Started out promising, ended up wholly unsatisfying
Pros
The best things about working at Sephora are the relationships I've made with my fellow cast members. I've made some truly amazing friends, along with excellent professional relationships, and I will miss working with everyone. The gratis program is fine, but no one tells you that for most of the gratis, you have to be there for the training, or you don't get the product. If you constantly get scheduled during times when trainers aren't there, this can be frustrating. However, in my store, leadership did have contests about once a month where gratis could be "won" for meeting certain goals. (Lying, faking results, and collusion were the major obstacles faced with the contests. Maybe integrity should be one of the seven core company values.) The extra discounts throughout the year, particularly during holiday, are nice, and the bonus structure, provided you work in a store where everyone is on board, is good enough. Also, I was promised potential for growth and promotion almost immediately upon hire, since I worked hard and had passion for client service, plus decent artistry skills. I think this is a great place to work if you have never worked anywhere else and are either working on a degree or don't have formal education. You will probably think you have learned a lot in the basic trainings, and as long as you can fill baskets, you never have to actually develop artistry skills, so it's good for someone who has a good personality and enthusiasm. I'm not sure how the pay scale compares to other retail jobs; I worked in the corporate world for many years after college, and my frame of reference for pay rates is skewed because of that. Personally, I don't feel my pay is really high, but it's definitely greater than minimum wage, and I know I make more than a few other cast members at my store who are have the same title as me.
Cons
As I mentioned above, the gratis program is slightly flawed in that if you are not scheduled at times when trainings typically occur, you don't get the gratis. This is not always true, but most of the time, it is. And again, certain cast members were less than honest when participating in gratis contests. Also, the bonus structure only really pays off for leads and above, who get increased percentages as the metrics rise. Above all, the ridiculous "policy" about not promoting from within the same location because "feelings might get hurt" is offensive. Perhaps that works in cities, or places with many store locations, but in a state with only a few stores that are spread out, you either have to put up with never getting promoted (even though you will be promised this if you show potential), or having to relocate, or worse, having to drive hours out of your way to work at a location where you know nothing about the personalities in the store, or about the setting of the mall. It would be nice to think that hard work and excellent metrics (as shown in survey responses from actual clients) would pay off, and that you would be able to get promoted, when there are openings (as there were in my store), in the same location, instead of them hiring from outside the company to fill managerial roles. I was told that the company would rather shift people around than promote from within the same location. Oh well!