HauteLook Reviews

Current Employee – been working at HauteLook

Pros – Casual dress
Laidback atmosphere
Growing company
Opportunities to grow
Company cares about employees

Cons – More recognition within individual departments
Compensation is competitive, but raises could be higher/more frequent based off performance

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at HauteLook full-time for more than a year

Pros – It's great if you're new in the industry and need to get experience, backed by Nordstrom, employee discounts

Cons – Poor management all around, it functions like a sweat shop practically. As a writer there is no room for creativity at ALL, also there really isn't much potential for moving up, very high turnover and poor employee morale. They're growing at an exponential rate which is good for business, but not employees. Only plan to put in a year or 2 there.

Advice to Senior Management – Work on giving employees more incentive to be promoted, plus pay better. All wages are well below industry average.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at HauteLook full-time

Pros – Part of a big upcoming business in E-Commerce and Flash sales- Nordstrom Conmpany

Cons – no privacy to work on projects and concentrate

Advice to Senior Management – make changes as required

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at HauteLook full-time for more than a year

Pros – Tons of young people work here, which makes this a great starting place for recent grads in the fashion and design fields who are looking to get their feet wet in the fast-pace environment of fashion and e-commerce.

Cons – There are tons of young people who work here - haha. That being the case, it can often seem as though the environment borders on high school with its clique-ish groups. But ultimately, there is a group for everyone here, so not to worry. Its not as terrible as high school and can be a very rewarding and fun place to grow as a young professional.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at HauteLook full-time for less than a year

Pros – Very generous in the provision of resources for your work

Cons – Company mistakenly believes that "culture" and "cool" equates to success. Just because they provide what net cretins want in terms of cheap overstocked products that this amounts to a company that is "significant" and justifies aggressive deadlines as well as an upper-management culture of being obnoxious and self-assured.

Advice to Senior Management – Quit stroking yourselves your company is just a retailer it does not do anything of importance.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at HauteLook full-time for more than a year

Pros – Good entry level position to start

Cons – Unchallenging, does not encourage employees to grow

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at HauteLook full-time for more than a year

Pros – - Occasional catered lunches.
- Fast growing company means stability in a tough job market.
- Pretty good insurance packages
- More organized than other companies I've worked at
- A starter job that gets your foot in the door of fashion.
- Not a lot of overtime is needed overall.

Cons – - Not much room for advancement. I'm not just speaking as a disgruntled former employee either, my team was close and honest with eachother about our concerns and we all wanted out.
- Nepotism runs rampant. People with less experience and skills will surpass you due to being hired by their friends. Honest hard work goes unrewarded.
- Pay is well below industry standards. I saw this as a fast growing startup with room for advancement so I overlooked it but they aren't a startup anymore and I like to think it's due to the hard work of people like me who had been there early helping the company take off. We all celebrated each round of investments we got with fake smiles, because employees don't see a dime of it outside of congratulatory cupcakes. We were bought by Nordstrom and still no change.
- High turnover rate. With the combination of low pay and no personal growth, people leave frequently. This also means that the company is mostly run by really young unaccomplished people.
- Vacation and sick time is not adequate.
- Work was boring and not fulfilling.

Advice to Senior Management – Do a company wide audit of salaries and actually measure them against industry standards. You'll see that you fall short.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at HauteLook

Pros – wish I could give 2 1/2 stars because its not the worst place to work. The people are generally nice. Straight 9-6 not a ton of overtime needed. Company has workplace outings and employee meetings which are a sincere attempt at creating a open, fun team oriented environment.

Cons – Company was bought by Nordstrom and there was a level of unspoken tension about the acquisition that made the work environment a bit oppressive when I was there. The pay is on the lower side and consequently there is a lot of less experienced employees running the place (probably because of the pay) which makes for a slightly juvenile workplace. There isn't a lot of experienced mentors for the younger employees.

The worst part in my opinion is they do not really value, attract or retain really talented people and the best talent systematically leaves, (one way or another.) I worked in the creative dept which is basically a production mill. My boss was s a competent manager but definitely towing the company line of mediocrity for the sake of a job. Really talented Photographers, Designers will not be happy here and will not last long. I noticed this in other departments as well as an unusually amount of respected employees announced they where moving on. Most of the people that I worked with have gone on to bigger and better things as well.

Bottom Line:
 the turnover track record speaks for itself. I've never worked a place where I've seen so many people voluntarily leave in such a short time. This is a starter job, stop gap or place to settle. Anyone with strong talent and ambition know what your getting yourself into

Advice to Senior Management – hire, listen to and pay for talent

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at HauteLook

Pros – Not micro managed, very relaxed work environment and staff works well together. Fun opportunities for earning credits and lunches and paid time off

Cons – Same work every day can get mundane, customers can be really rude and mean, normally a fast paced environment which can be stressful

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at HauteLook

Pros – Hautelook provides many opportunites to grow in an exciting industry that is constantly changing. The company is fun and enables employees to try a lot of different things.

Cons – The upper management is sometimes territorial. Some product managers have a very inflated sense of how important they are and talk endlessly in meetings to make themselves sound like they are contributing so much when all they do is email other people to tell them to do stuff.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend