retail assistant manager

seasonal associate

assistant leader

assistant team leader

team leader

Sees Candies

Working at See's Candies has been the best professional experience of my life. I've been in the work force for 9 years, but my favorite place has been See's Candies. I worked there as a seasonal employee for the winter holidays and can't wait to do it again because I had such a positive experience. My coworkers and management were all lovely to be around, the culture was collaborative and set a real example of teamwork, the job duties taught me important life skills like how to properly gift wrap things and I acquired the skills of using product knowledge to make recommendations. Time goes by fast especially when it's busy, but there's a special kind of satisfaction that comes with hand assembling custom chocolate boxes for customers and the privilege of making someone's holiday gift to loved ones and the rushes didn't faze me. My coworkers were patient and quick to help me learn my way around the store until I could work independently with confidence and efficiency, showing me how to do things and giving me positive feedback that really boosted my self confidence as an employee. I quickly learned what it means to go above and beyond to please customers, make their holiday season with supreme customer service and seeing that little smile on their faces when offering samples gave me a personal sense of happiness knowing I helped someone. Staff is helpful and supportive, the pay is substantial and ideal even for part time and I looked forward to going in for my shifts. I know what you're thinking: who gets up and says they can't wait to go into work? I can happily say that I did! I was proud to wear the traditional and charming vintage style uniform and to learn the history of America's most cherished candy shop. I genuinely enjoyed working at See's Candies and would want to work there for the rest of my life and had such a positive, fulfilling experience. Getting to sample the yummy chocolates is definitely a perk, too. During training, they teach you some vivid words you can use to describe the different flavors and textures to customers when helping them select their chocolate. They want you to know what the different candies taste like, but employees are allowed to have chocolate! Isn't that sweet? It's the next best thing to living in Candyland.

For seasonal employment, absolutely yes!! See’s is a wonderful, fun, fast paced environment with recently increased starting pay in San Diego area. Plus free samples all shift long. For a seasonal job, See’s is perfect! Pay increases during the past 5 years for new hires have increased at much higher ratio than any pay increases given to current employees and management, so any low wage marks apply to permanent and management positions only. 

For a management job however, it is years of promises and performing above and beyond job title, with very little opportunity for advancement. Upper management tasks store managers with additional responsibilities and even additional temporary holiday locations to staff, schedule and manage, for no additional pay over other managers without the extra work. Just on the hope of advancement at some “future time” that is always “coming soon.” The ability to advance beyond a shop manager position (speaking for the greater SD area) is minimal at best and those positions are filled quickly without even application or interview opportunities outside of upper management’s pre-selected candidate. 

Local district management is luck of the draw and changes often. I had both ends of management luck in my time at See’s. I worked for a district manager who was a wonderful mentor and teacher, and then one who was often condescending, unpredictable and happy to take advantage of their management employees’ ambition. Adding extra tasks not asked of all managers, offering in return, empty promises and a hope for loyalty when a rare opportunity to move up might be opening. I chose to cut my loses with a company I genuinely loved working for. I just wish it had more opportunity and more honesty with employees about the reality of advancement instead of using it as a carrot to gain undeserved loyalty.

As a seasonal employee, it’s a perfect company to work for. As a manger, you have to get lucky with the right upper level mangers and some serendipitous timing to make a true career with See’s. I really value the majority of my time there, even with the long term disappointment and need to untimely move on.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Working @ Berkshire Hathaways’ SEEs Candies is SWEET! SEEs Candies : Thee best chocolate in the world!  The sweetest staff in USA Leading A.I Technology  Outstanding Q.A Teams Inspirational Leadership    Statistically Ranked as #1 Customer Service  for 5+ consecutive years!  SEEs Candies 🥳Celebrating its’ 104th Birthday this year! I am proud to be a part of SEEs Sweet Family!

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The most stressful part of working at SEEs is trying to make it to the on-site Employee Candy Factory before closing time!! 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
SEEs Culture in one word is EXCELLENCE ! SEEs provides extensive training & support to ensure staff is equipped with a plethora of training tools & skills required to perform tasks with exceptional efficiency & effectiveness! SEEs employee culture includes every race, nationality, religion and age! This dynamic improves our ability to learn, understand & engage with customers on a more profound level. SEEs culture - we are one big family working together towards similar goals! The culture at SEEs is just as true as their Century plus  motto “ Quality without Compromise!” Whether it be outsourcing raw materials, manufacturing, sales, logistics, finance or administrative support-SEEs is committed to continuous improvement! SEEs also invests in our staff/ employees’ professional growth by providing one-on-one weekly feedback by supervisors on our performance & providing support! SEEs often spoils  employees with sweet samples of their delicious treats coupled with fun exciting competitive challenges to improve our productivity and potential! In a world of ever-changing culture I am proud to be a part of a company that values diversity and strives for continuous growth, improvement & excellence! 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
There is no such thing as a typical day at SEEs Candies! Every day is unique in its’ own with new opportunities to learn & grow!

As far as seasonal jobs go, this one was abysmal.  The majority of the staff members were very unprofessional, often prodding me about personal matters and topics I would rather not engage in, especially in a work enviornment. They would carry on conversations with each other that were completely unrelated to work even in the presence of customers. They never seemed to realize when it was time to end a conversation and get back to work.  

  The managment would often set rules and guidelines for the new hires, however the rest of the staff put little to no effort in following them.  Additionally, I would be instructed by one supervisor to do a task a certain way only to be told by another that I need to do it differently, each acting as if they were the highest athority on the matter. At times it seemed as if there was an internal power struggle.
 
  This may not be the case at other See's locations, but it was my single experience at the loction I worked at.

  If you do choose to work there, prepare for your lower back to ache as you will be bent over at an angle for the majority of your shift. The only positive aspect of the job was getting to sample the candies in the back room when there's ever a free moment so that you can better familiarize yourself with the products. Addtionally, seeing the customers' reactions when they tried something new was a nice experience for me, but that's my subjective feeling.

  Over all, I didn't mind the job itself, it was the people that work there that made it unpleasent. I personally felt a bit jerked around with the anarchy that was "the managment staff" and the lack of hours I received. The job seemed like a big facade, I never got more than a maximum of 4 hours a day and if I was lucky I would get to come in 3 days out of the week. Not what I would even call a part time job.

Your experience at See's will entirely depend on your specific store manager and your team. Some managers are great, some not-so-much. I had the opportunity to work with several different store managers due to staffing shortages. The overall atmosphere is laid-back until you're swamped with customers and short staffed. A healthy crew wirks hard and chips in to serve every customer with a smile. 

-a typical day: Shifts range from four to eight hours, with breaks ranging from ten minutes to forty-five minutes. The company overall is watching their spending very closely. You'll be disciplined if you clock-in early, and reminded to clock-out on time. Additionally, there's not a lot of room for advancement and Key-Holders do not earn any more than seasonal help. 

dress code: Uniform shirts or dresses are required, but are provided by the company. The uniforms launder well which is nice. The fabric is not see through, and is breathable which is helpful during summer. Black or black and white shoes are required. Hair must be off the collar and away face. Plenty of my coworkers had unnaturally colored hair and visible tattoos.

-management: Varies from store to store but district managers seem to micromanage. Some store managers 'appear' so busy they don't bother to learn your name and hide out in the backroom leaving grunt work for clerks.

-workplace culture: Clique-ish among store managers. Younger employees have undeveloped work ethic, undeveloped integrity, and are fussy.

-hardest part of the job: Co-workers that don't show up. This creates a sour atmosphere adding additional burden for regular employees, and a sense of crisis among managers. 

-most enjoyable part of the job: Customers, are by far the best. Most of customers are happy when they're buying chocolate!

A typical day at See's Candies starts with greeting the customer and offering them a delicious sample of our candy. We then qualify the customer's needs by asking what brought them to the store today. We show them new items that have arrived, or are soon to arrive, as well as items that they might be interested in. After taking care of the customer's needs (putting together a box of chocolates, getting a box of lollypops, etc.), we ask if there is anything else we can show the customer and offer our gift cards as wonderful option for the holidays or birthdays. We then ring the customer up, offer new coupons or promotions to them, and thank them for coming to See's. We always add that we hope to see them soon for our new, delicious items arriving in the coming weeks.

At See's, my customer service skills have most definitely improved. I have learned techniques such as asking for the sale as well as suggestive selling. I have also taken on new responsibilities such as opening and closing the store, and acting as the responsible party when the manager or assistant manager is not in the store.

The hardest part about working for See's is keeping a level head when the holiday season rolls around. Retail is a stressful environment around the holidays for not only the employee but the customer, as well. There can be long lines, and crowds. At See's, we manage this stress by making sure that everyone is greeted when they arrive and that they have a sample while they wait, so that they know we are thinking of them and shall help them as soon as possible.

The best part about working for See's, aside from the chocolate, is working with a friendly staff, and greeting regular customers with whom one develops a good rapport. Chocolate is a product that brings happiness to people, and they appreciate the quality of the candy and the service that they receive along with it.

I absolutely loved working for See's Candies. I worked at a quantity discount store in Torrance, California. The management was very helpful and friendly bunch, had absolutely no issues with ANYONE working there. Very kind, helpful environment with a willingness to make sure you learn and aren't stuck not knowing what to do. The training was more than adequate, you knew exactly what to do and weren't just thrown out to the wolves. I worked as a part-time seasonal employee and I absolutely loved life working at See's, I had time to spend quality time with family and friends while working there, as well they work around your school schedule! The management made sure you always took your legally required breaks and lunch (if you worked more than 5 hours) so you never had to worry about mistreatment by way of not getting proper break times or not getting breaks at all. Woking at See's I guarantee friends will be made along the way which made the lay off process even harder. 

Everything is pretty much superb about working at See's and the company in general. The only thing that turned me off was the fact that the company kept me, a seasonal employee, for just over 6 months and then abruptly one day just let me go with no warning or any sort of closure. That was it, I was just gone. I understand I'm a seasonal employee and should expect that, however as fellow seasonal coworkers were being let go after 1-2 months and I was remaining it really got my hopes up. The management trained me, a seasonal employee to count money from the registers at the end of the day which to me was a clear indication my work was above par and they sought to keep me but in the end it clearly was not.

See’s Candies is a good company to work for if you’re looking for a job that is secure, fairly accommodating, and has a good work/life balance. I think it largely depends on which location you work at and who is your direct supervisor. I got lucky and had a great manager who really understood me. See’s is very flexible with hours and they’ll assign you however many hours you wish to work. The job is also really secure. It’s hard to get fired there if you aren’t outright trying to screw things up. They also provide ample training. 

That being said, it’s pretty old fashioned - literally. The theme is based off the retro kitchen of the founder of See’s candies, so you’re expected to dress in this awful uniform that reflects the 1920’s or something. I would actually gladly go back to See’s if it weren’t for the uniform. No dyed hair, no large tattoos or piercings, no flashy jewelry, keep your hair up or cut short at all times. It’s strict for a minimum wage job. Not to mention, the longer you work there, the more responsibilities you’re expected to take on without pay raise. You end up taking on a lot of managerial jobs without actually being a manager. 

See’s Candies is great if you’re older and looking for a job. They do not discriminate based on age, so I was working with both teenagers and people in their 70’s-80’s. The boomer work culture dominates, though. It’s very “Keep quiet and work hard, no excuses.” My district manager was pretty mean in that regard. I was once feeling really distraught and sick and she wouldn’t let me leave because I didn’t have a fever. 

I started working at See’s as a seasonal employee and was working around 30 hours per week. They asked me to stay on and be an employee year round and I was ecstatic! But when they did that, they fully started taking advantage of me. I had loved working at See’s prior and I enjoy the work, but quickly realized they give ALL of the hours to the managers and leads and leave the rest of us scrambling. On top of that, we are often under-staffed so they will call me at any given point of any day to see if I can come in, instead of just assigning me to those hours to begin with. Super frustrating! I love who I work with and have few complaints there. But I don’t like how the business is run. 
Also, when they trained me to open and close, I had one training day with them, and the rest were entirely on my own. Often, I’m crunched for time to get all the closing stuff done on my own and have made mistakes due to that and not being trained properly. I’m not sure what kind of company lets only one person close a business every night, but it is super difficult to do. And they don’t ensure I make it out safely at all, and my job is in a sketchier side of town. So getting to my car as a young girl in the dark is often really scary, and all of this would be so much better if they just had two people close the store! 
I’m now getting very very few hours per week since I transitioned to part time, yet they call me in nearly every day to cover shifts. It’s impossible to plan my life around this. But I really do love the job, and the pay is really good for someone like me!

First: there are no better customers than See's customers. This is literally a candy store, so the phrase "like a kid in a candy store" is a pretty good summary of their behavior, even during the holiday crush. The hours are late morning to early evening, and even less on Sunday. Culture is very clean. Basically, if you have to work Xmas retail, this is the best possible choice.

Then there's management: messages, meetings and announcements are frequently last-minute, so email must be checked every hour. There are dozens of requirements to meet every day, with stringent guidelines for carrying them out: exactly one way, no other. On the other hand, it's not rare for the factory to send out product which is at or near pull date; these cannot be sold, but still count against your store's productivity. So there is something of a sense of being held to a rigid and high standard which is not always demonstrated.

Clocking in or out requires an amazing ten steps -- and must be done on the precise minute. The new (2023) sales software is slower than the old. Every customer transaction requires a password  and ID# on a touch surface which reacts before actually being touched, making mistyping easy. Pay is under market, and strictly part-time.

So, why would you work there? First of all, the candy is superb. The store managers are stressed and overburdened but uniformly generous. And as mentioned above, the customers are wonderful and the hours aren't extreme. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Retail assistant manager 39 salaries reported	$16.54 per hour
Seasonal associate 2 salaries reported	$23.00 per hour
Assistant leader 12 salaries reported	$20.97 per hour
Assistant team leader 4 salaries reported	$18.80 per hour
Team leader 5 salaries reported	$21.50 per hour

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