Overall Reviews at Guitar Center
4.0
helping people make music
-great vibe
- great people
- great values
- priceless education
- solid mentors
- constant growth
3.0
A Stepping Stone
This job taught me management skills I will always keep and really taught me responsibility when no one else is watching. I think I can take some of the hardships from this position and turn them into wisdom in my next role.
ProsGuitars were everywhere!
ConsManagement
3.0
You Are a Number
Guitar Center is your typical Fortune 500 Company that will fire their employees for going to a funeral and refuse to pay commission to their retail employees. I would never recommend Guitar Center to anyone.
ProsDiscounts
ConsManagement
3.0
Good for a start up job
Very hard to get ahead in this company. The big guys in the suits and ties don't let anyone get overtime, and cut corners everywhere they can. They try to make operations associates do sales people's jobs, because operations doesn't get commission. It is pretty relaxed sometimes, but I would never recommend making GC a career. Great for some side cash, but get out while you can.
1.0
n/a
This company needs to be restructured. It was very difficult to take day to day tasks seriously if they would not let us work a full 8 hours a day. The pay was asinine.
Prosproduct discounts
Conseverything
4.0
The Wal Mart of Music
Guitar Center was good to me. Good place to work, flexible hours, decent benefits. The pay was great but...it should be better. I made that company $1 Million in a year and I was I made $34,000 before taxes, Their commission rate is broken. But all in all, cool place.
ProsIt's a music store
ConsPoor management decisions, idiots on musical equipment
5.0
Fun place to work, very competitive, favorable merchandise to learn about and sell
Working at guitar center was bitter sweet. As a musician it was amazing how much I learned while I had worked there. The training alone was superior and helped me learn a great deal about the music industry and about instruments of all types. ( how they worked, what they were made of, where they came from, who made them and when ). The compensation was mostly dependent on commission, and while working with those who had spent years at this company, it was very hard for a new hire to get ahead monetarily when their knowledge and sales skills were freshly acquired. It also caused some friction among the veteran employees if one were to excel too quickly.
ProsThe learning experience, the competitive nature of commission sales, the discounts on merchandise
ConsEmployee competition created a hostile working environment, between veterans and new hires there was friction, help from other employees was not granted, management swayed from hiring females, they also tended to let female employees go first if a department's sales were lagging, the gap between veteran employees and new hires was large, it was very difficult to earn adequate compensation.
3.0
Fun Environment but low paying gig.
Warehouse Manager and OMIT for 3 years. Fun place to work, but provide minimal insurance benefits and low pay. Coworkers are usually a fun bunch if your musically minded. Loved the hours but hard to do overtime if the store budget doesn't allow.
ProsGreat employee discount
ConsPoor Pay and Insurance Benefits
4.0
Coworkers and the customers made it worth it
If you're a musician, it can be pretty fun especially in a city like Los Angeles. Get to talk all day about gear/artists with coworkers and customers. Met a whole lot of cool people. But the underlying sales dynamic could be pretty toxic at times amongst the team. Pay isn't the worst but unless you're full-time or in management, your schedule can be inconsistent and sometimes sparse especially in the slow season of the year, making it hard to make ends meet. Also, no benefits if you're part-time. Management was inconsistent and they weren't always on the same page, but you could tell their hearts were in the right place. I did appreciate that even though I did not have vacation days when I was a part-time employee, management was flexible with allowing me to take time off to visit family as long as I let them know well in advance. Also, having an employee discount was a huge perk.
ProsDiscount, musician culture, diverse clientele, benefits if full-time
Consscheduling, occasionally toxic sales culture, communication issues
4.0
Recommended
Great company to work for especially for musicians and music enthusiasts. Hourly plus commission (percentage varies in each department) which increases your value as a worker. Training is thorough on product for safety and best sales outcome
ProsYou basically work for yourself by building clientele
ConsDrums and accessories is hard to make commission
