sales assistant

sales associate

sales

customer service representative

warehouse lead

HMV to myself and to many is a dream job.
It seems absolutely perfect if like myself you're a huge nerd and love film, tv, anime technology and the likes right?
While partly true be warned.
HMV has it's ups and downs.
First the ups.
+ Amazing staff / fellow colleagues, you'll get along well easily if you're chill with all staff they're great and very helpful people.
+Staff discount on most HMV products, always nice to have if you like myself like what HMV has to sell
+ Store opening hours are comfortable with most closing at 17:30
+ Relatively simple job most of the time just waiting on til and selling stuff

Now the downs, depending on your view these may not be a big deal to you but they certainty were to me.
- Horrific constant tracking / observation of your "stats", your store / manager will track every move. HMV has an awful policy of setting completely stupid goals for its staff such as collecting customer emails for recipts, selling tote bags and other rubbish as well as subscriptions to the news letter.
And if you don't meet their pointless goals you're in for a treat even if you constantly try (which most of the time is awkward, time consuming and annoying for yourself and customers) you'll unlikely be able to meet these targets as most people obviously don't want to give their email out which in return will end up with you getting moaned at by your manager constantly. Which despite you selling thousands sometimes worth of stock your lack of emails seems to be the deal breaker.
That to me was a huge downside and I find their constant obsession with collection emails and hitting pointless goals incredibly frustrating. This is also something they do NOT tell you in the interview, honestly if I knew this I probably would of not taken the job.

- Lack of reward / unsatisfying work. You're probably gonna spend most of the time selling rubbish to people or just standing around, and dealing with annoying rude customers. And when you do good you're probably not gonna get much reward or recognition for it. Maybe a small congrats at most.

- Minimum wage pay. Yeh pretty standard now, you earn the store absolutely hundreds (sometimes thousands) per shift while you'll be lucky to earn £60+ / shift dependent on your age and length of shift

- Lazy / unhelpful manger. Spends most of the time upstairs doing stock whatever, probably taking much longer than they need or distracting staff. (Usually the female ones of course)

- Will not respect your availability. Was VERY clear about my availability for it to be
broken numerous times and voiced my complaint and while this was addressed it was clear the manager was not happy about it despite my clear statement in interviewing.

- Lack of training. Personally I had only maybe 1 or 2 days of minimal training, while I did not really need or want much more as I caught on quick it was interesting to find that once I joined I was basically forgotten about being new.

I worked for this company around twenty years ago and sincerely hope that its changed since all the financial difficulties of the last ten years.
I had previously worked for a small chain and had applied for HMV some time previously. I got a call asking me for an interview. I was told the company was great to work for prospects. How wrong were they! A culture of bullying and a clique that if you weren't part of then you were on the outside.. No thanks! pppprospectschances of promotion and the same pay as what I was currently on but with less responsibilities.
Unfortunately I was soon to discover that when the store closed at 5.30 it didn't mean we could leave (not mentioned at the interview). We were expected to stay and tidy our department then help the other people who hadn't finished theirs (the guy who did the games was always slow despite being smallest dept at the time).
I didn't drive and lived out of town so had to set off at 7.30am and often didn't get home till around twelve hours later. Incidentally we were not paid for this extra work.
I was taken off my original department after three months. Coincidentally a relative of someone who already worked there took over my role. I was then given the Sale Cds to look after over Xmas and be priority on the tills. The Xmas temps were very slow as they just weren't bothered so I often served about five times the amount of customers and was never rude to them.
After Xmas I was praised by the manager and told I would be either the Singles Assistant or Stockroom Assistant. I really wanted to do the former but was told that the Assistant Manager did not want me working on the shop floor and a girl who was having a relationship with the Singles Manager got made assistant.
I ended up in the stockroom. Tried to fit in. I was expected to single handedly process as many as sixty boxes per day, with pretty much no help. I had to check for discrepancies and then enter info on computer and price sticker the products.
I was expected to have all the products priced and on the shop floor by midday at the latest (even when deliveries were late). The stockroom manager walked round doing nothing all day, there was a guy doing Returns who didn't seem to be actually applying for any so I offered to help him.
Final straw was getting a third stage warning for putting the wrong sticker on a video. I was given the warning from a clearly embarrassed Trainee Manager. Worked to the end of my shift then went to Doctors who diagnosed me with stress, anxiety and depression. Luckily I got another job shortly after with the previous company I worked for.
I really thought HMV would be a great company to work for but certain people in that branch were just plain nasty and I found it hard to cope with their impossible demands on my time for what was supposed to be a standard job role.
I'm sure the culture has changed a lot since then as the amount of employees seems to have been drastically cut with nobody ftom my time there seemingly working there now.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Apart from the diverse range of product now stocked, I’d have to say that it is the hard work, dedication and commitment of the staff working in the stores that creates such an inviting atmosphere. There is far more freedom and flexibility given to employees now to be as creative as they want with product displays and point of sale graphics which helps give a very individual feel and puts a personal stamp on each store. But let’s not forget the music and film; although the range has drastically reduced in past years, it is still represented and remains a passion and interest of staff. Each store has its’s own team of people working there but if you get in with a good bunch it can be incredibly rewarding and an enjoyable, fun place to be. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Staffing budgets and staff levels can be very tight at times so you really do need to work hard as part of the team to cover the workload and get the job done. This does occasionally, but not frequently, add pressure to working in hmv stores. A lot of people wanting to work for the company, even the new starters, will think that it’s all about standing behind a counter and listening to music all day and there is that but there is so much more involved in working at hmv. You need to be adaptable, open to change, willing and able to work wherever necessary sometimes. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
If you’re in the right shop and with the right team of people and management, an hmv store can be an incredibly rewarding, exciting and fun place to be. It is far more relaxed and chilled compared to previous years. Some employees have worked for the company for many years and mostly have moved with the times and the changes needed with product ranges for the company to remain successful. Progression was once very competitive but available if an employee wanted to progress and move on within the company because there were so many stores but  there are fewer shops now and fewer opportunities for promotion.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Typically there are daily & weekly operational procedures that need to be carried out for stores to function and remain successful. Maintaining high levels of merchandising and housekeeping standards throughout the day keeps the stores looking fresh, interesting, clean and presentable. Replenishment of stock happens frequently throughout the day as does the re merchandising and freshening up of products and sections within stores. Customer service is key for any retailer and throughout the day there are plenty of opportunities to interact with the public, offer help and advice and have conversations about the products sold and stuff you and the customer like.

From my personal experience at HMV it has been both productive and enlightening in both understanding retail (as a first job) and how the business side of media and entertainment works. Work life is different each days as you meet new people and learn new things from both colleagues and customers alike within Film, Tv and Music.

I have become more confident and relaxed with crowds of people and being able to engage in conversations with both colleagues and customers alike and having different opinions and interests creates interesting points of conversations on different topics within media and entertainment. I know what is expected of me each day, what my goals are and what i can do to improve within my area of work. 

I personally run a section and manage it within my store, which is the E.R.M (Entertainment Related Merchandise). Within this i work with t shirts, toys, gifts, collectibles, mugs and glasses for example and have guidelines to follow and keep up to date with, as well as putting my own spin and way of organisation into them from time to time.

The store is managed and balanced as you can expect from a manager, assistant manager and supervisor, all of which play crucial roles in making each day run smoothly from allocating jobs to each member of staff, to implementing changes in store sent from higher up in the company and keeping morale up and motivation train running.

The job has its hard times, but only come the busiest times of the year such as Christmas where as any one who has worked in retail will tell you is where its all hands on deck and the entire store working like clockwork from the morning till finish.

The most enjoyable parts of the job are meeting new people each day and having conversations both in general and educationally, also  with colleagues which the mix of personalities that come together in our store makes each day that much more fun. 

Another positive is the sense of pride and accomplishment when you help a customer, in general and being thanked for the service, but more so when you take the time to get to know the customer or even are on a similar wave length from talking to them and being able to highlight and find a specific item, be that in store or on the online website as it feels almost personal and that much pleasant and fun.

For any person that follows be that as a die hard fan within film, music or tv or just casual watches and listens,working at HMV is a fun and engaging job with the opportunity to work with others with similar interests and knowledge within areas of the media and entertainment industry and expect each day to be different than the last.

When I first started my job at HMV I was very excited due to me being such a fan of media, film and music, but after a couple years of working there I discovered that it's not the job I once thought it might be. 
If you're looking at joining HMV, be prepared to spend 90% of your time harassing customers to join the HMV loyalty scheme (HMV PURE), in which you have to get customers to pay a £3 fee for a loyalty card in which they can earn points and rewards. If you don't hit a certain target then all h*ll breaks lose and you won't hear the end of it from anyone higher up than you. Regardless of whether you have served 1 customer in an hour on a quiet day, management expects you to hit that target. Even when you hit your target or more, nothing gets said, no praise, no thanks, which is always disappointing, but instead having the manager call down or visit the shop floor to moan at you in front of customers which is unprofessional. 
I spent most of my 3 years working for HMV being messed around and confused as my manager would constantly change my contract, including my hours, my job role and more. 1 month I would be working 4 days a week, then the next month I was being told that I was only working for the weekend without any notice. 
The last few months of my time working with HMV was the straw that broke the camel's back, being messed around on a daily basis and being lied to, basically being told that they didn't want me to stay on, trying to encourage me to hand in my leaving notice and giving a full-time contract (which I had been asking for, for a year) to a Christmas temporary member of staff. 
30% off with staff discount was good though, and a lot of the time, when the manager wasn't involved the store ran nicely and everyone got along well. People were more likely to reach targets and get more done. It seemed as though as soon as the manager was in, moral dropped drastically and people we're constantly moaning about their job and the days seemed a lot slower. 
Management is the key to a good business and hard working staff. 10 out of the 12 people who worked there when I did have now left, and that says a lot about the management.

HMV is the now the only entertainment retail high street chain left, and has battled through 20 years of download-wars, streaming-wars, and the slow decline of physical media. The best part about working there, whether it is in store, in head office, or for the website, is that you work with inspirational people who are always passionate about the products they sell - whether it is vinyl/CD, films, books, tech and fan-merch. The conversations you will have, and the friends you will make, will inspire you to focus on the great suppliers and products/brands you need to promote, while striving to make HMV a better company.

In terms of retail work, HMV is one of the better companies to work for on the high street, but like all chains, don’t expect brilliant wages, or even decent benefits outside of work - the only appealing thing in this respect is the staff discount to use in store! Shift-flexibility is poor, holiday-flexibility is terrible, in-house training and development is very average, and progression is really only dependant on regional managers and store openings/closures - if you want to become a store supervisor or team leader, be prepared to take many sideways/horizontal career moves before you elevate to a managerial level.

The work itself is stressful at times, mainly due to poor downward communications between head office to store management, and persistent drives towards add-on shopfloor sales targets (such as Perfect Partners, and, back in the day, PureCards). The semi-payoff from all the stress comes in the pride of building exciting visual merchandising mixes, and the ability to create great product displays. 

The best part about HMV is the dedication to create a better overall customer experience, so if you love being face-to-face with the general public, and feel passionate about film, music, comics and fan culture, this is a great company to work for.

My short time working at HMV was really enjoyable. The staff I worked with were all fun to talk to and there were no disagreements or arguments between members despite the heavy work load.

A typical night shift for me would include helping unpack and sort the pallets we had received on the night (which ranged from 5 to begin with and 15 coming up to the start of December). Then dealing with the totes that I had been designated (which would vary from 4 - 20) to put out stock. After the totes had been dealt with we would move on to putting out stock that was not placed inside of totes. Aside from the main duty of stock handling, I would also help with floor displays and floor layout, moving large amounts of stock around to fit with the plans from the main office.

Management was good, each section had their own team leader and we had our manager working with us. There wasn't the feeling of working under a manager as they took on the same responsibilities of us and they never pushed their authority role in our faces, we never did anything which led them to do such a thing either.

My co-workers were an absolute pleasure to work with, seeing as it was night shift there were fewer than 10 people working so everyone actually knew each other and got to form a friendship with them which carried on outside of work hours. Everyone had fun and conversations never felt forced.

The hardest part of the job was outside of work. Finishing work at 5:30am and getting home for nearly 7am meant that I had very little time to myself and very little time to be with family and friends, the heavy lifting would tire me out to the point where I'd sleep through for nearly 12 hours solidly.

It's hard to say what the most enjoyable part of the job was because it all just came together in a way in which everything was enjoyable, the people, the type of work and the energy from everyone just made it great.

HMV Swindon was a fun place to work, it was the people that made it. The team were a great bunch and aside from one manager who, had a rod so far up her Pikachu she could pass as a coat stand, the overall morale was positive. Then it was trashed by the higher ups refusing to get with the times. High street stores were dropping like the front row at a Slipknot gig. 
If the upper echelons had twigged that e-commerce was a boat that everyone was boarding to the future, they probably wouldn't have had to suffer through so much to stay afloat, in what was quickly becoming an empty harbour. 
I'll stop with the nautical references. I've got loads more, but alas, that ship has set sail. 
They took so long in getting with the program that they lost buckets of money. Stores closed, people lost jobs and hipsters had to find a new place to meet their friends in town. 
Luckily it was given a new lease of life and we all had to re-apply for our jobs a couple of months later. I didn't make the cut. years of service apparently means zip.
But i was happy that Swindon's black and pink beacon was re-lit. Albeit to sell fad items and pop funkos. It was also a bit cheaper. But even now, on a busy day in town, It's still empty most of the time. People know they can buy things cheaper on the net. HMV just ain't about the value aspect. Not even this new wave of Vinyl craziness they've jumped on will raise their flag to half mast. OK now i'm done with the nautical stuff.
Like any other retail job, you put stuff on shelves, you work a till, you put on a smile, genuine or not and you plough through. You get to help people who can't think for themselves too. That was a highlight at Christmas! Watching grandma walk out with a Behemoth album when she clearly came in for the soundtrack of Les Miserables and a Daniel O'Donnell calendar. One more of us...One less of them. 
Pay was meh, as is every retail job. But like I say, it was the people that made it.

Working at HMV was by far the best work experience I've ever had. No two days were ever the same and you were constantly kept on your toes when carrying out your daily jobs. You're never just doing one thing for a whole day. You could start on tills for an hour and then be putting stock out, then a further hour later be assisting customers first hand. 

During my time on the job I met a range of incredible people - both staff and customers, many of whom I still talk to. Everyone is so open-minded and kind, we all got one with one another and that led to a permanently good atmosphere, always chilled and never a dull day. 

Whilst working at HMV I learned a to do things that I'd never done before. For example track. Track was where we'd look up products and their availability, it was daunting at first because there's so many words and keyboard actions, but easy once you know what you're doing. 

The management team are the best team I've worked with. They are all such genuine people who demonstrate just the right balance of strictness and ability to have a laugh. They were very welcoming and patient when I was getting to grips with everything. I honestly have not a bad word to say about them, they all take great pride in their jobs and thus setting that example for all other members of staff to follow.

The hardest part of the job was how busy it got during the Christmas period. Obviously it was always going to busy at that time of the year and I knew that. There were occasionally technical difficulties i.e. promotions being offline which added to the seasonal stress but all in all it was always manageable. 

In conclusion HMV is the best place I've ever worked and probably ever will work.

My store (Leeds) honestly might've been an outlier. We were consistently one of the best stores in the country. I used to think that meant we were really good, after helping relocate a neighbouring store I started to wonder if the average was just low. 

Honestly, it'll all depend on the team around you. If nothing else you'll likely share an interest in film, music, tech, etc that you can find common ground with. You don't have to like great swathes of what they sell, or be an expert, or afficianado. I don't particularly like music but I made it on the Visual and Tech sections for years. It certainly helps if you have some interest in some of the stuff you're selling (and merchandising, and remerchandising, and pricing, and repricing, and repricing, and repricing).

Honestly, my main word of caution would be that the company (above store level) tends to go off on tangents without informing stores until you get an update that some major change is going to occur very soon. That and they greatly over-estimate how much you can get done on a Sunday afternoon (spread it thorough the week for god's sake!), oh and they routinely give you a group code with a couple hundred product lines to reprice, only to realise a few days later that they messed up some of the prices and expect you to do the whole thing again.

But yeah, the people I worked with were sound and the discount was good

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Sales assistant 1 salary reported	£32.00 per hour
Sales associate 4 salaries reported	£18,250 per year
Sales 3 salaries reported	£15,333 per year
Customer service representative 3 salaries reported	£18,833 per year
Warehouse lead 2 salaries reported	£25,210 per year

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