Hi everyone, I hope you are all doing good. So sorry I haven't been able to do a blog post in a very very long time, I have been super busy. So as some of you know, I worked at Benefit Cosmetics for a few months, starting November time and I left in March to go work for Laura Mercier. Working for Benefit did open up opportunities to work for other bigger branded make-up counters. However, I still wanted to share my experiences so that you get an idea of what it is like.
I applied for a position for the Windsor store in October and got a phone call for HR to do a mini phone interview. The interview included a few questions about the products, which being a blogger and a blog reader, I knew some of head, however, had never tried the products. She then told me I passed the interview and invited me for an audition in London.
There were other girls there, 2 girls walked out as the job description which included Traffic stopping. Traffic stopping is going up to random people on the street and asking them to come try makeup. I managed to sit 2 ladies down, the 3rd one I sat down bought everything I showed her. The area managers were really impressed and took me off the shop floor to do a 3rd closing interview. A week later, I got a phone call saying I had the job (Waahay!).
So I started off during Christmas and it was busy as hell! So not much traffic stopping at that time. I did enjoy it when I first started as I had never worked for a makeup counter. However, in January, it was super quiet and we always had to be out traffic stopping. Not complaining about traffic stopping, it said it in the job description, and I didn't mind because I wanted to put my foot in the industry and wanted to start off somewhere.
I slowly started to realize that the company is not about having any Makeup experience, it didn't matter if you are a makeup artist or not. It was all about sales, getting people in doing makeup the Benefit way and selling. It started to get very competitive on which staff member got the sale, I found that I was literally grabbing customers and nagging them to buy in order to sell. Not my thing! I look at it from a customer point of view, if I was a customer who walked into the shop I wouldn't want a staff member to jump right on top of me. But it was just what was expected.
It was the same thing everyday, and was starting to get a little depressed working there, not going to go into detail why, but there were a few things I started to notice. I would come home and feel unhappy, I didn't feel like going into work the next day because it wasn't fun anymore. Just pushing sales everyday wasn't my thing, so I decided to move on and an amazing opportunity came up to work as a freelancer for Laura Mercier and handed my notice at Benefit.
Overall, if you are a great sales person and have great selling techniques, want to put your foot in the industry, then this is the perfect job for you. It also depends on individuals, I know some people who absolutely love working for the company. I read lots of negative blogs about ex benefit staff members before I joined, but I still decided to go ahead to work for the company because I wanted to get a feel for it myself. You only know what it is like working for a certain company until you experience it yourself.
I am very happy at Laura Mercier now and look forward to going into work everyday as the atmosphere is very good and staff members are very very friendly. Yes, it is about sales as well, but there is a good balance between selling and make-up artistry, and the company organizes lots of fun events.
Thanks for reading.
Lots of Love
Avi
xxx
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