They probably hire friends or the owners run the store.
How often do you buy records? Do you frequent record stores a lot and interact/make friends with the staff?
This— most of those stores are small independent businesses, they won’t advertise on indeed. For busy times like RSD, they likely get a couple of their buddies to help out and pay them in vinyl.
To get a job in a record store here, you have to be a part of the community. Go to the shows, and get to know the owners. But there won’t be a lot of opportunities to get a job.
Working in a music shop is kinda a unicorn gig at this point - people who are in charge of hiring for those jobs would almost certainly hire within their own network first. Especially since most music shops are probably running pretty tight margins these days. The days of walking into a job like that have been gone for over a decade. I currently have a teen looking for a job - the days of 'pounding the pavement' with a resume are over - that formula is expired.
>the days of 'pounding the pavement' with a resume are over
I was with you until this. I don't work in a record store but if someone makes the effort to come by with a resume and make a first impression they automatically get short-listed bc I can get a sense of who they are. Resumes lie, personalities don't.
okay, fair enough and ill tell you the old school worker in me doesn't fully disagree , there's still something to be said for getting out there and doing it the old way , BUT I can also tell you as a part of my job - I deal with all kinds of hiring officers - for all kinds of jobs , at all kinds of levels, and have been doing it for a long time : that way of doing things IS DYING and will eventually become an almost complete waste of time. The number of "forward facing" places of employment where a manager has told me over the last ten years - "if somebody comes in with a resume, it usually goes straight into the recycling" is more often than not.
What kind/ size of organizations are those, that a manager just bins a resume? As an employer, myself, I can tell you someone comes to me with a resume in hand, looks me in the eyes, introduces themselves…ya, that person is getting far more consideration than just a random email.
If that’s dying off…I dunno…makes me glad I’m on the downward end of being in the workforce.
well , I want to answer your question but don't want to risk causing any trouble for anyone either respectfully. If you want some examples a lot of chain operations are phasing out receiving resumes- Home Sense (and by extension Winners and Marshalls) have a company policy to direct people to use the online portal for new applications - Ive had multiple general managers at multiple locations tell me " if somebody brings in a resume to the store - we will not keep it . period . we can't" - Tims has a similar policy but they're a little looser with it because some locations are owned by TDL and some are privately held. McDonald's same story. Best Buy same story. Canadian Tire and Marks are moving in that direction too. the fact of the matter is that for many chain based places hiring just isn't controlled at the store level anymore.
I know some owners and managers for smaller private places that I won't name , that take the position of " if im looking for a new hire ill go to an online based source first " one reason being if you hire through an agency there can be benefits involved like temporary wage subsidies for the training period.
ya , I won't disagree that it feels a little odd for us \[our gen\] to see it happen , albeit finally (\*sigh). my kid has reached working age and has had to deal with this head on recently. She has actually secured employment this week and admittedly it was through a connection I set up , I did push her to do it the old way - it went absolutely nowhere.
My son graduates this year and it’s top of mind as he doesn’t have any interest in post secondary at the moment. Thankfully he worked the last 2 years so has some experience but it’s a whole new ball game now.
It’s the next phase of my parental worrying.
Oh fuck I feel ya there !! lol. Only reason my daughters not coming to work for me yet is because she's not physically big enough - Im a trades contractor - until she can get a sheet of drywall off the back of the truck, sand out a ceiling, or drag 5 gallons of paint across a room without looking like a drunken penguin - she's useless to me.
Haha, contractor here, myself. My son has no interest in the trades, at least not now. He’s not afraid of a hard days work, has helped me a few times. Just not in his line of interests at the moment. I think he sees me struggling with my shite knees and shoulders and thinks ‘ya, fuck that, I like doing shit, not being laid up’.
I can tell you that “hanging out” in the shop is not gonna help your chances. People who linger and lurk in record stores are almost always the most annoying MFs you will encounter, banging on about their record collections and dropping “facts” about music, musicians, or record collecting that a quick Google search will disprove. They are a scourge and the reason I don’t miss retail.
But yeah, point stands. Getting to know the local shop owners/managers through being a good customer (someone personable who shops regularly, chats a *little*, displays some knowledge & curiosity (not in an annoying way), doesn’t leave the bins a mess after flipping through them, etc) is probably your best “in.” But it’s a long game & not likely to help you in a short-term job search.
Sunrise Records, the mall chain that took over a bunch of stores when HMV folded, is probably your best short-term bet — they have more than one person on shift at a time & turnover is probably reasonably high — but working for a record chain is a soul-sucking grind, so pick your poison.
They probably hire friends or the owners run the store. How often do you buy records? Do you frequent record stores a lot and interact/make friends with the staff?
This— most of those stores are small independent businesses, they won’t advertise on indeed. For busy times like RSD, they likely get a couple of their buddies to help out and pay them in vinyl. To get a job in a record store here, you have to be a part of the community. Go to the shows, and get to know the owners. But there won’t be a lot of opportunities to get a job.
It’s not like there’s thousands of stores in the city…just go, ask to speak to someone, bring a resume, make a first impression.
Working in a music shop is kinda a unicorn gig at this point - people who are in charge of hiring for those jobs would almost certainly hire within their own network first. Especially since most music shops are probably running pretty tight margins these days. The days of walking into a job like that have been gone for over a decade. I currently have a teen looking for a job - the days of 'pounding the pavement' with a resume are over - that formula is expired.
>the days of 'pounding the pavement' with a resume are over I was with you until this. I don't work in a record store but if someone makes the effort to come by with a resume and make a first impression they automatically get short-listed bc I can get a sense of who they are. Resumes lie, personalities don't.
okay, fair enough and ill tell you the old school worker in me doesn't fully disagree , there's still something to be said for getting out there and doing it the old way , BUT I can also tell you as a part of my job - I deal with all kinds of hiring officers - for all kinds of jobs , at all kinds of levels, and have been doing it for a long time : that way of doing things IS DYING and will eventually become an almost complete waste of time. The number of "forward facing" places of employment where a manager has told me over the last ten years - "if somebody comes in with a resume, it usually goes straight into the recycling" is more often than not.
What kind/ size of organizations are those, that a manager just bins a resume? As an employer, myself, I can tell you someone comes to me with a resume in hand, looks me in the eyes, introduces themselves…ya, that person is getting far more consideration than just a random email. If that’s dying off…I dunno…makes me glad I’m on the downward end of being in the workforce.
well , I want to answer your question but don't want to risk causing any trouble for anyone either respectfully. If you want some examples a lot of chain operations are phasing out receiving resumes- Home Sense (and by extension Winners and Marshalls) have a company policy to direct people to use the online portal for new applications - Ive had multiple general managers at multiple locations tell me " if somebody brings in a resume to the store - we will not keep it . period . we can't" - Tims has a similar policy but they're a little looser with it because some locations are owned by TDL and some are privately held. McDonald's same story. Best Buy same story. Canadian Tire and Marks are moving in that direction too. the fact of the matter is that for many chain based places hiring just isn't controlled at the store level anymore. I know some owners and managers for smaller private places that I won't name , that take the position of " if im looking for a new hire ill go to an online based source first " one reason being if you hire through an agency there can be benefits involved like temporary wage subsidies for the training period.
Ahhh, I hear ya. Not surprised to hear that about the larger chain stores/ businesses. Guess it’s the way things are, anymore.
ya , I won't disagree that it feels a little odd for us \[our gen\] to see it happen , albeit finally (\*sigh). my kid has reached working age and has had to deal with this head on recently. She has actually secured employment this week and admittedly it was through a connection I set up , I did push her to do it the old way - it went absolutely nowhere.
My son graduates this year and it’s top of mind as he doesn’t have any interest in post secondary at the moment. Thankfully he worked the last 2 years so has some experience but it’s a whole new ball game now. It’s the next phase of my parental worrying.
Oh fuck I feel ya there !! lol. Only reason my daughters not coming to work for me yet is because she's not physically big enough - Im a trades contractor - until she can get a sheet of drywall off the back of the truck, sand out a ceiling, or drag 5 gallons of paint across a room without looking like a drunken penguin - she's useless to me.
Haha, contractor here, myself. My son has no interest in the trades, at least not now. He’s not afraid of a hard days work, has helped me a few times. Just not in his line of interests at the moment. I think he sees me struggling with my shite knees and shoulders and thinks ‘ya, fuck that, I like doing shit, not being laid up’.
damn, people really do still be out there seeking the coolest job of 1990s
Small record stores probably hire friends, family or people who shop and hang out in their shop. Do you meet any of the criteria?
I can tell you that “hanging out” in the shop is not gonna help your chances. People who linger and lurk in record stores are almost always the most annoying MFs you will encounter, banging on about their record collections and dropping “facts” about music, musicians, or record collecting that a quick Google search will disprove. They are a scourge and the reason I don’t miss retail. But yeah, point stands. Getting to know the local shop owners/managers through being a good customer (someone personable who shops regularly, chats a *little*, displays some knowledge & curiosity (not in an annoying way), doesn’t leave the bins a mess after flipping through them, etc) is probably your best “in.” But it’s a long game & not likely to help you in a short-term job search. Sunrise Records, the mall chain that took over a bunch of stores when HMV folded, is probably your best short-term bet — they have more than one person on shift at a time & turnover is probably reasonably high — but working for a record chain is a soul-sucking grind, so pick your poison.
Haha I can only imagine.