Bad Policy Policeman - Lessons Lead Guitar Center Employee Review

2.0
May 8, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Gear Discount Awesome Staff Supportive in-store Leadership Chance to develop skills and manage decent sized team

Cons

Guitar Center over time became harder and harder to work for. When I was hired, many of the staff had just had hours cut drastically, and were run ragged . The whole mood of the staff was low and continued to get lower as corporate slashed long standing policies, and made decisions that affected the profitability of the store (which affected management bonuses). In the midst of this context, as a lessons lead you are managing complicated scheduling needs, managing 8-12 contractors, being a customer service representative, selling expensive lesson plans with quotas that do not change with demand, creating a space that is comfortable for families, and enforcing a controversial no refund policy. This last one is the one that really made me feel uncomfortable, both with it's ethics, and with the angry parents getting heated when enforcing it. I don't know how many families pulled out of the program and went through a painfull appeasement process during my time. So it was a full load, that most of the store has no clue how to operate. If you are sick, lessons often stops working and you need to fix it when you get back.

Explore other reviews about Guitar Center

5.0
Jun 25, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Very flexible with hours working.

Cons

Difficult to stray away from Hal Leonard curriculum sometimes, but may be different now.

3.0
Jul 1, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Sweet deals and discounts Coworkers are very pleasant to work with Good as extra income Good for aspiring musicians to network with experts of the industry

Cons

Obsolete softwares Scheduling system software that is thenmost imperative tool as of it will be the backbone of a lesson lead for your team of instructors success it's also somewhat obsolete amd constantly crashing both IT and Upper management are aware. IT is very diligent and pleasant to work with but Upper management expects their lessons lead to work and deliver at 100% capacity while they continue to have an operating system that only works at 75% capacity, just beware of that and if you're willing to work under those conditions. With that put there go at your own discretion. Nobody gets Christmas/winter holiday vacation time off, also go at your own discretion on that one especially if you have kids and family looking for work-life-balance.

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