Pros
Shop staff teams are some of the most fun, talented and interesting people I have worked with. Being musicians, most of the staff I worked with had a particular area of expertise and interest within MI and a great sense of humour. This made working in the team fun, and interesting to learn from others and find shared interests and goals. They are the biggest credit to Pmt and often the most underpaid and underappreciated by higher management. Offers good connections into MI, especially if working in one of the larger PMT stores. Would semi frequently get visits from sales reps, product specialists and musical artists. All more actively willing to introduce themselves to you than company executives would be on the odd occasion they visit your store. So much less frequently now, but depending on your area of expertise, some really nice gear would pass through the shop allowing you to get hands on and try out the latest releases from major brands as they landed. On the subject of music gear, trade-ins were probably my favourite to deal with as the items customers brought in would often be the most interesting bits of kit in the shop in recent times. The discretion staff would have over deals offered on part exchanges was a nice change to all the usual red tape around price matching, margin targets and a flawed new refund policy.
Cons
Pay was not good, and showed no sign of rising above national minimum wage within nearly 5 years of working there. Expressed more than multiple times an interest in developing my skill set in other areas of the business but the company just did not want to know. Just one example of the underappreciation and general feeling of stagnation within store sales staff. Bonus scheme for shop staff had been made almost unrealistic and pointless by the time I left. Talent and potential shown from staff within the company often went unrecognised by higher management. A disconnect and consistent lack of communication felt between in store sales, online sales, marketing and purchasing. Would often end up in frustration for staff and customers. 30 minute lunch break for a 9 hour working day 9am-6pm. Bank Holidays worked on standard pay. Experienced extremely uncompassionate and unhelpful interactions with HR Department.