sales associate

merchandiser

brand specialist

retail sales associate

assistant buyer

Selfridges

Welcome to world where you get recognised for how much you laugh at a manager's joke, how double faced and pretentious you are. if you don't mind to be treated like a child and you are good at keeping your head down to get what you want, can put on different heads, willing to change to what your managers want you to be and love playing the whatever it takes to get to where i want even if it means to become a double/ fake personality then welcome to the jungle where favoritism is key.
Meet your unwanted side of your self when working there. And sorry in advance if you are foreign very unlikely to progress.
when i you start a job in selfridges be ready to get thrown into a sieve where only the most self centered and and far from genuine people will get through, but having said that it's down to you if you like playing the game like they'll always tell in Selfridges ''you have to play the game'' then this is the place for you. most people would advise you to work for a concession within the department store rather than selfridges it self. pay is poor and treatment is not for everyone. the did however win a few best department store in the world award ;) wonder how? check out selfridges on the outside of its body which is the told facts ''media, advertisement'' customer reviews maybe. however, if you want to check out the untold you have to get down there and get your self a job. otherwise like me you will be motivated to get your self out of there after a maximum of one year and end up doing what you love.
not a hater review but a true person to my self,, the moment you start working there you'll mostly staff talking about leaving.
To be clear, not just putting a negative review on here, i will be publishing a book about life behind fashion retail doors and selfridges will be one of them :).

•	Working at Photography department at Selfridges.
•	Specialising in Hasselblad, Leica, Carl Zeiss, Pentax, Nikon, Canon, Sony, Fuji and Olympus.
•	Listening to customer requirements and presenting appropriately to make a sale.
•	Maintaining and developing relationships with existing customers in person and via telephone calls and emails.
•	Responding to incoming email and phone enquiries.
•	Acting as a contact between a company and its existing and potential clients.
•	Challenging any objections with a view to make the sale.
•	Advising on forthcoming product developments and discussing special promotions.
•	Liaising with suppliers to check the progress of existing orders.
•	Checking quantities of Products on display and in stock.
•	Reviewing my sales performance, aiming to meet or exceed targets.
•	Gaining a clear understanding of customers' businesses and requirements.
•	Making accurate, rapid cost calculations and providing customers with quotations.
•	Feeding future buying trends back to employers.
•	Keeping up with the best customers services and highest quality of standards.
•	Responsible for processing cash and card payments.
•	Merchandise in an innovative and best way possible.
•	Reporting discrepancies and problems to MD.
•	Giving advice and guidance on product selection to customers.
•	Balancing cash registers with receipts.
•	Responsible dealing with customer complaints and refunds.
•	Working within established guidelines, particularly with brands.
•	Receiving and storing the delivery of large amounts of stock.
•	Manage postage and packaging of stock via various couriers.
•	Keeping up to date with the market, related products and special promotions.

I started here on the shop floor which was authoritarian, old fashioned and badly managed. Stupid, meaningless targets with very little authentic support from management. Many of the department managers were clearly unhappy and over stretched in their roles which was often taken out on their direct reports. Also, very little by way of flexible working options for parents. Liked to “say” they offered this but in reality was made difficult to actually implement. 
Moved to a back of house role later down the line which gave a different perspective and a more inside view of the workings of the company. What I deduced in my time working there is that it’s a company which likes to say they have certain ethos’ but very rarely do these genuinely translate into real life. There is a lot of backstabbing and a feeling of being watched all the time.  HR are clever here and things are tightly managed. You have to be a certain type of person to thrive here. Quite ruthless and hardy. On the plus side, the discounts are great, they do offer quite a lot by way of personal development and definitely give opportunities to progress if you want to. These things kept me going for a while but in the end it wasn’t enough and there were too many unpleasant people to deal with on a daily basis. 

I was a concession manager for 2 years, at first i thoroughly enjoyed it. However, you get treated a lot different to own bought team members. Because i was part of a concession i was excluded from a lot of thingsz in particular our brand never got any recognition for our hard work, we always had good customer feedback but this was never shouted about. Own bought team members think they're more superior than concession team members, they are rude and arrogant. The only thing that kept me going was my own small team, we just stuck together and ignored the rest. Management was okay, sales managers have split personalities one minute they love you the next they are shouting down your neck. Nothing pleases them. You can only make friends on your own floor/department, every other floor turns their nose at you especially 4th floor luxury designer. It was quite draining during peak times although we smashed our company targets, it simply wasnt enough for selfridges. We also didnt get staff discount but expected to give own bought team members discount off our concession!! Theres only perks to the job if you work directly for Selfridges, otherwise theres none. Security guards are more concerned about chatting up staff than doing their own job and vice versa. I would avoid. 

Really enjoyed my time here, atmosphere was very relaxed, if your a people person with a good work ethic, you will get a lot out of it, especially once you look back after moving onto pastures new. Day to day, I managed the supply chain and the customer service for shop floor employees (the majority are students and cant wait to leave, so they more often than not cut corners). There's next to no communication between the cross functional teams, and considering my length of service and effort that I put in, my salary was absolutely embarrassing and the main reason why I left. Discount/holidays are very good but all that materialistic stuff pales into insignificance if your not valued, especially if you bring a very broad and experienced skill set. 

My advice, stay maybe a year or two, but don't stagnate here like I did, expecting senior management to understand what's going on, they just stroll around, have a few meetings and collect their underserved salaries, whilst the rest of us are on the front line. The company make money from their name and the brands they sell, but if the new owners had done a shop floor walk I can imagine they'd have asked for £1billion to be taken of the £4 they supposedly paid.

All in all I look back with fond memories, I lived a healthy work life balance, onwards and upwards! 

At Selfrdges a typical day would start with getting in before opening times cleaning around and making sure everything was stocked up and the store was looking it's best, I would then spend the day selling perfume to others occasionally filling in for people on other counters such as mac if they were short staffed or really busy. I would have a dinner break then go back to the shop floor stock up, check everything was up to standard and then continue selling perfume. I learned a large range of new skills from how to keep the store looking neat and tidy to providing the best customer service possible ensuring both myself and the customer enjoyed their time in store. I also learned how to deal with awkward/ unexpected situations in a calm and productive manner as well as being able to handle having targets to meet and meeting them without being pushy towards the customers. I had a great relationship with all of the staff I worked for including the managers and quickly established a rapport which enabled me to get the best out of my job and enjoy it. The hardest part of the job was adapting to the working environment as it was my first job, however I managed to do this successfully. The most enjoyable part of my job was being able to hep people find the perfect gift or perfume for themselves.

I definitely feel that you need to be a certain type of character to enjoy working at Selfridges. It is very clique-y with a feeling of constantly being judged. A lot of the long-term staff are rude with little patience or desire to assist others. The staff who look like they are enjoying themselves get no work done and are dismissive of customers. 

The staff toilets (for men at least) were disgusting! With 4/5 cubicles and urinals consistently out of order and flies buzzing about the toilets. As much as the customers toilets are pristine, the staff facilities feel like servants quarters. There was always some issue with lifts to the staff canteen and escalators. 

Management too act as if they are superior to everyone else and a lot get away with doing absolutely nothing, delegating all the work to their staff with little to no consequences. 

It’s essentially a doss if you’re in the right crew, but miserable and stressful if you’re not part of this self proclaimed “elite”. All staff should be treated equally with the amount of work that we do and plug into the business. 

I very much enjoy my work at Selfridges, i feel it has supplied me with a fantastic learning base where i feel valued and appreciated. 
Typically, the day sis spent as a general retail sales assistant role, with customer service, stock management, store upkeep taking over the priority of the day. The end of our shift requires several of us to take up cash management, and allows us the opportunity to understand the sales targets and procedures to a further degree. 
My management is very supportive and hardworking, i have a good relationship with the management team, who are pleased to allow me a more 'free; rota than some other employees, with their faith in my initiative. 
we have an excellent team relationship at work, with many friendships and work dynamics being formed. many people understand who they work best with and who provides the best performance in which role, allowing us to work together very smoothly each day. 
The Hardest part about my job is sometimes the lack of organisation, with a high turnover rate and sometimes a higher absence rate than is necessary it does mean the work load if often higher than is manageable for the remaining team members. though we are become adept at work through these obstacles.

The interaction customers was mainly fun. I worked on luxury accessories, I was able to create friendships with a few people on the department similar to my ethnicity. I felt as though if you don't 'look' the way they expect or want you are treated less than. A lot of fake personalities on the department who seem to be very insistent on making you feel uncomfortable if you are not part of their 'clic' which is a shame as it creates a poor work environment for those who struggle already with self esteem issues. A lot of cattiness and unfortunately made me happy to leave when my contract ended. Also if you want to use the company as a reference for any future jobs good luck as the managers won't get back to you as soon as you leave, Almost as though they no longer HAVE to care so why should they. The customers themselves can be very rude and entitled but it's the ones who are willing to spend the most that are usually very polite and humble. It seems that making money in Selfridges is applauded while checking up on the toxic personalities in the workforce seems to be silenced. 

Awkward hours that don't work well for lunch/social life. Working 3x 5 hour shifts at awkward times. Working until 10pm in Winter with no regard for what time you start the next day (even though sometimes it is illegal).

Management is an absolute stuck-up shambles. No recognition on merits at all, nor incentives are followed through if you win anything. Expected to work overtime, sell expensive products with 0 recognition or respect. The way management speak is very self-righteous and they ALL have a problem with tone. Stuck up and entitled with absolutely no people skills - with staff and customers. 

Pay is decent, especially when you stand staring at the ceiling for 7 hours a day when it's dead. Discount is good. 

Work culture depends on your department. The more luxury the goods you are selling, the nastier the people that you work with. So much gossip. So rude unless you have been there for a long time. You don't make friends at this job, you make connections so you don't get gossiped about behind your back. Watch what you say to people because it will spread. 

Overall, better than most hospitality jobs. However, it is such a mentally exhausting environment. Depends if you want to trade your mental health for decent pay and staff discount.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Sales associate 21 salaries reported	£24,833 per year
Merchandiser 4 salaries reported	£33,790 per year
Brand specialist 13 salaries reported	£27,078 per year
Retail sales associate 12 salaries reported	£21,250 per year
Assistant buyer 3 salaries reported	£35,333 per year

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