Pros
1. Generous pay if you're hired from outside and/or if you can negotiate 2. Generous PTO - 20 days to start 3. You'll definitely make friends here because everyone is so friendly 4. Casual dress environment - tee shirt and jeans 5. Bonuses twice a year based on performance
Cons
Heavy-handed direction from Japan HQ (aka GHQ); so much so that the merchandise planners don't plan assortment as much as other companies because GHQ will tell them what to place orders for, how many units, and how many doors it must go to. Some of them do make changes but for the most part it's a high involvement from people in Japan that don't know who the American customer is. There are still Japanese expats in the US corporate office. Most of the senior management positions are filled by Japanese men, most if not all, who have not lived/grown up in the US. It is a rare occurrence when a local (US person) moves in to those positions. The stores have so much power that a merch planner's and allocator's jobs are pointless in my opinion. Stores are part of top-level weekly meetings where they can suggest markdowns, additional buy, promo, etc based on their very narrow view of their immediate store. They never take into consideration total dept or company plans; the worst thing is that their suggestions are usually heeded and we end up marking things down before a month of selling, Presentation standards are very strict in stores; the idea is that stores should have perfect presentation at all times with certain selling expectations and once the presentation is broken and there isn't inventory to replenish from everyone screams for markdowns even if there are thousands of units of other sizes. Workload can at times be overwhelming to the point where you think you're drowning and you'll never break the surface. It's a lot of repetitive and boring work. I feel like I'm in a factory just going thru the motions as a cog in a production line.