Worked repairing, assembling new and sometimes selling bicycles part time. Sometimes repairing as many as eight bikes in a five hour day things could get hectic! Often had to combine repairs with attending to customers in the store so learned a bit about multitasking, the repair shop was in the warehouse!
Hardest part was often having to make customers wait until spare parts for their bike arrived, that was frustrating at times. I guess that was tempered by the satisfaction of getting a broken bike working again, Isaw a lot of happy faces!
ProsLots of paid vacations and a nice social life with other staff.
ConsNot sure the company had quite worked out it's place in the market.
When first joined the company it was a fun place to work, sales and service where the essence to the company, but the customer always came first. the company evolved to one that now profit comes before the customer, managers are no longer managers more receptionists until there is a problem.
Hitting targets and most of the technicians they employ are very in exsperianced to be working on cars.
It's all about hitting targets and saleing brakes for life and all the additives on top.they do seem to pay alot better than most of there competitors but you do have to work hard.
A decent company to work for with a lot of effort over the years to train and develop nationwide. I have worked in several different store over the nine years working at Halfords each with unique challenges and achivements
Overall good place to work, pay is decent if you are ready to put yourself out there and work hard upper Management is good, but frequent changes at the top somewhat cause issues
started with this company about 5 years ago and to begin with everything was rosy.
fast forward a couple of years and lots of supermarket directors and retail managers who haven't got a clue of how to run a successful service sector establishment, its like working in beriut!!!.
no lunch breaks
unrealistic high targets
no support from regional manager or head office
too much paperwork
work all bank holidays
no family life
overall a terrible company to work for who actually think they are good?? for me all this is a bunch of retail managers trying to get there pound of flesh from the people who should be running the company.
Majority of managers are brought in from outside sources.
I,e. Game and betterbuy. So progression is limited.
So majority of managers have little or know mechanical experience.
So working at halfords is very Target and sales driven.
Only managers reep the rewards in halfords whilst the actual employees that do all the work get promised this imaginary pot of cash but when you ask for this on your pay packet they say its for a team curry fund (weird, I smell something).
Employees are on the minimum wage on 7hr or 15hr contracts.
Training is very lapse especially battery fitting.
If your a mechanic then you certainly wouldn't work at halfords.
You are occasionally asked to come in for meetings at weird times like 5-10 on a Sunday evening on minimum wage and once again bonus and achievable targets are drilled into you.
Overtime gets cut before xmas meaning overtime is not available.
Halfords really is beneath me.
To cut costs halfords asked certain staff to work for pizza instead of wages whilst overtime had been cut to do a store clean on a Sunday night.
Shortage of staff and start times all over the place, means you are running around from fitting to selling stereo's and roof racks.
You can't fool me halfords.
Halfords have gone down the minimum wage route where obviously concrete product knowledge has been sacrificed in place of profit and targets. The company managers are very well looked after.
However I do like my co-workers and meeting and serving customers.
Also Halford
Prosgood 1st job, friendly co-workers, no progression, imaginary perks and promises.
Stressful, high expectations with little reward until store manager position.
The business is very easy to get into as a part timer. The expectation laid out in interview is some flexibility regarding additional contract hours, but the reality is immediate pressure to do more hours whenever it suits the store. The company runs on bare bones hours and continues to get tighter and tighter with hours to save money, while paying store managers disproportionate salaries, and investing in hare brained schemes to make the company more efficient without actually taking day to day store function into consideration.
The company has recently undertaken a series of restructures, which essentially asked part time colleagues to drastically change their hours and working days or be made redundant. Duty managers and assistant managers were also disbanded via a restructure and asked to apply for jobs which were more responsibility for the same money.
I would not recommend working in a Halfords retail store to anyone, regardless of position or responsibility.
ProsColleague discount for stores and related business.
ConsStressful, unreasonable expectations of workload within a poorly run company
Working for Halfords, I learned so much! There were so many opportunities to advance if your interested. 1 out of 10 managers are interested but if you get that 1, itll be the best experience of your life! It's the kind of experience that it is what you make it!
I enjoyed my time at Halfords. It is an organisation that has lots of potential as an organisation and it could so much more than it actually is. It is a company for people who are willing to make an effort and are able to work with confidence. It is not enough just to sell product and services colleagues must be willing to strive to meet the needs of their customers. To then take that one step further and generate long term working relationships that are mutually beneficial to both the customer and the organisation. Individuals who truly want to make a career at Halfords requires that they are methodical, level headed, totally customer centric, determined to succeed and above all are actually honest to the principals of the organisation and its culture. It is an organisation that someone can as easily succeed in as it is for them to fail.
Work hard and you can get to the top
Good job security but if you want an easy life some where else might be better
Good training and a good variety of work
Easy tasks given, were long hours but a few lunch breaks, learnt how to put a basic bike together, tasks were fun and not difficult, workers were nice n helpful and it was a fun few weeks working their.
A typical day at halfords i will deal with customers needs and also be a standby mechanic for fitting bulbs ,blades and batteries into cars. management look after you well and treat you fairly. hardest part i would say is trying to tend to every customers needs . you will find one day it cant all be done and some customers may get upset but we try to work around the problem and keep them satisfied. the best part of the job is who i work with . strong team and a friendly team which is key . i need to interact well with the team to be a team and then we can become stronger and more effective.
Prosgood training for future life, great way to improve interpersonal skills
Consweekend work
4.0
Senior Customer Service Technician | Keighley | Mar 12, 2019
Good entry level work in a customer facing environment
Often working in small close knit teams - a sense of friendship and mutual desire to work together. Can be a genuinely fun place to work. Company values displaced on a daily basis.
Stores often under staffed and staff members under trained.
Pay below par pay for the level of work involved. No one day is the same - often challenging work. Often dealing with difficult Customer(s) and their complex queries e.g. stereos, child seats, bulb fitting....
Required to be multi-skilled and deal with several tasks at once.
Back office and daily duties eat up 50% of your time, can be very monotonous even if your not a manager.
Haphazard breaks.
Change of management every 2-3 years.
Heavy top down corporate structure. Relentless drive for standardization from HQ not always implemented effectively. Pointless E-learning exercises.
Many stores looking tired.
Excellent for gaining communication and people skills.
ProsStaff discount - 25%, team spirit and camaraderie, dynamic environment
ConsUnsocial, sometimes long hours, short lunch breaks, labour turnover
Halfords - Retail - Good Training - Minimum Wage
This was a nice position, to gain experience in retail and sales. The work morale and environment is great. Training opportunities is good.
Management can be hit or miss depending on what store you attend.
Management offers and the progression within Halfords is difficult as favoritism and bias takes precedent over hard work and achievement.
Dynamic and fast-paced work environment. Generous holiday allowance, a company pension and discount scheme. Team working events are common and personal development reviews are in place.
Questions And Answers about Halfords
What advice would you give the CEO of Halfords about how to improve it?
Asked May 31, 2018
Pay staff fair wages and improve management as there is something seriously wrong and lower expectations for a very low paid job.
Answered Sep 3, 2021
Focus on quality, not quantity, when it comes to sales. Reward those who put the effort in to learn and further their knowledge. Reward experience. Offer better training to those who you employ that don't have experience and knowledge.
Answered May 31, 2018
What is the interview process like at Halfords?
Asked Feb 21, 2021
Asked for qualifications very simple 20 mins long max and get the feeling they turn over alot of hpper management fast.
Answered Feb 21, 2021
Do you need experience to work at Halfords?
Asked Feb 21, 2021
You need to have qualifications but some very inexperienced technicians.also the amount of f#ck ups we used to get from the retail store was daily.need more training most if them our kids fitting bulbs with no clue.
Answered Feb 21, 2021
What tips or advice would you give to someone interviewing at Halfords?
Asked Feb 28, 2020
Have retail experience.
Know about bicycles or cars.
