Good co-workers, average retail experienceThe good thingsOk so I'm just going to be as upfront about what working here was like for me in the Pitt Street Store. The best thing had to be the co-workers, I would absolutely not have stayed so long if it weren't for the amazing people I worked with. Maybe I lucked out but I managed to have amazing managers for my department. It is a pretty massive brand so another major thing is that it definitely helps push you, making you a better candidate for other retail jobs, and develops a lot of organisational skills, communication and things like that which are useful even beyond Zara. I've seen people around me move up roles through connections and most senior managers and that have started as casuals so I guess you can say you can definitely grow in the company. Good flexibility, the requirement was minimum three days a week availability, I sometimes wasn't able to achieve that but my manager was pretty understanding because I also had university. There's always something to do there, so It's pretty fast paced. I realised it is also a great place to network with people involved in the fashion industry.
The challengesOk so with managers, there are definitely some more annoying managers who don't sympathise with their workers and lack the qualities of a leader. It's really random depending on who you get, you can either get really amazing, supportive managers or just be in a toxic mess. As a Casual you don't get discounts which is pretty bad, even other smaller brands offer discounts or perks to employees. I don't see why a multibillion dollar company can't offer casual staff discounts. Though for full-timers, the discount is pretty good. It often can feel understaffed depending on who's on shift with you and the customers that roll in and there's just so many tasks to do.