sales associate

seasonal associate

floor supervisor

assistant store manager

stock supervisor

The North Face

I got a position as a part time sales associate. I had to wait 3 weeks to even start, after going in twice when I was "supposed" to start, but was told that "We don't have anyone here to train you right now."

As someone who lived 30 miles from the location, I had to work a minimum of 4 hours to even make it worth my time. To drive in twice and be told "Sorry, you aren't working", was highly annoying. I finally got in for my first day the three weeks later, and wasn't even trained. I was told to watch a video, (and I did), and because they were "short-staffed", I was put onto the sales floor.

Now, I'm not saying I'm not happy because they put me onto the sales floor. I'm unhappy because after the excuses, they had the audacity to put an "untrained associate" onto the floor, after bouncing me around for three weeks because I "NEEDED" the training.

In the end, I did 100% fine, made sales pretty easily.

I am told to call in the next day, for the schedule. So, I did. I was told (and I started on the Thursday of week 3.) That my next day working, was NEXT SATURDAY. So I grinned and bared it, and said whatever.

Easter Sunday, I'm busy doing some side work (Detailing cars), and I get a call from an assistant manager, asking me if I can make it in, for 4 hours. I tell them yes, get off the phone, then realize I'm making more money with my cars, so I told them no. The manager got snappy and told me not to "deny" shifts after accepting them.

I get a call the next day, asking me to pickup a shift for the Friday of this week. I accept, and the night before the shift, I call in to make SURE, that I am working.

Well, nobody ever put it anywhere, because officially I am not on the schedule for the next day.

Now, I don't think it's a bad job, it's actually a lot of fun, talking to people all day and helping them get what they need. It is just the simple fact that they are willing to toss around their own employees like piñatas because they want to gyp you out of your hours, and then give you a slight nod and say "oopsie!"

It might be a decent brand, but it's a terrible job.

o Assisting Store Manager to oversee the daily operations of the store to maximize sales and profits by taking ownership and responsibility for all weekly and monthly sales goals while coaching sales associates and assisting in achieving their personal sales goals
o Ensures compliance of employees with established security, sales, personnel and record keeping policies and procedures
o Assists the Store Manager in hiring, disciplining and terminating employees in compliance with company policies and procedures.
o In Store Managers absence, participates in the weekly management team conference call. Prepares and communicates his or her store’s progress and plans for the upcoming week. Communicates information from this meeting to employees of the store.
o Assisting management team in compiling and documenting all end of month trends and statistics
o Monitors and evaluates sales training program on a monthly basis. Obtains knowledge of all staff members’ abilities to better their selling skills and facilitate the review process. Monitors employees’ progress and address it accordingly.
o Enhancing company exposure through local and national charity/marketing events

Its an okay job. The people and managers are really friendly and they give you free northface merch to wear for work on your orientation day which is nice. There is also a 50% employee discount on Northface gear but since the pay is so low it seems like the discount is really just in place for Northface to get their money back from their employees. The best part of the job is talking to costumers who come into the store. If you like talking to people then this is the job for you. However working retail is never what I would call fun. The work hours are long and you have to be on your feet for 8 hours a work day. You only get 30 minutes of break which runs by quickly and its off the clock. When there arent many costumers who need help in the store there is a lot of just standing around and waiting which can be very boring. I often find myself just wandering about  refolding clothes when there is nothing to do. While there are some who have been at the store for a long time, people dont seem to last very long and the store hires new people all the time it seems like. There is also very little training for sales associates so most people starting out are gonna be completely clueless to how the store operates and will have to learn by being thrown into the pack of angry costumers.  If you are desperate for employment then this gig isnt so bad but for a minimum wage job there are plenty of other jobs you can do that are a little more exciting.

I highly recommend that you don't get sucked into working for TNF, unless you intend to be a seasonal or extremely part- employee ( weekends only) Reason= Hourly pay is minimum wage & you can expect at most a .25 cent raise per year. Sick days & vacation days are only based on how many hours you have worked, not like most other jobs, meaning after 6-12 months you are given a certain amount of time off. If you used all sick time & you are sick there is No subbing to put time off by using a vacation day. This job requires WAY TO MUCH LEARNING FOR A JOB THAT PAYS NOTHING. If you enjoy timed quizzes, tests, and every little detail of what you are selling to a customer then you will love it here. Bonuses are only given out is the store you work at makes there monthly quota. You work on an odd way to make commission. Meaning if you meet your daily sales total you get a gift card to buy stuff at the store. Fantastic for when you first start working,but after a while since you already get 1/2 off for working there, pay verses TNF stuff is not worth it. Think wisely and ask many questions during an interview & write the answers down!! Many answers are false. Example, is there room for growth within the company, answer= yes, reality is NO!! The quality of their products had gone way down, what a shame. Customers do notice it. 

Like any job, A lot of anyone successes depends on who your boss is, the type of management style and if the person gets the appropriate training. The management can make or break the position. In my case; it started hands-off and there was not any type of training. I believe that I was set to fail because during the first 6 months my cubicle was very far from the team. It was almost in another building/area so it was difficult to get any type of training and it was almost impossible. I never got any flow of communication due that the proximity of my desk in comparison to my own team. Therefore, the next months were critical for me because when I was placed closed to my team; I was almost as if I was a new person. My experience was not a fair situation, but I always tried my best to learn and get the most of my experience. Overall, I enjoyed the culture at TNF but not my particular experience.

I also believe TNF has a huge racial discrimination issue. The company is predominantly white, some Asians but very small number of Latinos. After I left TNF, I heard that four people from Latin America were having issues with their white bosses and one Indian person. Of all of them were all pushed out as if it was voluntary termination, but it was not. I have all of their testimonies.

At The North Face you come in and check in with a manager and they tell you what section you are in, in the store and what your sales goal is for the day. Immediately you go out onto the sales floor and ask customers if they are looking for a product in particular, or if they are finding everything alright and follow our summit sales steps with the customer and be able to explain different technologies in our products. Throughout the day sales associates also need to greet customers, check fitting rooms, work at the cash register when needed, and re-stock the sales floor when needed. I have learned a lot working at The North Face. They teach you how to set up proper sales displays and how to help customers with purchases in anyway possible. The hardest part about working at an outlet store is finding an alternative solution to a customer's request for a specific product. But it is always rewarding when a customer is walking out of the store thanking you for helping them. It also helps when I can rely on my co-workers to help different customers or even help me when I am not able to find a solution. It becomes very frustrating when you come across that co-worker that doesn't want to do any work, it makes work more difficult and I don't like it when it affects the customers too.

You start as a sales associate and learn the ropes from there. You are then trained as a cashier and stock associate. However, notice that that are three different positions? Yep, they expect you to work in 3 different roles while giving you cent raises per performance review.  Oh, full-time is nonexistent by the way. When I asked to be put as a full-time employee, the manager said no since those positions are reserved for leads or ASMs. They expect a high turnover rate for their employees but don't focus resources to address this. 

The point is: Working here was easy (customers will be mostly nice with the rare mean ones), but they will expect you to do everything in the store at some point. Do not expect $ raises unless your store location is more forgiving. If you wish to be full-time, push yourself to be a lead or train to be an ASM. It is a tremendous early college job to hold, but move on to a different company when you've had enough.

P.S. Management makes or breaks your workplace culture. The manager that hired me treated me with respect and understood my work-school life balance. They were great and I had a blast. Let's say that the other manager did not fare so well. 

My honest opinion about this company is very simple. The mentality of the people working there was of don't do anymore than the next person.. Not everyone was like that but the majority of the job population on my side was.. But not my group, because that would have reflected on me... Reason being is that I was part of the team that assembled the handle bars and the speedometers.. So if we where to have to stop or get snagged up the whole operation shut down... So even when things where getting a little bit crazy I motivated my work friends to keep it up beat, by working hard and making them laugh. It may be hard to believe by some but if you work hard and people see you work hard yet you have to lift their spirits with laughter to show them you just one of them too.. People open up and will work harder for you because the like and care about you now. That's not to say that sometimes your not going to have to be stern at times. You have to have a healthy balance. We also competed to see who could build the fastest and we where the best in the whole plant..

TNF was one of the worst work experiences that I've ever had.  I was hired in and the person that hired me announced she was leaving shortly after.  I was not properly trained and not properly supervised.  I had many personal issues arise during my first couple of weeks during employment and did not get the proper support through these issues.  For it being such a well known organization, the company was completely unorganized.  The systems don't speak to each other.  The employees don't talk to each other.  The organization itself doesn't properly communicate with other companies under the same umbrella - TNF is owned by VF Corporation, which is a large owner of many brands.  The compensation is not where it needs to be - and on top of that, you learn that they don't do yearly increases - they do yearly "bonuses" as advancement in compensation.  Overall - this organization is not a place I would recommend working unless you are a person that is already immersed in the organization and understand it as a whole.  Other than that - outsiders stay away

The best thing was the customers.iam a sales professional and it was great to have that experience in satisfying customers. the worst was the culture the  store manager is toxic as is all the employees in there. it's a shame because productivity was lessened they were too much chatter and gossip and eventually I had to leave .upper management was also compromised due to the fact that the district manager knows the manager of the store they came from the same company, so if anything happens where you need to prove your innocence you're defeated right away. I think the people in the company need to address this because it affects productivity and you hve tons of turnover very sad situation. other than that I would have loved to stay there but if you don't have good people you'll never have a good business.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Sales associate 27 salaries reported	$15.57 per hour
Seasonal associate 3 salaries reported	$13.63 per hour
Floor supervisor 7 salaries reported	$19.62 per hour
Assistant store manager 5 salaries reported	$23.66 per hour
Stock supervisor 3 salaries reported	$18.67 per hour

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