Some friends said they saw my old store was hiring. Of course I told them not to apply if they want a future. But out of curiosity, I went to indeed.com. Several commission sales jobs were advertised. And for the first time ever, the wage the company said someone would average was not sky high: $12 to $14 per hour. Sad thing is that these were jobs that used to pay twice those amounts. And people may be lucky to get the advertised estimated, as the downward spiral continues.
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Agree. I spent most of my careet in appliance sales for another retailer. I retired but got bored and applied for a job at sears. What they told me I would make was a far cry from what i actually made. I knew going in that the traffic at a sears was way less than at my previous job and that the numbers they quoted me at my interview were not realistic. I took the job because I just needed something to spend my time on and I knew the business. But I felt sorry for those who came in expecting a certain salary and benefits just to realize they had been lied to. This leads to not only an ex employee who is never going to shop in the store again but also their family and friends. Word travels quick.
I used to be a hardlines ASM. I always thought that it would be lot easier for everyone involved to be honest and upfront about the earnings potential (which, for appliances and mattresses in my former store, was about $12 per hour in a state with $11/hr minimum wage). It would be easier for us because we would be able to keep associates longer than a month when they figure that we've basically tricked them into believing that they'd be earning all this money. It would have been easier for the candidate because they would have had a more realistic expectation of how much they would earn presented to them during the interview, or before they even applied, and could decide if they wanted the job or not.
However, my store manager and market leader thought differently and wanted to lie and fudge the numbers to $15-17 per hour. Our best sales associate couldn't even get that high, we just didn't have the traffic. Therefore, we went through sales associates like you wouldn't believe and there was so much resentment towards us for lying up until they finally left. Of course, I was stuck doing most of the interviews. One time I actually had a candidate tell me that she decided that she was not interested in the job as I greeted her for the interview because she didn't see any customers in the store as she waited for her interview. I've had others end the interview right then and there when I explained to them a more realistic picture of the earnings potential (this was before I was told to lie). I couldn't blame them.
I get that it is very difficult to get dedicated, top-performing sales associates for what averages out to be $12/hr, but the business is just not there and the expectations and job requirements are just not worth it. It didn't make it any better to go through 35 sales associates in a course of a year (this really happened!) in an attempt to staff a department that requires around six or seven people because it costs over $1500 to hire, onboard and train and employee every single time, all because people were leaving just as fast as they were coming in. It's a problem that cannot be solved and that's why I got out.
Don't the ads say Temporary though? They do for the closing stores here. Lawn & Garden says "up to" $12 an hour. Minimum wage is $11 here so not great. Appliances are "up to" $14. That used to be a dad's job supporting his family.
I looked up Sears jobs in my city. They're doing the same thing here, with estimated earnings far less than what we used to make. But these ads still are dishonest, as the local store is on the most recent list of closings.