Pros
Lowe's has great opportunities for advancement, with a little hard work and a good attitude, you can quickly go through the ranks and in short order turn a part time job into a full time, lifelong career. The opportunity to earn commissions on certain sales is always there to motivate you to get out there and sell, you aren't just given a budget and told get to work, you're actually rewarded for your efforts. Once you've advanced somewhat in rank, you begin to earn bonuses when you DO make budget, on top of your spiffs. These are all pretty standard to the industry, so I'll point out some things specific to the Lowe's experience: There are the well recognized Management training programs (EMTP, MTP, OMTP, etc. etc.) Which, whether or not you choose to make Lowe's your career, can put a big plus on your résumé. These are provided not only free of charge, but you are paid for your time. At most Lowe's stores, a very friendly atmosphere is cultivated. Even part-time associates are given the power to make suggestions to improve the store, sales, etc. You're given great discounts on in-store purchases as well as on Lowe's stock purchases. You're given a free E-Trade account once you begin to purchase Lowe's stock. And finally, a great benefits package, very competetive, even for part-time associates.
Cons
Crazy schedule, even though you are technically on a 4 week rotating schedule, you rarely work the same hours two days in a row. You're often given unrealistic budgets to meet in the current economy, which makes the bonus that at once was a sure bet now a shot in the dark. Communication is often murky, you have to actively go out to every manager in the chain to find simple answers. Another on the negative side, the computer system can be complicated and hard to learn for some people. Lowe's runs a custom Linux distro for their servers and their working OS. Many people are not used to using a command prompt style system.
