Nordstrom Employee Reviews for Sales Representative

"I’ve worked for Nordstrom Santa Monica for two years, and it has been a great opportunity for me to work in a sales environment."

"Nordstrom has a strong reputation for being one of the largest, enduring businesses that remains profitable. As a family owned business, their business model remains dated but is proven effective. Nordstrom is a leader in high end fashion, fashion trends and has a limited number of very large stores across the nation. Nordstrom is also a primary source of label purchases such as Calvin Klein or Thomas Pink. Because of this, Nordstrom is seen a very high end distribution and department shopping paradise."

"I've worked for Nordstrom for over 7 years as a sales representative. I am a leader in my department,other sales people look to me for help and advice. Manger always depend on me to make sure everything runs good when they are not there. I am always in the top 5 sales people out of 20. I have been a All Star two times since I have been with the company. I have been offered to a assistant manger numerous times, but had to decline because I had to focus on school."

"My experience with the company has overall been disappointing."

What do you like about working at Nordstrom?

"There are good opportunities for growth should you decide to pursue them."

Do you have any tips for others interviewing with this company?

"Smile and talk a lot about serving the customer. They also love to hear that you would like to grow with the company."

What don't you like about working at Nordstrom?

"Having had a broad experience with this company and its return policy (Sales, Management) I would have to say that Nordstrom does not necessarily provide the ideal environment for commission based selling. They allow customers to walk all over their employees. Even if the customer screams and curses at you someone will come and apologize to them. The return policy is absolutely ridiculous; they will literally except ANYTHING and give cash back, regardless of the method of payment used at the time of purchase. A large percentage of what you sell will get returned, a lot of it being used merchandise that people are simply done using. Customers are aware of this and take advantage of it completely. That would be fine if it weren't for the fact that all of the commission you earned while taking the time to help these people is then taken back from you when they return it. The fact that they give cash back leads to a lot of fraudulent purchases (stolen credit cards, giftcards, etc.), sometimes amounting to thousands of dollars, which is also deducted from the employee's earnings when it gets returned for cash. I have seen employees spend a lot of time working through these transactions, only for the purchases to be returned for cash soon after. In this way, Nordstrom has befriended the criminals, becoming the bank for their thievery. Employees are extremely discouraged by the lack of support with this matter and because of this, it can be extremely difficult to make sales goals. Additionally, they make it very difficult to retain health benefits as you are required to work a certain amount of hours despite the fact that they do not always provide those hours. If you are lucky enough to receive enough hours, you'd better be sure to sell a lot or they will fire you without hesitation. I have known people who have worked for the company or ten+ years who have gotten fired for as little as one month of not meeting sales expectations. Managers are also extremely underpaid for the amount of expectations put on them. Because most of the department managers are on a fixed salary, the upper management takes full advantage and expects you to work well over a forty hour week. Forget about spending time with friends or family, and be prepared to work nights and weekends. Don't expect much compensation."

What suggestions do you have for management?

"Be fair and treat ALL employees equally. Be sure to coach your teams to put in an equal amount of work and follow through. Be more supportive of your employees."

"Seasonal position."

What do you like about working at Nordstrom?

"I like people interaction, and helping them to make the right selections."

Do you have any tips for others interviewing with this company?

"Good luck people, you are going to need it. Good luck."

What don't you like about working at Nordstrom?

"I dislike employee dishonesty, which is prevalent in the retail industry like this one."

What suggestions do you have for management?

"Listen to me more often, as I have great ideas."