I'm looking for a little help here. I've got an interview tomorrow for a technician position at Best Buy. Anyone who works/worked at Best Buy: Any thing I can do to ensure I get the job? I'm a poor high school student, about to graduate, and I really need the job. Secondly, what's it like working there? Is it dealing with people who are arrogant and clueless all the time, or is there even much customer interaction? Thanks, Derian
Welcome to bit-tech I can't offer you much advice, but this is what I've heard about the Best Buy near me: they expect you to work most of the day (not shifts of just a few hours) and they want people who will work the whole year, not just summer. Good luck
Haha, right up my alley. I was just made a tech. in the interview, say I wanted to work here for customer service and customer loyalty, and because of the incredible service plans and features best buy offers. i also like the fact we are non-commision, customers tend to have more open years. I am also a PC modder... And that will get you in. the hardest part is the online personality quiz thing. let me know what store you get.
I hope you like pressure selling, I worked there when I was 16 (19 now). First lets get a few things out of the way: this was my first job, i like tech jobs, not sales, granted the 2 years after this i worked at a Babbages (Aka Gamestop etc.) and absolutely loved it. The manager had it out for people under 18; this was confirmed by many of my coworkers, This was the Sales manager and not the gen. manager or the department supervisor; Both those guys ROCKED and liked me a lot. That being said, At Best buy you are expected to sell the service plan. When i was working in the printer aisle (where I always got stuck) we were expected to sell a cable, paper and ink to everyone who bought a printer. This isn’t difficult, this is stuff the people need for their printer, Most people are leery of the service plan, but you can convince most of them. My problem was I always seem to catch people who didn’t want it. I was showing OK numbers, but my sales manager wanted more. I and the other young coworker that got stuck in the printer aisle a lot were told to (and I quote) "Pick 5 ink cartridges and put them in the cart and tell "Here is your years supply of ink!"" I said I didn’t think this was fair and honestly if someone did this to ME when I was shopping, I would walk out of the store. The SM didn’t like that too much. So one day, I woke up on a Sunday and felt like shiat, I couldn’t hear out of one ear due to an infection, I had to blow my nose every 30 seconds, could barely talk. I went to call in sick and found out that not only did they need me there (Apparently have the crew called off) they needed me there early, if I didn’t show there would be hell to pay. So I drug my sick body to the store only to find out that one of the deals that Sunday was a $20 printer! Not only was it a $20 printer, but I was expected to sell a $45 2 year service plan with it! And ink! Needless to say I showed nearly zero service plans that day. I got called to the main office and was told I was being written up for it. I took off my yellow badge and slid it across the table and said this job wasn’t worth coming in sick for. We were ridden on every aspect of the job. I got yelled at for wearing on of there shirts that was too small for me even though I asked for an XL many times during training and the sales manager couldn’t provide. I moved an empty cart once so some people could look at the paper selection we had, and the sales manager yelled at me infront of customers and said I was playing around and looked stupid spinning the cart. (I had just moved it to the other side of the aisle, and then asked me if he looked stupid when he did it, demonstrating by spinning the cart real fast, the customers walked away. I also loved getting chewed out for not taking more hours (I think I was at 27 or 28 DURING the school week) and one night the sales manager wouldn’t let our team leave until 1 am because he was too busy to check us out. That being said, this was only one store, with one sales manager. I wouldn’t think of working at BestBuys again due to this. I know the tech bench is even worse for PSPs and unnecessary service charges because that’s there only source of revenue. One thing in best buys favor: There employee discount kicked ass
k, first off, my deepest apologies for your teh suxorz experience at best buy. I currently work the sales floor in the computer department, though i spend a fair amount of time behind the tech bench (job i was originally 'sposed to be hired in for, had to change me at last min. but ah well). At my store at least things are considerably different from what you have described, except for A-Hole sales manager. Thankfully mine, who rode my arse on an HOURLY basis, got canned a month ago. W00T!! anywhoo, on to getting you hired Darien. by this point your first interview is over, so i'll focus what i say on your second interview with the GM (or general manager, top dog of the store for you none best buy employees). First off, everything army ant said is good. But if you say it like that, there gonna know it's some pre-processed crap. Just think of it this way. If there looking for ppl to work the tech bench, what kind of ppl do they need. Make sure to mention your experience with computers, any schooling and personal experience, especially any modding. Also make sure that you make it obvious you like helping people. Things to mention: enjoy helping ppl (it is tech SUPPORT, after all) patience (you have no idea the morons you will deal with. had two women in tonight who were buying a 50 dollar printer under the impression it was a computer ) sense of humor (don't be afraid to tell them you want the discount, trust me it roxorz, 1.15 for a usb cable anyone? and it only gets better from there) teamwork (absolutely freakin ESSENTIAL, your gonna have to like the ppl you work with or you won't last a week, there the ones who will back you up when a manager questions your selling/repair/whatever) willing and able to learn (your gonna have lots of crap to learn at the bench especially, all kinds of paperwork things, plus they'll prolly expect you to know some basic selling in case they need you to help on the floor) really just be yourself, wear a tie, and don't try to act to formal. Most of the employees at your average best buy are very young, and this includes the management. So go in, give them a good handshake, and tell em why they need to hire you. Should have no problem getting the job then. FINAL WARNING: be prepared for some hard core bull****. Unfortunately this company has some DUMB ppl working for it, especially at the corporate and customer levels. So you ARE going to be yelled at by some stupid customers who mis-interpret the info they're given (and i'm not talking "I wanna see your manager" i'm talking physically yelling at YOU) and some extremely stupid company policies. Just make sure you like the ppl you work with and get a good general feel for which rules are solid and which rules can be chucked out the window. If you have any other questions, lemme know, i've been with the company about 9 months now so know most of the ins and outs of the job for at least 3 different departments. And you will love and cherish the job the first time a hottie brings her computer up to the bench for repairs, you boot it up, and see a picture of her naked as the background. (This is not made up, I've witnessed it happen twice) though the first time a customer forgets to delete there transvestite pics may make you question your job (again, not made up) best of luck, and let us know how it goes!!!
Yeah, techcheck just sucks. I want to break who ever makes those necks. Selling computers is the hardest department and you have to attach the most. there is a new geek squad plan, so you are going to sell less and fix more.
Pssh. So theres all these tornadoes and hail and ****e. So my interview has been pushed back till Wednesday. Thanks for all the replies so far, and here's something I forgot: What does the dress code say, particularly regarding males with long hair? I want to know if I'll need to cut it, it's a little higher than collar bone length.
welp, hopefully some stores somewhere else are different. But I think all you have to do here is have your A+ and know absolutely NOTHING about ANYTHING in the store. My friend tried to get a job there and they told him he had to have A+... I walked in the store the next day, walked over to the video cards, one of the pawn walked up and asked if he could help me, I said I was just thinking about getting a new video card... which one does he suggest? The second crappiest one on the shelf. (something like a radeon 8500 while the ti4600 was the best thing on the shelf) I've heard them say people should buy CD-RWs for a CD-R drive because they're more reliable... I've heard them sell the service package that cost more than the product (as mentioned above) I think my worst dissapointment was when I asked where they had sony memory sticks and he just said "Oh, I don't know." and turned away. I ****ing hate BestBuy.
It might depend on the store, but at the BB near me, there are guys with pony tails working there. edit: Ubermich, I agree with you on some aspects. I think they should make sure all the employees know where all the different departments are, at least. They should be able to tell you where you need to go to find something, even if they aren't knowledgeable about the product. If I work there this summer, come to our store and I'll tell you where to find the memory sticks .
you dont need a+ at all. nobody at our store is, but they will pay for your certification if you want it. hale the new geek squad agents!
They told him he did. Though I don't see WHY you would need it for anything besides tech support. And as for the memory sticks, it wasn't an issue of someone not knowing a different dept. It was HIS dept. Thank god for Fry's
ouchies, looks like we got some bby haters in the audience. Hell, come on down to my store, i'll show you what real service is. k, Darien, this might be really freaky, but are you interviewing for the best buy in jackson? Cause my store has had teh suxorz tornadoes and hail all over the place, fact i just got back on my computer after a 29 hour blackout. This is gonna be really freaky if you are coming into my store, but hey, if you are stop over to the comp. department and ask for dave, see if i'm working. as far as A+, no, you do not need it, though i have been told by a tech that if you do have it it's good for another 2 dollars in hour raise, not to sure bout that though. Personally i've had friends hired in who did not have A+ and there are guys working who do have A+ and i would trust my m8 over several of the certified ones. That said, they all know there ****. So if you are interviewing at my store, who's your interview with? a british guy named jim?
im 17, none of the training. i just brought in my Hummer PC and they said yeah.... hmmmm... tech.... then i got a nice raise to 10.50 hour.
I personally try to avoid the sales associates at BB at all costs or ask them questions to totaly confuse them if they start to approach me. My personal fav was when I was in the vid card aisle, the guy walked toward me, and I couldn't think of anything other than "is the ram on this video card running at CAS 2.0 or 2.5?" luckily it baffled him instead of making me look like a jackass. Me: "about how much throughput can I get on this router with NAT and the fire wall enabled?" Sales guy: *brief puzzled look* "about 100 Megabits per second max" Me: "all right, then thanks." *quiet snicker* You wont have to worry about me in Iowa though.
??? You have to realize where your shopping to, go to circuit city or frys and you get the same thing. the people who know about that are server IT's, programmers, or electrical engineers ad get paid 200k+ a year. Plus, we deal with so many stupid people it isn't even funny, that yell at us saying there is a converter for usb to firewire, an adapter, and we have to refrain from smaking them.
What, I know that NAT and firewalls will limit the max throughput, nothing that you will notice even with a 3 Mbps connection though, but I'm not an IT or anthing fancy. I just want to not be harrased, but have the sales people there when I do need help. But it sounds like that you are pushed to make sales, so that is a little more understandible now.
You don't want them there, yet you want them there when you need help? That is why they come up and ask: "Can I help you, sir?". No need to get mad or try to confuse them. Sure its funny to confuse them, but that's not the point . Just say "No, I don't need any help", and they won't bug you. It's easy, Mmmkay?
generally speaking anybody who asks me a question i don't know the answer to doesn't really need my help that much anyways on deciding which brand/product/whatever to go with. Really, we're there to help the people who come in and say they need a new modem, but mean they need a new tower. That being said, if you ask me a question i don't know the answer to and seriously wanna know, i'll still try to find you an answer.
lol, agreed. A customer came in wanting a cable modem. we got her one. she said no, its like usb for christmas lights, the way it plugs in. apparently she couldnt think of elecric socket, and she wanted the dc power chord for her stupd cable modem. USB christmas lights.... thats a new one.
the newest usb peripheral will prolly be USB christmas lights. we just need to convert our mains to usb, we would have more appliances that way.
