Barnes & Noble Job Application & Careers | (Full Hiring Guide) |
Barnes & Noble is one of the most popular retail stores globally. Over the past century, the company has grown its status in the retail book industry. The management has also extended its operations to other industries, such as food services. As Barnes & noble expands its operations, it employs many professionals to give its members the best customer experience.
As an entry-level employee, you can start as a bookseller or a barista. As a book retail enterprise, they always have job openings for booksellers in their bookstores across the country. The problem for job seekers is that the competition is high. Also, the application process may not be favorable to you for specific locations.
However, you do not need to fret. We have written this job application guide to help you through the entire application process. Here, we will tell you all you need to know about applying for Barnes & Noble jobs, whether part-time or full-time. We will also cover the interview process and answer some frequently asked questions.
Company Overview
Founded: 1886
Founder: William Barnes & G. Clifford Noble
Industry: Retail Bookseller
Website: barnesandnoble.com
Headquarters: 122 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011, United States
Phone Number: 212-633-3300
Company Size: 10,000+ Employees
Barnes & Noble is a retail bookselling company that focuses on helping authors get their books to readers. Over 1 million books are published on Barnes & Noble every year, with sales of up to hundreds of million books. These books are available in Barnes & Noble stores across the country and in their online stores.
Barnes & Noble offers memberships to book lovers in their headquarters, New York, and other parts of the country, such as Los Angeles, Brooklyn, and others. As expected, they hire part-time employees to attend to their members. These part-time workers can advance to full-time employees in their Barnes & Noble careers, but that is not common.
One of the common reasons employees do not stay long at Barnes & Noble is the little opportunity for career advancement. Over time, the company has been criticized for hiring new people rather than promoting employees. The situation is the same at the book retail stores and the food courts.
Applying For A Job With Barnes & Noble
Applying for a job at Barnes & Noble is a serious affair. You will be facing competition from several other people for the same role. Therefore, you need to be at your best. For this purpose, you need adequate knowledge of the application process and how to ace it. That is what we will teach you in this section.
— Visit The Barnes & Noble Careers Page
You should start by visiting the Barnes & Noble careers page. You can search for it directly online or from the company website. You can also see Barnes & Noble job openings on their LinkedIn page. The careers page is your first guide to working at Barnes & Noble. You will see everything from the available roles to benefits and progression paths.
— Select Retail, Corporate, Or Distribution Jobs
You will see all the job titles the company has openings for on the careers page. At first, you will mostly notice openings for booksellers in various regions. Thus, if you are looking for employment in Barnes & Noble as a bookseller, you only have to consider the location. You can use the filters so you will only see job titles that suit you, whether retail, corporate, or distribution jobs.
— Search For Open Positions
If you do not see the job you desire on the first page, you may have to search for it. You can type the exact role you are looking for or similar ones. If you seek a temporary position, you may browse through the page for available positions. Mostly, you will see openings for part-time or temporary booksellers and baristas. There will be openings for a cafe manager, cafe server, or someone to operate the cash register on some occasions.
— Create Account & Complete Application Form
The final step is to create an account on the Barnes & Noble careers page. When you want to apply for a job at Barnes & Noble, you have to create an account with the company. After reading the requirements for the role, you will see a button at the end with the words, “Apply Now.” Click on it to get started.
You will have to fill out an application form where you will enter your information. After that, you may complete the online application form. Answer every question honestly and submit your application. Then, wait for the HR team to reach out to you regarding the result of your application.
Barnes & Noble Roles & Salaries
Barnes & Nobles always has several roles open, but the most common ones are for booksellers and baristas. They mostly need booksellers to sell the books in their stores and baristas for their cafes.
— Bookseller – PT
There are always open roles for booksellers in Barnes & Nobles. This information may be good news for you if you desperately seek a job. But unfortunately, this is not a good place to start if you’re looking to pursue a career at the company. Barnes & Noble always has openings for booksellers because the role is mostly filled with part-time employees.
As a Barnes & Noble bookseller, you are expected to be physically present in the store. Your duties will usually involve attending to members who want to buy books. In addition, you have to help them navigate the store and answer questions they may have about the books. Due to the nature of this work, hirers employ people who have a great interest in books.
Many Barnes & Nobles college graduate employees love the perks of working at the job. It is a role you can leverage to gain experience while earning some money. You will also be paid at least the minimum wage and enjoy an employee discount on the books. The average salary of a bookseller at Barnes & Noble is $10.58, but it can get as high as $19.95.
The job is less desirable for many people because there is little chance of career progression from the role.
— Barista – PT
Since Barnes & Noble expanded into food service, there have been demands for baristas. As a barista in Barnes & Noble cafes, you have to make coffees and bake snacks all day. The job may seem tedious at first, but if you love coffee, it may be enough to entice you to other perks of the role.
Working as a barista at Barnes & Noble kitchens requires a lot of physical fitness. You have to stand for long hours daily and may also need to move around a lot. In addition, you must be smart enough to take multiple orders and deliver them correctly.
Being a barista at Barnes & Noble is a great role if you are looking for a temporary job. However, you may not like it in the long term due to low wages and minimal benefits. The average salary is $10.02 per hour, with the maximum range being $16.
Barnes & Noble Interview Process
Barnes & Noble hiring process is simple. After you submit your job application, you will be contacted about the result of your application. The process usually takes between some days and a few weeks. When delivering the result of your application, the HR personnel will tell you the schedule for your interview. It may be a phone interview or a physical one.
The first stage of the interview is usually casual. This may happen over the phone or physically. The physical interview may also be individual or group. During that initial interview, the hiring manager will ask you common interview questions such as “why do you want to work here?” “why should we hire you?” and other variations. You should answer as best as you can.
You should try to ask them some questions to show them how much you want to work there. For later interview stages, the questions will be more specific to the role you are aspiring for. They will ask you about your qualifications and previous experience. Also, they often ask booksellers about their favorite books and authors.
Barnes & Noble Work Environment & Company Culture
If you are applying to work at Barnes & Noble, you will want to have some background knowledge about the company. Barnes & Noble is one of the largest retail companies in the world, especially in bookselling and merchandising. Employees often describe the environment in their stores, cafes, restaurants, and offices differently.
Many previous and current employees complain about the hectic nature of the jobs and lack of proper management. In addition, they often cite low wages, minimal benefits, and lack of career progression as demerits of working at the company.
The company rarely promotes from within. Instead, they hire new people into management positions, which adversely affects how employees view career progression in the company.
Other employees focus more on the benefits of working at Barnes & Noble. For example, they appreciate the amiability of their co-workers and employees’ discounts on books. In addition, Barnes & Noble has an equal opportunity policy that prevents favoritism or any sort of discrimination in any form.
The Bottom Line
Working at Barnes & Noble is a dream come true for many people. The most common job openings are for booksellers and baristas, whose requirements are easy to meet. The company’s wages are not very competitive, but there are benefits employees can enjoy over time.
The most important task is to beat the competition during the application and interview process.
Frequently Asked Questions
What age does Barnes and Noble hire?
To work at Barnes & Noble, you must meet the necessary qualifications. Most times, different roles demand different requirements. However, some requirements are general. One of such is the age limit. To work at Barnes & Noble, you must be at least 18 years old. Therefore, you will be asked for your age during your application.
What skills does Barnes and Noble look for?
Many people believe all it takes to work at Barnes & Noble is to love books and have a good knowledge of literature. Unfortunately, this is not true. Each job description contains the details of the role’s requirements.
As a bookseller, you must have a deep knowledge of books. This will enable you to help members when they come into the stores to buy books. You also have to be friendly. Your demeanor should make people feel welcome.
One of the major skills to be a bookseller at Barnes & Noble is to be well-organized. You will have to keep the store in proper order to provide people easy access to books.
Other roles might require some more technical skills. You’ll see the skills they require when you read up on the job description. However, there are general skills Barnes & Noble looks for in employees. These include expertise in your job, friendliness, and good communication skills.
What is a typical day like at Barnes and Noble?
As an employee at one of the largest bookstores in the world, a typical day at Barnes & Noble is hectic. Booksellers must ensure that they attend to members and get more people to sign up for memberships. In addition, cashiers spend the day attending to payments while store managers ensure that everything goes on smoothly.
A typical day at Barnes & Noble can be exciting for a book lover who gets to spend a long time around books. Each store is filled with some of the best titles globally, with new ones coming in daily. However, having a great work experience at Barnes & Noble requires some passion from the employee.
What are the benefits of working at Barnes and Noble?
Working at Barnes & Noble is great for many reasons. College graduates can work in the stores and cafes as part-time employees. They get to earn some money while acquiring experience. They also get to enjoy work benefits as full-time employees. These benefits include paid time off, sick leaves, maternity and paternity leaves, health insurance, and training.
Part-time employees may not enjoy the full extent of the benefits, but they have access to most of it. Another benefit of working at Barnes & Noble is the 401(k) retirement plans. Both part-time and full-time employees can take advantage of the 401(k) retirement plan benefit at Barnes & Noble.
