Pros
Somewhat of a flexible schedule
Cons
I was hired into what was supposed to be a full-time role with benefits but the most hours I was scheduled were 15-20 hours/week. Therefore, the job posting and recruitment were very misleading. The hourly pay and mileage reimbursement are also pathetic. The equipment needed to do your job in stores along with your work badge take 4-6 WEEKS to arrive to you so you're expected to download several apps on your personal phone or device (which can drain your battery fairly quickly) and use that to complete your in-store assignments. You also end up having multiple separate accounts to sign into just to view your work schedule/assignments, your work email, and HR-related info (personal info, pay stubs, etc.) so everything starts to feel scattered and difficult to keep track of. Although I was urged by recruitment to complete all my new hire documentation ASAP so I could begin training, I was not scheduled for training for several days after my start date and my district manager could not give me a clear answer on when exactly I would start training. I had already left my previous job, therefore I was going several days without any income. Training is poor quality and overwhelming, even if you have some previous merchandising experience. You're assigned a few hours of videos and PowerPoint presentations to watch along with a ton of emails with separate docs for "reference" and expected to remember all this info. I was originally told another Acosta rep would meet with me in-store to finish my last part of training before I began working on my own, however that was not the case. I was originally scheduled for 3 days of in-store training, which I feel is needed to fully grasp the job and be able to do it well. But I later found out this training would just be for ONE day and a rep would not be physically meeting with me to do the hands-on training. Instead, the in-store training would involve joining a Microsoft Teams call on my personal phone for several hours (which severely drains battery life) and being “guided” through some of the assignments before being left to work on my own. During this time, my work schedule and assignments changed 3 times so I didn’t know what I would be doing in the stores until practically the last minute. Everything including weekly conference calls seem rushed and somewhat unprofessional. They try to cram in as much info as they can in the shortest amount of time possible and expect you to perform your job perfectly. You also may not be given enough time to complete each job, especially if you have to search a store’s entire backroom to find product or displays. Half the time the hours you submit on your time card won’t go through correctly so you have to reach out to management to get it fixed which is annoying. Lastly, although this isn’t technically a sales role, you’re basically expected to convince store managers to purchase displays and product from Acosta’s clients when they don’t already have it in-store. Most store managers seem annoyed that you’re there and it can be difficult to track anyone down or have them take you seriously when you need inventory counts updated or anything pulled from their back room. You’re better off working directly for the store.
