their sales horizon to department stores, such as Lord and Taylor, Bloomingdale's, Nordstorm, and Macy's etc.This made meeting our goals more difficult, but I focused on clienteling and giving exceptional service to hundreds of customers on a daily basis, which would ensure their loyalty to not only me, but to Michael Kors Lifestyle/Freestanding stores. The most enjoyable part of the job was the friendly, competitive environment that I established with my coworkers to ensure that we were all working to our full potential.

Personal relationships built with fellow co-workers are the only thing that it bearable to work in a rather hostile, high-pressure environment, mostly caused by stressed managers (store, district, and regional alike). Constant turn-over at all levels, even with the executive board, create the ever-changing yet always stays the same feel that is felt throughout the company. 

Everyone is replaceable and the push for sales and KPIs are increasingly unrealistic with the lack of support and staffing nor addressing technological and societal changes across the industry. Do more with less has become the motto... And it's evident with exempt managers working around the clock since more part-time positions are being created to eliminate full-time positions with benefits. 

Commission-based, a sales position can be monetarily rewarding and is average / standard to the industry. However, there is far less of a team effort to achieve goals and more the individualistic sales shark mentality and behavior. It drives a severely competitive culture - delivering profits to the company with store managers and sales assistants being held to sales goals without being paid any commission. 

Companies with a focus on their employees generate happy, productive people that feel respected at a minimum and go above and beyond for the customer. This company seems to lack such focus and is evident with declining customer service and staggering staff retention!

A typical day at work would be assisting customers with their purchases of their handbags, accessories, etc while providing them with product knowledge of what they would be buying.

I learned a lot from that job including some Spanish and Portuguese while working in the Dolphin Mall Michael Kors. I also learned how to be a better sales person, worked on communication skills, and apply my creative abilities to weekly floor set changes.

Management tended to lean towards the unprofessional side at times. However, when it came down to it they were professional and motivational when they needed to be.

My co-workers and I had a very tight knit relationship. Everyone was very close and got along well. This was one of my favorite aspects of the job because it provided a fun environment to work in.

The hardest part of the job would be the language barrier at the specific location that I had been working at. My first and only fully fluent language is English. The location is a big tourist spot for many Latin-Americans who speak Spanish and Portuguese so at times it became a bit challenging. 

The most enjoyable part of the job would be the fact that I got to help others pick out something that would make them or whoever they were making their purchase for happy.

When I first started working at MK, the managers were extremely racist towards me. They rolled their eyes at everything I said and would mock and mimic the things I would say. I stayed because I needed the money. After a few months of tolerating their behavior in a professional manner, they realized I was an asset to the company and treated me better (and other employees were leaving so they couldn’t afford to act in their usual childish  manner and drive me away) MK is NOT a professional environment to work in at all. Managers pick their favorite associates. It would be easy to suck up to managers if they weren’t racist. Managers here are also two faced and shouldn’t be trusted. They also don’t trust each other. They push you to sell but end up stealing the sales of store associates. There are also dumb rules such as: dresses and heels on weekends, no outrageous hair colors, no long nails, only nude colored nails, etc. BUT if you are the manager’s favorite, you might get away with it, but if not, you’re in trouble. I wore long nails one day, and I was forced to remove them; while my fellow caucasian coworker had them and it wasn’t a problem at all. Overall, toxic place to work. Only benefit is that there is a free wardrobe piece every month but it’s honestly not worth any stress this terrible place puts you through. 

P.S. I believe this location hires different ethnicities to make it seem like they’re inclusive but they treat they’re ethnical minorities extremely poorly.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Sales associate 73 salaries reported	$15.58 per hour
Sales assistant 50 salaries reported	$15.43 per hour
Stocking associate 19 salaries reported	$15.65 per hour
Assistant store manager 18 salaries reported	$24.79 per hour
Sales supervisor 20 salaries reported	$18.31 per hour

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