I have been working as a full time sales associate for over 4 years. I started my employment as a seasonal staff employee and was asked to stay on as a full time associate. I am only making 1.48 more than I was when I started. When I started, I felt like what I made was pretty good. But now I am a seasoned employee. My knowledge on products, my artistry and selling skills should demand a far greater hourly rate by now but there is sort of a ceiling for hourly wage that sales associates can get unless they move up to a Lead, Specialist or Store Director position. There are freelance artists and account executives for brands that know probably a tenth of the information that I know (and others within the company like myself) and those freelancers are making $25/hour and some are making $60-80K a year, while I'm making not even $20K a year. And even if there are account executive jobs for brands that come up available, the company seriously frowns upon brands considering Sephora employees for those positions. So in order for a Sephora employee to effectively seek out those employment opportunities, they would have to basically quit their job from Sephora outright. The company does not want to "lose" their money they've invested in education, etc on their employees by those employees going to work for the brands directly. But without knowledgeable and skilled Account Executives or freelancers, those brands sales will fail in the stores and within the company.
When I started, the company also was fantastic in providing education to its employees on skincare, fragrance, makeup artistry and brand specific trainings. But the company has DRASTICALLY reduced these trainings and educational opportunities. So for new employees coming in now, the amount of education they will be receiving will be much much less than more seasoned staff who've been with the company longer.
To move up in the company from a sales associate position, there are limited options. The only top paid positions (over $60K a year) are either as a store director, or district manager. And if your desire is to stay working in sales and not move into any sort of managerial position, the wage is NOT competitive when compared to counter positions at most manger HE department stores (Neimans, Nordstroms, Bloomingdales)
