What is the hiring process like at Hollister Co.?

easy first job, flexible schedule

not a lot of hours because they are always hiring new people

It was a quick interview process.

I had to dye my hair back to dark brown because no unnatural colors were allowed.

Zero hour contract provides flexibility

As the store is so small, not many people needed on shift per day, so shifts are allocated to staff members that the managers personally like. As a new hire or transfer from a different store this means that you are unlikely to be put on shift at all.

discount was good, at least flexible.

impersonal interview, terrible onboarding (non existent), no work place culture, will end up working alone and unchallenged, managers will decide whether they like you on the spot and can be quite rude for what I believe the manager-associate interactions should be, pay below national living wage and little to no hours working, would not go back personally.

The discount on the clothes is good (50% off) They offer mainly 4 hour shifts which is at times helpful for university students. No uniform.

During the interview process we were not notified that we were interviewing for the position of Christmas staff. Many of us had applied over the summer and were only contacted in October, so it was unclear that we were being hired for a short term. When signing the contracts, the managers did not provide an opportunity to read them, nor did they provide a copy of the contract. The environment with other staff is at times hostile. People who have worked there for longer simply have no interest in being friendly to new staff, especially because staff are hired in large numbers. Because the staff numbers are so large (approx 60 in the dublin store) it can be difficult to make friends or to be helped out by other staff who do not know that you are new. There was no training provided. The managers are hostile and unaccommodating, they have very little regard for the availability forms which the staff are told to diligently fill out to indicate when they are available and when they are unavailable. During exam week, a notoriously busy week for students, who make up almost 100% of Hollister’s part time staff, the managers will schedule the new staff for hours they cannot work and will not do anything to help the situation. They are concerned with filling their hour quotas and very little else. They did not notify staff that their contracts were not being renewed. Staff found out through checking the new rota and realising that they were not scheduled at all. When questions were asked the management said that they had meant to call but didn’t get around it. This was 10 days before the contract end date. The staff that were let go were specifically those that had been committed to their university exams and not to the business during the Christmas period. I would seriously discourage anyone from accepting a job here during the autumn/ winter hiring period. It’s minimum wage, paying 11.30 an hour which is not competitive compared to other clothing retail stores.

A relatively easy interview process

Cliquey work environment horrible hours and pay

Simple and easy duties to do

Managers push for sales without comission

good first job, nice coworkers

to many people hired, the sign is still out.

Good experience overall, nice people to work with, learnt a lot about people skills etc, great discount on their clothes and simple shift process.

Pay wasn’t great and working in retail can be a bit manic but that can’t be helped.

Some friendly staff and coworkers

Responded to one of those never-ending job adverts for part-time brand ambassador or stock room jobs on a 0-hour contract (roughly Feb 2023), did a group interview with roughly 8 other people who were also university students (roughly 2 weeks later), and was later offered the job, which I accepted. I wasn't given a shift until about 2-3 weeks later and a few phone calls to the store manager asking when I could start because I was desperate to earn some money, despite being led to believe that there was work available. After being hired it became apparent that the staffing management strategy revolved around mass hiring university students on minimum wage (presumably below 21 so they didn't need to be paid the 21+ wage) to generate a large flexible workforce, which in reality largely consisted of students who were also desperate to work. My first shift was relatively smooth (roughly 4 hours), and I was shown how to do basic things on the shop floor by one of the assistant managers (facing up, manning one of the fitting rooms, returning clothes back to racks) and left feeling pretty confident that I knew what I was doing. The next shift I was with a different AM and was told to do what I was shown last time vis-a-vis manning a fitting room. Apparently, I was supposed to be manning both fitting rooms, and a customer had complained that there were no staff in the other one. That AM pulled me aside 30 minutes later and berated on the shop floor in such a humiliating tone for not doing my job properly and only then explaining what I was expected to be doing. Later in the shift I found a hanger on the floor in the back of the shop and told the manager (guessing it meant someone had shoplifted) and she gave me the most condescending speech about how I should've been more vigilant to stop that happening, when she had told me to be manning fitting rooms, and was only then trained how to deal with shoplifiting. Following those two shifts I was not put on the rota for 3 weeks. Finally after endless calling they gave me a number of shifts for the next few weeks, conveniently during the 4-week university easter break when most students (ie their workforce) move back home, which I had made clear when applying/interviewing/during my first shift would not be available for (and assured this would be fine). I called and told them that I would not be able to do any of the they had given me. I was then informed that I was supposed to have changed my availability on the company staffing system (which I was never previously told) and it was now my responsibility to arrange cover in the staff groupchat. After doing so with good notice, I was told a few days before one of the shifts that they had put me on that I had to find new cover as one of the part-timers was going to be let go. I called and handed in my notice shortly after that. Absoltely vile experience and just blatant exploitation of staff. I've worked many 0 hour contract jobs before and never had issues with getting work but this was probably the worst example of the abuse of their purpose I've ever seen.