Pros
I have worked at other retailers such as CompUSA, and Best Buy's benefits package is amazing in comparison. It is even better than my husband's who works as a security officer. Also, the pay is significantly better. I made more starting at Best Buy than I made after 2 years working other places. People generally stay at Best Buy, so the friends you make are lasting. There is the potential for bonuses, although if the store or the district does not do well the WHOLE year long...you don't get it. The company in general is set up to be very employee centric, although in practice it doesn't really work out. There are mentoring programs and shadowing programs to help you get promoted and stay with the company, but if your management doesn't take a profound interest in you, then no dice. The company is also very interested in promoting women, veterans and others in the workplace. There is a woman's management support program called WOLF to help encourage women to work at Best Buy and have their opinions count in the work place, and that is cool.
Cons
Your development is totally based on how well associated with management you are. Also, the "boys club", or the elite group of men who run the company and their friends, is very powerful. I sure it is this way in any company, but networking with this group is way more important than it should be if you want to go anywhere in the company. Many of the policies are contradictory. For example, there is never enough labor budgeted for the store. I have seen stores that just crash and burn because their labor gets cut, then their theft starts to rise because there aren't enough employees to cover departments, but as a result, labor gets cut again...then theft goes up again...it is a cycle that keeps going until everyone gets fired and they have to start over again from the management and the seniors on up. Management in general is lazy and inefficient. I guarantee that I could do any job in the store better than any manager. They justify this by saying that they "manage the people...not the process"...which I think is a load of crap. They say you are not on commission and that you should set the customers up with what the customer needs. However, if you don't sell certain products and services, you can be severely punished. Although they claim to care about what the employees think, I have suggested a number of changes that I feel would improve business practices, but no body seems to care. Supervisors can be fired because the employees under them suck...but the sups have no say in who gets hired to what position. Also, firing a person is a long arduous process...far more difficult than it needs to be...so crappy people don't leave either.