Temporary NARS position at Nordstrom's?

[JeeJeeAllin]

So, more or less, I'm being offered a "temporary" part-time position at a Nordstrom's NARS counter. I freaking LOVE NARS, think this would be amazing, etc... But, this "temporary" thing freaks me out. While the DM of NARS & Nordstrom's cosmetics dept manager assured me that the company's profits are growing exponentially, I'm still afraid something will happen that'll cause me to lose my hours. I'm great at makeup, great with selling and great with people, but it still worries me because I lost freelancing positions before due to the economy being crap. Has anyone had experience with temporary positions before? Should I take the risk? I would not hesitate to take this if I was still at my previous job, but I just recently got hired as a MUA/receptionist (mostly the latter) at an incredible, well-known local spa/boutique and I like that position as well... I don't want to make a bad choice, ya know?

I have until Saturday to make my decision, so any advice would be really great!!! Also, I still haven't been told what my base pay would be, which is frustrating. Any estimates would be REALLY appreciated, no matter how vague.​

 

[LC]

There are always temp cosmetic spots in department stores. The downside: you probably won't get commission, but at least the hourly will be good. Most likely they have in mind when they'd need you until.

Stores need temp cosmetic positions for a few reasons: if someone is out on maternity leave, or someone is out for a while due to medical reasons, or if the counter is going to be in gift and they need an extra hand, or during holidays. Other situations too, but I used to work at Macy's and have seen a lot of temp positions.

I'd say about 25% of the time they turn into permanent spots. If you have the extra time and it fits into your schedule, you should def take it. Something else to add to your resume.

hope this helps

LC

 

[JeeJeeAllin]

Eek, that doesn't sound too good, but it did help.

What I was told, however, was that this position does has the potential to become permanent - even full time - depending strictly on performance. I guess the situation is that due to NARS' recent growth, Nordstrom has allowed them to take on additional hours, which can stay as long as goals are being met... But then again, it's not like they'd want to tell potential candidates that they're planning on canning them in the near-ish future, eh? There's also another temp part-time girl that started 2 weeks ago... Odd, tricky situation.

I would be making commission, too, so it sounds as though the money would be pretty good. Unfortunately, I can only pick this or my other job, as both are Fri-Sun. Bummer!

 

[LC]

ooo...that is a tough situation!

Maybe Nordy's does that with all part time positions. Part timers at dept stores are VERY flakey, so maybe they say it's temporary based on performance to weed out the losers.

I'd be willing to take the risk if the money was much better than the spa

 

[JeeJeeAllin]

Yeah, all of the answers to my questions have been pretty ambiguous, but what I'm getting from them is that this is becoming somewhat of a standard procedure. I very much agree with you, but it's also annoying because they may cut a person before they even have a chance to establish themselves fully! For instance, their next quarterly review is a month from now. I'm not sure exactly HOW tough they plan on being, but if I say, fall short a few days just because I'm new to the game (I've never worked a counter before), that can be the end of it for me, even though I'm A+ at the whole cosmetics sales shebang.

They are jerks, blah. haha :| I think what I'll do is stop by the counter tomorrow after work to feel it out. Should be interesting since tomorrow is the trend show. Thank you again for the advice!

 

[NeonKitten]

i work at nordies in cosmetics and they say postions are temp with lines like nars because of volume of business. if they see you are inpoving their business they are all over it. they just want to see how well you do in a comission based environment as you will not only be nars but all over the department. its a lot of work and stressful trying to learn a vast amount of products but it pays off as you can set your own pay with the comission.
And not being rude but not all part timers are flakey. i am part time and its because i'm in school, not everyone has the ability to work full time or even wants to work full time so i don't think that makes them flakey

 

[LC]

neon, i didn't mean that 100% of part timers are flakey. Of course there are part timers with integrity that show up when they're supposed to