retail team leader

retail assistant manager

team leader

sales associate

store manager

Pura Vida

First to be hired at Vera Bradley most hires go through a temp service. They hire real heavy towards the end of summer and early fall near Thanksgiving for the holidays.  Every shift begins with a meeting if there is not enough work they asked for volunteers to go home this will not happen the closer you get to Thankgiving. Starting the Friday  after Thanksgiving you're more or less required to work three of the next four weekends and you be working a lot for several months after the new year. It's's worse if you have to be one of their forklift drivers you work even more. You will most likely be starting on a PICk line. They have a few different areas in a few different PICC lines. Basically you're giving an RF gun.  they have  three levels of lines that run a maze through the building you are assigned to a certain spot to work. Totes are put on to the line. Each tote has codes on it. The totes run across the motorized track line which is periodically lined with beams that reads the code for each individual tote.  The computer which runs the system know where the tote is supposed to go. The Tok is driven  to the area where the product is to be pick. once the tote comes to your area, you scan it with your gun.  What makes it nice is when you scan the tote it is read by the computer, the computer then sends a signal to the bays which lights up the where the product you need is located, and it also tells you how many of each product you need to put in each individual tote. once you go to that area and pick the amount that it says it hit the button that will reset and you throw the tote back on the line and it travels to the next stage it needs to go.  Each of the main three lines are approximately 90 ft long. each level has approximately 6 people. 3 running on one side of the line and three people on the other side of the line.  Each person has about 30 feet of line that they are responsible for. when times are slower you may be responsible to work 2,3 or even four of the 6 lines on your floor by yourself. This only is if they have very few orders and worked is lite. During busy times they may even assigned to or three people to each section of each line so that could be up to 18 people on each floor. When you  start you are trained by a Vera Bradley trainer. They will show you the ropes and how to do your job. You start in a time where orders are slow.  The closer you get to Thanksgiving the more the orders and frequencies build. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas the totes coming in your area is almost Non-Stop. During this time when you arrive at your assigned location there already may have several totes waiting for you when your time to start working. if you are slow at this by this time it will be very frustrating and difficult. If you are slow totes continue to be sent to your area and they will build up after a long line occurs at your station the totes will automatically  hit another sensor which will automatically stop the whole line throughout the plant. It will trip a button in your area and supervisors will know where the problem exists,  and management does not like this at all. Especially during the busy time. You have to stand all day at your station. they really frown upon you if you are caught either sitting or leaning on pallets even if there is nothing in your area at the time. 1 8-hour shift includes two ten minute breaks and one 20 minute lunch. and by the way the break rooms and restroom are located at the front of the building and the rear of the building and it can be a long walk from your area to the restroom or break room. Another thing when you enter the building to the front the time clocks or way in the back. This is a very big building. and if you're just arriving once about time at work there's no way you're going to make it all the way back to the time clocks in time. If you're a good employee and do a good job They will keep you until you are needed. the better you are at the job the longer you will be kept.  If you're lucky they may ask you to reply and be hired in by Vera Bradley, but to do this you have to go through the whole interview process over again this time with Vera Bradley HR. but Things will  slow down towards middle to late summer. a lot of the workload depends to which department you are working in. Some departments have a lot of more work than others. if you're still working there during middle to late summer it can be kind of boring, becausemost of the regular Vera Bradley employees take their vacation this time, this is because almost no one is allowed to take vacation during the Christmas holiday season. So there will be  work a lot ontheir shifts. Things will be pretty slow to about beginning in November this is when they will hire a whole new bunch of temps to repeat the process. If but you do get to be hired in by Vera Bradley after your temp service,  you will almost automatically be transferred second or third shift even if you worked your whole time as a temp on first shift.

From the very first day on the job, I had a lot of help and training to learn everything needed for this job. Everyone was willing to help and make sure I had all my questions answered. Learning the patterns and different types of purses, wallets, bags, etc. was really fun. 

At beginning of career here, employees fill out a availability sheet stating when you were available to work. I filled one out and turned in to managers, but had a lot issues with scheduling. Either every other week or every week I would have to go to management to ask for my schedule to be changed, because it didn't adhere to my availability sheet. That was one con.

Also, I had management that would treat others better than they would treat me. I basically got the dirty work and had more work than others. I felt like I was constantly being watched and told to do more jobs than others. 

Another thing was that I would be talking to a customer and helping them out with something or be fixing a display, and a team lead would call me over and tell me I needed to get on the register to check one person out. This would occur when that team lead or another employee would be free to simply get on the register and do that themselves, but instead called me over from doing something that would help a customer buy a product or making the store organized. It happened all the time and it pulled me away from customers that I was helping. It was unprofessional and rude. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the job and would love to work here again if I had different management. Most of the coworkers were a job to work with and very helpful. The management was the main issue. But overall the company is very friendly and organized. Great promotions and allowed us to get benefits from doing well.

Typical day of work is clocking in, Greet customers as they walk in and explain the sale of the day. Help customer find a bag that fits their needs, always go in the back and sell the new bag in the backroom. Suggesting add-on's at register is important and you do have sales goals that are not hard. Making sure you restock and fix the store during slow hours. But it was always busy where I worked.

I learned how to be a better seller because my managers were amazing at selling. I learned more about peoples needs for traveling and what they really needed in a handbag. You will be suprised how particular people are with bags.

You do get Verabucks if you meet your goals when the promo is happening and you can use it to buy merchandise in the store. 
You also get a good store discount. 

Hardest part of the job were rude customers. A lot of them don't like to be bothered, which I understand but even saying hi was somehow evil to them.

Most enjoyable part of the job is you were fairly busy so you won't get bored. A lot of people are always coming in. 

Hours were not the best, it is one of those stores where you don't get a lot of hours as you would like and they are high and get really low randomly. Pay was very low too. They are also strict on dress code. You must wear a Vera Bradley scarf, which you get for free. Or some kind of Vera Bradley accessory, but you have to buy that.

One thing I will say about Vera Bradley is they really care about their customers. They constantly will have you handing out free gifts to customers for walking in or for purchasing things. They also honor them for almost any return which is awesome so you don't need to deal with customer arguments. They constantly order food for customers and you will feel great working there because it is so rare in any company to care that much for their customers.

I’ve worked at two store and both store managers were very respectful and treated their employees well. 

My main problem is upper manager, some DMs and higher ups ignore sales associates completely. I believe that’s unacceptable; a simple hi can go a long way. 

There’s room for advancement, but not much. It seems like the ladder is sales associate, team lead, assistant manager (if you’re in a factory store), and then store manager. We did have a new DM for one of my stores, but she was hired from outside of the company and I do not know if the company made it aware to its store managers that a position was open. 

There also seems to be a pay grade difference between factory and full line stores. Factory seems to get paid higher right off the bat, which is annoying. Factory stores may have more traffic, but the traffic is so high that giving each customer an engaging experience is impossible sometimes. However, full-line stores are expected to give every customer a very engaging experience and from my experience some customers can take up to an hour going back and forth with questions. Also, if your store is not making money and the store has over scheduled then they will cut your hours, which can be frustrating. 

A positive is that if your store does well in sales then you will get a raise, but it could be a .05 raise to a .75 raise. 

I would say this is a good work place for students, individuals who are retired, but still enjoy interacting with people, or if you enjoy the product. If you’re someone looking for advancement this is not the company for you. 

As for covid, the company did provide cleaning supplies monthly, however I believe they let up restrictions too early. 

Where do I even begin? For starters the managers have favorites so if you aren’t one of them then you’ll get screwed over. They try to be all friendly to your face but then talk about you behind your back. When the managers give you a task to do they give you 20 and expect you to do all of them in a 4 or 5 hour shift which wouldn’t be bad but they are all time consuming. Not only that but one minute they want you to do something and the next they want you to stop that task and do the next. You can’t get things done because they are running around acting like they can’t manage the place. The assistant manager can’t be by herself for more than 2 minutes without calling you out on the floor or for you to run the floor while she goes in the back so she can sit in the back and do nothing but eat and play on her phone, most, if not all of your shift and hers. That’s if she’s not talking to friends for her whole shift or talking about everyone in the store. WHILE ON THE FLOOR IN FRONT OF CUSTOMERS. Then the general manager is a complete mess. She’s always behind on her own tasks as a general manager and stops everyone in the store to do her dirty work because she’s behind. She complains about everything you do unless you’re her favorite. Both managers say one thing and turn around and say the next. This goes beyond multitasking. They are just so disorganized and all over the place. They leave giant messes and expect every one else to clean it up for them but turn around and blame the mess on you or other coworkers. Honestly the job isn’t worth it. Yes you get paid okay but for that amount it’s truly not worth what really happens in the back or out of customers sight.

Vera Bradley is one of the nicest places I have ever worked at. The overall feel of the people was warm and cozy/ 
i would go in, grab something to eat off the back table before I clocked in, and then I would walk back to the front and start my day of straightening, dusting, and a LOT of one on one time with each and every customer. I think that's why I loved that job the most. I love talking to people, so it was nice to be able to do that professionally each day. I learned so many communication skills, as well as computer and life skills such as counting the drawers by myself at closing, working with dayshift, not overcrowding a customer but making sure they are satisfied, etc. My co-workers are all still acquaintances of mine, they are all such sweet people. The management was not very well held together, seeing as we had new mangers coming in and out, and shift leaders dropping out of their position because they were having to be the shift leader AND the general manager because the general manger wasn't always the best at managing. But don't get me wrong, despite the lack of management we all held a very good grip on what we had to do, and we pulled numbers each week with no problem. That was my favorite part of the job. My least favorite part of the job was having to manage as a sales associate. That was the managers job and I didn't feel like it was my place to do her job.

A typical day includes helping customers find exactly what they need, tucking the tags of merchandise, straightening everything on the sales floor, doing exchanges/returns, pricing new product, filling the sales floor with product, making boxes to send out to FedEx with send sale orders, making labels, cleaning the store, and doing inventory searches to find products at other stores. I have learned to be extremely patient with every customer and doing whatever it takes to make them happy and ensure that they will return to the store. Our managers are very understanding and helpful. I get along great with all of my co-workers and we make the day fun so time goes by fast. I really enjoy getting to know the customers so I can help them whenever they come in. Making a connection with customers just feels special and being able to give them free gifts makes for an extremely rewarding experience. The hardest part is not being able to say no when people take advantage of our perfect customer service. They sometimes return very used items and get new ones instead for free. Customers use birthday coupons more than once a year and even though we know about it we still have to let them use it again.

This company is a national chain.  Unfortunately the one in my area closed, or I would still be there.  I loved the place, it was beautiful, clientele is lovely and fun to serve, generally clients are in a good mood when they come in.  Company hires good people, management is high quality, staff is cheerful and fun to work with.  The product is so-o charming, it's a pleasure to represent.  I worked here for a long time and loved it.  They were apologetic for having to close us, gave us a lovely send-off and I got a very generous severence.  Of course no place is perfect, no job is perfect, no people are perfect ... that's real life.    But this company really tries.  It was a great experience, I miss it terribly, and I even own stock too.  I worked at two different locations over the years, with two different managers and teams.  Same story, both places ... it was not a coincidence.  It's just a really good corporate culture, values, aiming for excellence, and smart hiring.  I interacted with and knew management and team members at other locations as well ... lovely people, all!  Clients LOVED US, and there's a reason why.

Great company to work for, and it was fun to sell Vera Bradley products to customers. I can see how individual work experiences can vary depending upon your previous retail experience, age, and location management, but attitude has a lot to do with your success here.

You must learn to be attentive to customers while also handling typical duties like processing shipments, making sales floor changes, and preparing for new sales promotions. As a sales associate, you learn a lot about the operations of the store. 

The hardest part of the job is that there just aren't enough hours to go around for associates and team leads, so you often feel like you "don't have enough people." This is something all retail companies are feeling right now.

The management at this store was GREAT about helping you work around school schedules, vacations, doctors' appointments, etc. In fact, the more productive and helpful you are while on the job, the better your odds of getting workarounds for important situations in your personal life. They realize you have a life outside of work, and I was especially grateful for that.

I am a huge Vera Bradley fan, so naturally I was excited to go to work for one of the stores. They pay for retail (at least where I was) was impressive. I only wish there was room for growth/advancement.
I think I would have liked working for Vera better if the management didn't micromanage. I know the store management is micromanagement from above them, but it trickles down and makes working there unbearable. They do not trust the sales associates to do their jobs. I didn't appreciate having someone second guessing me or embarrassing me in front of customers that I am helping.
We are supposed to be "girls best friend" but I don't stalk and harass my best friends they way I was expected to in the store.
There is no such thing as "perfect" and everything in the stores has to be "perfect" right down to the little knot on the green string with the price tag on it (Im not exaggerating).

Overall it would be a better working environment if management would relax a little.

I know you cannot discriminate but as I said I am a big Vera fan, and I think if the management were fans of the Vera product, the working environment would be better. The 3 managers where I was did not like the product. They didnt even want to carry the free totes they would get each season!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Retail team leader 8 salaries reported	$18.70 per hour
Retail assistant manager 5 salaries reported	$15.98 per hour
Team leader 9 salaries reported	$17.51 per hour
Sales associate 2 salaries reported	$14.81 per hour
Store manager 1 salary reported	$75,258 per year

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