Thought I was choosing a career with chance for growth. - General Manager Ulta Beauty Employee Review

3.0
18 July 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great discount! Benefits are fine. Great conference for GMs every year.

Cons

Expectations at store level are specific from upper management. Upper management does not uphold their own expectations. Using possible promotions and advancement to encourage GMs to take on stretch assignments without extra pay. These stretch assignments usually are done on own time. Store payroll cannot support such assignments and corporate knows this. Corporate has reputation for not following thru and helping GMs get to next. Actually going externally to fill positions without internal associates being aware of possible positions or ignoring request for interview or following up on interviews held. Sometimes 3 interviews are done and then when the company decides to go in a different direction the respect for loyalty is not given back to associate. However an interviewing guide for store level contradicts what actually happens. That's just one example of do as I say not as I do.

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2.0
4 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

good benefits for full time employees from what I hear. hourly pay if commission goal isn't met which is nice for those building clientele

Cons

this could just be the case for my store, especially because it's a very high volume store, but as a stylist I don't feel valued at all. I expected this to some degree coming to a huge corporate salon, but the biggest issue is that they try to pretend they care about you. but at the end of the day, if you're not meeting the sales they want/growing quickly enough, they don't care about you as a stylist. if you don't already have an established clientele, business is highly unreliable as there is no late cancellation/no show policy. many services are underpriced in my opinion, making it hard to meet their sales goals as an entry level part-time stylist unless fully booked every day. all they care about is getting as many clients in and out and quickly and possible and they hire more stylists than there are chairs, making every day inconsistent and chaotic. the relative stability of hourly pay is commission threshold isn't met seems enticing for stylists still building a clientele, but the hourly pay is wildly inconsistent between stylists, even those of the same tier. as a stylist of over 3 years who moved and is starting over with no clientele, I make over $2 less per hour than a fellow stylist who just got her license a few months ago and started taking clients for the first time last week. you're better off working at a place like Great Clips or Hair Cuttery because at least they're honest about what they are.

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