What is the hiring process like at Guitar Center?

None. Pay and benefits are below average and tour perks are presented inaccurately. I carried myself professionally and respectfully, though I never received professionalism or respect in return. I sincerely wish I could think of one positive aspect to balance my review, but I cannot.

Poor compensation: Below average pay and benefits, including the lowest 401k match I’ve ever encountered for a full-time position (Gear Advisor II)… which you won’t even qualify for until after one year of employment. You’ll make more money waiting tables. Lack of respect, transparency, and communication: I went through Guitar Center’s month-long hiring process, including multiple interviews and a job offer, which I accepted… only to be completely ghosted after completing the onboarding process. An explanation was never shared, and repeated requests for clarity (April–August) were ignored. This is unprofessional and left me in limbo.

Gear Discount Awesome Staff Supportive in-store Leadership Chance to develop skills and manage decent sized team

Guitar Center over time became harder and harder to work for. When I was hired, many of the staff had just had hours cut drastically, and were run ragged . The whole mood of the staff was low and continued to get lower as corporate slashed long standing policies, and made decisions that affected the profitability of the store (which affected management bonuses). In the midst of this context, as a lessons lead you are managing complicated scheduling needs, managing 8-12 contractors, being a customer service representative, selling expensive lesson plans with quotas that do not change with demand, creating a space that is comfortable for families, and enforcing a controversial no refund policy. This last one is the one that really made me feel uncomfortable, both with it's ethics, and with the angry parents getting heated when enforcing it. I don't know how many families pulled out of the program and went through a painfull appeasement process during my time. So it was a full load, that most of the store has no clue how to operate. If you are sick, lessons often stops working and you need to fix it when you get back.

Remote Work Flexibility: Ideal for individuals seeking a work-from-home arrangement, offering the convenience of working from the comfort of one's own space. Supportive Team Environment: The supervisor and manager foster a welcoming and friendly atmosphere, fostering positive relationships among team members. Employee Discounts: Generous discounts are provided to employees, offering the opportunity to access quality gear and equipment at discounted rates, enhancing job satisfaction. Flexible Leave Policies: Benefit from a comprehensive leave structure, including gig leave of up to 3 months and 1 month of personal leave per year, allowing for necessary breaks and personal time off while maintaining job security Training programs

Heavy Call Volume: The role entails making approximately 100 cold calls daily, in addition to managing incoming phone calls and responding to text messages, leading to a demanding workload. Uncertain Earnings Structure: Compensation consists of a basic salary coupled with a commission based on sales performance. While promising high earnings during the hiring process, achieving significant income relies heavily on meeting ambitious sales targets. Challenging Sales Goals: Sales targets are set at a high threshold, making them difficult to attain. The commission percentage is directly correlated with meeting or exceeding these goals, adding pressure to consistently perform at peak levels. Inbound Call Policy Changes: Recent policy alterations dictate that failing to make a minimum of 80 calls daily results in removal from the inbound call list. This not only affects visibility within the organization but also impacts sales potential, creating additional stress for employees to maintain their position on the list. At times, the role seemed more akin to customer service due to the requirement to resolve a wide range of issues. Handling situations where customers expressed dissatisfaction, including instances of verbal aggression over the phone, added to the challenges of the role.

The people I work with at the store level are great people.

Management is abysmal. The regional manager that oversees our store literally cannot process more than one piece of information at a time and makes snap decisions based on the most simple observation available.

lovely coworkers, the kids are wonderful, and the job is great for someone who loves to multitask

Too many responsibilities for one person. The expectation was to make constant calls, keep on top of billing, and sell as many lessons as possible while staying on top of instructors, hiring new instructors, setting up concerts and building relationships with current clients. All for only 18.50/hr (at the time).

They made me a better creative professional because surviving there was like boot camp run by lunatics. The only reason there was camaraderie was because everyone was fighting through the same toxic sludge every single day. It was chaos wrapped in fake smiles and corporate buzzwords. I’m honestly amazed I didn’t walk out of there with a staph infection or a drinking problem.

The company had a special talent for taking brilliant people and grinding them into dust. They called it “parting ways with underperformers,” but anyone with a pulse knew it was just lazy leadership and cheap excuses. Watching that cycle play out over and over was like watching a clown car crash into a dumpster fire. And every time they talked about “career growth,” it was just another lie to keep people from quitting before lunch. The office looked like it hadn’t been updated since the Bush administration. The air was stale, the lighting was miserable, and the whole place felt like a creative hospice ward. Walking in every morning was like clocking into a live-action episode of Dunder Mifflin, except there were no cameras, no humor, and no hope.

As a lessons instructor you are generally able to be pretty independent. You won't have anyone breathing down your neck, but you won't have anything in the way of support. Your cash flow is directly tied to how motivated your lessons lead is, which mine was not at all motivated. Thus, he would rather hire another instructor, than give you more students. You have to remind him that you work a job, in order to make money to live, and then he might remember to get you students. This is a store specific issue, and overall my experience was decent.

as stated before, scheduling difficulties were the con

Prior to new management, I had a fine experience with the company. Working remote has been a plus

Where to start... New management is terrible and attempting to cut commissions from top performers in anyway possible. Micromanaging is at an all time high. Terrible work environment. I have never taken a 60% paycut after several years of top performance until this company

There are a lot of pros - can be fun place to work and I am grateful for my talented and dedicated team and the experience getting to manage other people. - I have mixed feelings on the CEO - I agree with his vision but feel he is not being listened to by the company as it is all talk no action. He discusses adding cleaning staff but we have yet to see that implemented. - this company, if they make the changes they promise like new card and computer systems, could do better next year. I am extremely sad to leave here as I do believe in the company’s mission and some of the higher ups are actually pretty cool, I feel horrible about letting my instructors down but the company isn’t helping us with retention. Some of upper management are famous and pleasant to work with. - I have fun on our weekly calls - lots of humor and encouragement from other lessons leads -I do like the Hal Leonard books - they aren’t wonderful but they get the job done in that they make learning easy for all ages - and we always have other fun books in stock for teachers to teach with. There is rumor that they will come out with a new edition next year with newer songs and the students are excited about this idea. -management DOES listen to concerns. Doesn’t mean they’ll do much about it, but they will listen to your feedback, which is more than most corporations. - growth potential if you stay long-term - I did like the 401k, health insurance, and tuition reimbursement is legit! If you don’t mind corporate culture and have some management experience, this can be a good long-term job. - definitely opportunities for moving up in the company and career growth - but not for the best reasons - if your higher ups get tired you can easily move into their positions if vacant, one of our guys got promoted this way - I enjoy collaborating with the other managers on action plans. - I enjoy the diverse music culture we witness in our location - we get all walks of life and all genres! I really love the free mental health support - just make sure you have a good internet connection so you can make your session! - it’s fun getting on the ladder to grab guitars, that’s my favorite part of the job because you can see everything going on in the store and customers love it when you go above and beyond to help them out. Our OPs manager is incredible - very smart and organized person - although pay does not match cost of living for renting alone, it is manageable if you live with someone else! - sometimes we get free lunch and open houses can be fun - store will pay for decorations and snacks (however you’re usually expected to buy them with your own money off the clock!) - gig leave is great however not as much PTO as my last job - the parents and students and industry connections have been valuable to me - I am super grateful to have gotten the experience in a leadership position - it will help me down the line in my career! - the stable paycheck has been nice during this uncertain time! - we got to meet Rod Stewart’s road crew!

I was told that if I don’t get the lessons to”to 100 students” by next year then I may be on the chopping block and re-evaluated for my performance. The company refuses to recognize that we have had the tightest schedules and busiest studios by far since I began working here. Cold calls were never in my job description - I happen to have a phobia of calls I have never understood or been able to get over. I’ve gone to therapy for it, I think the main thing is that calls are becoming antiquated. I think lessons leads do better when they sell in-person but our store doesn’t even have a lessons sign outside so customers are often CONFUSED when we mention we have them. I feel strongly that millennial parents would respond better to text message marketing, which they are supposedly implementing next year - I don’t know why more people aren’t talking about this (maybe it wasn’t an issue at other stores) but I actually bought a desk because I was assigned a cabinet disguised as a desk with zero leg room (causing back issues) and the company refused to let me put it up or change it, despite the fact I was expected to sit there for 8-9 hours per day. The hour unpaid break is also non-negotiable. I very much question if they even have an advertising budget. We have a loyal following on our social media page - but lessons (for some odd reason) are not only not on there, but are forbidden to be talked about by instructors on social media. In 2025, in local studios, social media was one of the MAIN ways we got people to take lessons, and I’m forced to ask instructors not to talk about it online. If you look up lessons they haven’t posted about it since 2018 and there are lots of negative reviews and complaints. A lot of parents know this and will decide not to go there, even if our instructors are great and genuine. They expect the instructors to give “free” lessons all the time which completely undervalues the business. We’ve struggled with converting these, largely due to shortstaffing and NO card reader (like what??) and a terrible online sign up system that asks for your email twice. It takes 10 mins to sign up anyone. Other locations may be different but we regularly have drug addicts that come in all the time and there is a trailer park beginning in our parking lot - this makes it so people who would actually pay big money for guitars are not going to go here. The micromanagement is horrible. I didn’t feel comfortable here as a woman, my boss would often get in my space and hyper analyze my emails. As soon as they changed commission structure for sales staff we have had almost zero people want to work there - so lessons leads are often responsible for sales and helping to manage the store. - because of limited space in our small store I was once expected to get on a ladder with a VERY heavy guitar box and put it up and over my head. I almost fell off the ladder. - I was told that lessons lead was “traditionally a male role” and they “never used to hire women” 😳 that being said I’m grateful they gave me a chance. - there is no way to actually format the bio boards properly because our computers don’t have publisher - the SM can’t be expected to do that with everything else. Fortunately I am good with computers. The company has had a ton of people trying to impersonate them through emails and calls, basically making it so my job doesn’t mean anything because people can’t tell the difference between if it’s us or scam - this is largely due to a lack of infrastructure to ensure our marketing is high quality. - they give you 3 bullet points to pitch on the phone and these are never updated or changed - you are expected to run a recital on your day off - few resources given for students with disabilities or performance anxiety, although I have faith the company may catch onto this - I came in the store on my day off to find out the mobile order system was BROKEN so people could not pick up their online orders. Not to mention little to no shelf space in the back for organizing where these all go. The store wonders why we have shrink issues and it’s largely due to the fact that they actually have limits on how many full time sales staff are allowed on the floor at once and the long breaks we are forced to take. I often have worked over time and skipped lunch to make sure nothing gets stolen. We did much better when we had 3 talented sales people selling lessons with me on the floor at once. I mainly left because I lost my passion for practicing music and have gone on medication for my ADHD depression and anxiety. - the “spiff” for selling lessons for open houses is laughable - $10 AFTER what is it like 10 sign ups in one day?? Customers see through the open houses and don’t take it seriously - because our instructors are not properly trained on how to run a group class. I have tried to train them as I am good at it but it’s difficult with the population we have locally (many of them are severely poor and uneducated). - we have a lot of customers who are literally in there for the free stuff - I suppose this is any retail business but it’s crazy - the tariffs are threatening the life line of our store - it will likely close if we all leave because no one wants to buy anything - we are lucky if we sell 3-5 guitars in 1 day, foot traffic has steadily declined in 2025. I know some of this is outside the company’s control in that it’s stuff going on in the government but I wish the company would act faster and adapt to the rapidly changing conditions. - you could be fired at a seconds notice if you make any mistakes - I was not comfortable with this type of culture - the average tenure of lessons lead in our store is 6 months - tells you a lot

Discount, benefits (FT employees only), coworkers, being connected with local music, and pretty fun for an entry-level job. Secretly a sales job, but fun once you find your groove. You can move up fast but I’d recommend short term only to get experience. I gained so much music gear knowledge for being there so long. It was also cool learning about new products coming out before anyone else!

There are SO many downsides to working at GC that the list is endless. Low pay, low staffing, poor treatment from corporate employees to store employees, unrealistic expectations from corporate, zero formal training, and no long term incentives for employees. Everything that makes the job horrible is due to the decisions made at a corporate level rather than a store level. Any former GC employee would tell you the same. I had been an employee for many years and I had so much fun at the start, but year after year they made worse and worse decisions that made the job unbearable. ADVICE. Save money BEFORE working there, I recommend you stay as a part-time employee, take advantage of the discount for 1-2 years and leave! Two stories I would like to share with you, if you want details. 1. After GC had it’s record breaking profits in 2021, they decided to cut almost 50-80% of labor in their stores. I kid you not, I recall of a store that had 10 part time sales people, get cut down to 2 part time sales people. They had guitar techs and lessons instructors ringing customers up because no one else was there. Perhaps you would say it’s because we are in a recession and they were making the necessary cuts. They revealed that Salesforce of all things, would be implemented in the stores at this time. For those that don’t know, Salesforce can run $175-$300 per month for each user. They expected gutted stores to call a 50+ customers for each employee as a call campaign when we had lines going out the door. I always liked calling customers and inviting them in but come on GC read the room, they rolled out a call center tool for a retail store that no one had time to use! They even bragged saying how “Salesforce will make it so we can hire people who aren’t musicians!” because of the generated gear suggestions the CRM tool was capable of. Probably because at this point they knew they can’t keep their talent, and rather than solve the problem, they want to rid customers of the one experience they are looking for at a GC. As a result, Store Managers and others quit by the troves. I literally received 3-5 emails PER DAY about new Store Manager opportunities at other GCs all over the country. Twas a dark time and somehow stayed even though the writing was on the wall. 2. My personal experience during the event that I mentioned, was a strange one. Normally, we should have been up against 2020 sales, but since 2020 was so bad, we were up against 2019 sales goals which felt unbeatable. In 2021 my store hit maximum bonus payouts for the ENTIRE year. I was so proud of myself and my team, I felt so accomplished because everyone made decent money. But at the start of 2022, they cut 50% of my labor, and increased my goals by 30% for the year. While other stores who performed similar to us, were given 1-10% comp. Online you have multiple sources with different opinions on what healthy growth looks like, but 30% is pushing way beyond anything you’ll come across. I couldn’t help but feel this was a predatory ploy to earn back the money they lost from paying me out. This and many other similar experiences from GC ultimately made me decide to leave my once beloved job.