Working at Dick Smith, experiences please

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langers1972

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#82390 28-Apr-2011 12:18

After over 10 years+ I am looking to move away from IT (Wintel Server Support) to work nearer home and our local DSE has an assistant manager's position so I was wondering whether they are a good company to work for.

Any feedback good or bad appreciated, would prefer real life experiences rather than "Dick Smith Sucks" comments

TIA

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#463323 28-Apr-2011 12:24

Dick Smith doesn't suck, but if you are able to raise the average level of staff intelligence by working there then I support your move :)

l43a2

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#463325 28-Apr-2011 12:29

gehenna: Dick Smith doesn't suck, but if you are able to raise the average level of staff intelligence by working there then I support your move :)

langers1972

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#463327 28-Apr-2011 12:31

Yes, one of the worrying things was the level of staff I'd have to be dealing with on a daily basis.

As a customer I've never been able to get away from the fact that most of the staff seem to be intellectually on a par with plankton

rscole86

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#463332 28-Apr-2011 12:39

I spent around 5 years work with DSE. Started off as a salesperson and worked my way up to Store Manager.

IMO DSE is not the company it used to be, and not the company that people may think of when they hear the name. They are now primarily run by DSE Australia/Progressive NZ/Woolworths Australia. With most of their management now done out of Australia. They also streamlined their discount model for employees to match that of Progressive Enterprises.

When I first started staff would enter as a Salesperson and you would get excellent support/training and they would do what they could to see you work your way through the business to become Store Managers or higher. When I started all of the Area Managers as well as the GM and OP Manager had their roots in DSE.

When leaving I was finding DSE more and more impersonal, there was not the level of support and commitment towards staff and their growth and development as there used to be.

Would I work there again? Possibly, but at this stage I have no desire to get back into retail.

Money...??? The pay is not flash, in fact far from it; I was earning more doing a data entry role when I left than I was at any stage in DSE. When I was there the Ass Man was earning less than the top salespeople in the store. Even if you added on potential monthly/yearly bonuses you could still be well short of them.

Shoes2468

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#463334 28-Apr-2011 12:40

l43a2:
gehenna: Dick Smith doesn't suck, but if you are able to raise the average level of staff intelligence by working there then I support your move :)

+1

langers1972

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#463335 28-Apr-2011 12:41

rscole86: I spent around 5 years work with DSE. Started off as a salesperson and worked my way up to Store Manager.

IMO DSE is not the company it used to be, and not the company that people may think of when they hear the name. They are now primarily run by DSE Australia/Progressive NZ/Woolworths Australia. With most of their management now done out of Australia. They also streamlined their discount model for employees to match that of Progressive Enterprises.

When I first started staff would enter as a Salesperson and you would get excellent support/training and they would do what they could to see you work your way through the business to become Store Managers or higher. When I started all of the Area Managers as well as the GM and OP Manager had their roots in DSE.

When leaving I was finding DSE more and more impersonal, there was not the level of support and commitment towards staff and their growth and development as there used to be.

Would I work there again? Possibly, but at this stage I have no desire to get back into retail.

Money...??? The pay is not flash, in fact far from it; I was earning more doing a data entry role when I left than I was at any stage in DSE. When I was there the Asst Man was earning less than the top salespeople in the store. Even if you added on potential monthly/yearly bonuses you could still be well short of them.

Thanks, strike that out then

rscole86

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#463336 28-Apr-2011 12:43

langers1972: Yes, one of the worrying things was the level of staff I'd have to be dealing with on a daily basis.

As a customer I've never been able to get away from the fact that most of the staff seem to be intellectually on a par with plankton

Not exactly a great attitude to have when looking at working with a company.

A lot of the staff's inabilities come down to the pay. People who have the knowledge and understanding do not want to work at DSE as they just do not get paid well enough. Also, there is not a lot of training, compared to what I started with. What it is like now, I cannot tell you.
The best way around the poor knowledge is to hire the school kids who know a lot and are willing to learn in their own time, however they can only work part time/weekends, and unless you can good at interviewing/hiring they can be easy to miss.

SteveON

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#463338 28-Apr-2011 12:43

Retail - Yuck. I would never work for DSE again, but thats just my preference. Their Management has gone down hill since I left about 4 years ago. If you like working with other people and don't mind a below par wage; go for it.

I remember before I started there they went on about training and how we would learn so much. Well they bearly tried to train me and as the only staff member who bothered to learn product knowledge I was eventually told to stop and do it in my own time. No wonder nobody at DSE has any real knowledge any more.

Its kinda like how they killed funway and went with Big Screen TV's.

valtam

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#463353 28-Apr-2011 13:25

The fact that there wasn't anyone willing to step up internally or there simply wasn't anyone of the existing staff with 'the right stuff' to go into the Assistant Managers position, would suggest that you would be walking into a situation that would be demanding personnel wise from the outset. For those reasons I'm dubious of 'Assistant Managers' vacancies, there was no internal promotion. If you do decide to go for an interview, make sure to get a grasp of the current staff moral, attitude, strengths & weaknesses of individuals, training status as part of your questions to them.

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Bee

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#463357 28-Apr-2011 13:29

Pay Peanuts and get monkeys?

DSE is still the first place I will look when I require to purchase something they might sell, however I always prefer to stay away from the staff because as an IT professional, I have yet to find someone that has more expertise on something in store than me - even when I dont know a lot about the item, reading the box will usually tell me more than the staff member can.

A pity yes because I still do like DSE as a store, but have never rated their staff very highly.

Just my 2 cents worth YMMV.

rscole86

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#463361 28-Apr-2011 13:34

valtam: The fact that there wasn't anyone willing to step up internally or there simply wasn't anyone of the existing staff with 'the right stuff' to go into the Assistant Managers position, would suggest that you would be walking into a situation that would be demanding personnel wise from the outset. For those reasons I'm dubious of 'Assistant Managers' vacancies, there was no internal promotion. If you do decide to go for an interview, make sure to get a grasp of the current staff moral, attitude, strengths & weaknesses of individuals, training status as part of your questions to them.

Before I left DSE had decided that internal applicatants had to apply along with external applicatants, even for the Ass Man positions. Just because there is potentially no one capable to step up, or those who are do not want to, is not always a negative, there could be a number of valid reasons.

rscole86

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#463363 28-Apr-2011 13:42

SteveON:

I remember before I started there they went on about training and how we would learn so much.

Unfortunately a lot of the training was provided by the suppliers/importers/distributers/manufacturers, hence why a lot of the training stopped happening. However IMO DSE should have done more to ensure the required training was still given to staff, and more product knowledge events should have been organised to allow for the ones that were nolonger provided by external groups.

NonprayingMantis

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#463374 28-Apr-2011 14:21

langers1972:
rscole86: I spent around 5 years work with DSE. Started off as a salesperson and worked my way up to Store Manager.

IMO DSE is not the company it used to be, and not the company that people may think of when they hear the name. They are now primarily run by DSE Australia/Progressive NZ/Woolworths Australia. With most of their management now done out of Australia. They also streamlined their discount model for employees to match that of Progressive Enterprises.

When I first started staff would enter as a Salesperson and you would get excellent support/training and they would do what they could to see you work your way through the business to become Store Managers or higher. When I started all of the Area Managers as well as the GM and OP Manager had their roots in DSE.

When leaving I was finding DSE more and more impersonal, there was not the level of support and commitment towards staff and their growth and development as there used to be.

Would I work there again? Possibly, but at this stage I have no desire to get back into retail.

Money...??? The pay is not flash, in fact far from it; I was earning more doing a data entry role when I left than I was at any stage in DSE. When I was there the Asst Man was earning less than the top salespeople in the store. Even if you added on potential monthly/yearly bonuses you could still be well short of them.

Thanks, strike that out then

Pay in retail is always going to be pretty poor. I can’t speak specifically about DSE, but I would be very surprised if the assistant manager role paid any more than 50k OTE.
If you have 10 years experience then I'm picking you earn way more than that right now

wreck90

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#463375 28-Apr-2011 14:23

Question: can working at DSE be stressful?

Just curious. You'd think given the reported low salary, that there would be no stress.

Somethings gotta be good about working there.

billgates

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#463378 28-Apr-2011 14:34

I enjoyed my 2 years there working as a powersquad tech.

Do whatever you want to do man.

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