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 scarletsquig wrote:
Staffer discount is crap.

Even with 50% off everything, you're still better off just paying full RRP for Mantic stuff from the perspective of a gamer looking to save money.

Not everyone wants to pay full RRP for what is by and large an inferior sculpt which might have to be ordered online, since not every independent will stock Mantic's stuff.

 scarletsquig wrote:
Staffer discount is crap.

Even with 50% off everything, you're still better off just paying full RRP for Mantic stuff from the perspective of a gamer looking to save money.

It's cool that you like Mantic stuff better than GW stuff, but not everybody does. I think GW at full price is a better deal than Mantic in most cases-- though there are exceptions, like the Mantic zombies. Saying that a 50% discount is "crap" because other companies sell other products at other prices seems silly though.

 Kanluwen wrote:

 scarletsquig wrote:
Staffer discount is crap.

Even with 50% off everything, you're still better off just paying full RRP for Mantic stuff from the perspective of a gamer looking to save money.

Not everyone wants to pay full RRP for what is by and large an inferior sculpt which might have to be ordered online, since not every independent will stock Mantic's stuff.

Yeah, saying "just buy Mantic" is pretty stupid. The real problem with GW's employee discount is that you're required to buy (and build/paint) armies for all three of their major games, all at your own expense in time and money. It's not very helpful to save 50% on your 40k models compared to 20% off online if getting it costs you hundreds of dollars in fantasy and LOTR stuff that you have no interest in owning. You're only going to make a profit on that discount if you actually enjoy all three games and want to buy armies for them, otherwise you're just throwing away money.

 scarletsquig wrote:
Staffer discount is crap.

Even with 50% off everything, you're still better off just paying full RRP for Mantic stuff from the perspective of a gamer looking to save money.

Considering that the latest Mantic models are 1.88 pounds each while GW standard is still 1.80, I wouldn't say that.

I'm not really sold on the idea that GW requires its employees to buy and paint armies for all 3 systems. Is it really so? Can any of the people that worked there confirm that?

 Alkasyn wrote:
I'm not really sold on the idea that GW requires its employees to buy and paint armies for all 3 systems. Is it really so? Can any of the people that worked there confirm that?

Well, think of it from GW's perspective. You have someone selling three main products-- 40k, Fantasy, and LotR. It makes sense to hire people who have knowledge of all three.

 Alkasyn wrote:
I'm not really sold on the idea that GW requires its employees to buy and paint armies for all 3 systems. Is it really so? Can any of the people that worked there confirm that?

Just go back a few pages and look at the GW propaganda account's response to the comment where I first brought it up: "you aren't required to, but if you don't like our miniatures why do you want to work for us?". In other words, it's entirely "voluntary", but you'd better volunteer or we'll replace you with someone else who will.


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 Kingsley wrote:
Well, think of it from GW's perspective. You have someone selling three main products-- 40k, Fantasy, and LotR. It makes sense to hire people who have knowledge of all three.

Sure, that's why GW should have (paid) training time to learn the basics of each system, and provide fully painted and playable demo armies to each store. The problem isn't having people who know enough about each of the major products to offer useful sales advice to customers, it's that GW employees are required to spend their own time and money on making armies for the store.

 Peregrine wrote:

 Kingsley wrote:
Well, think of it from GW's perspective. You have someone selling three main products-- 40k, Fantasy, and LotR. It makes sense to hire people who have knowledge of all three.

Sure, that's why GW should have (paid) training time to learn the basics of each system, and provide fully painted and playable demo armies to each store. The problem isn't having people who know enough about each of the major products to offer useful sales advice to customers, it's that GW employees are required to spend their own time and money on making armies for the store.

Fair point. On the other hand, GW seems to have little reason to establish paid training and supply armies in the fashion you suggest. Certainly it would be more fair-minded if they did, but since there seems to be a ready supply of willing volunteers under the current system, the upside seems limited.

 Kingsley wrote:
Fair point. On the other hand, GW seems to have little reason to establish paid training and supply armies in the fashion you suggest. Certainly it would be more fair-minded if they did, but since there seems to be a ready supply of willing volunteers under the current system, the upside seems limited.

Sure, obviously it's working for them and they have no obligation to be an enjoyable company to work for. It just undermines their claims about how their nice employee discount is an awesome perk of the job when in reality taking advantage of the "discount" probably costs you more than just buying for 20% off online.

It's nonsense (at least in the UK) that there is a requirement to collect armies from all 3 systems. Having knowledge of all 3 systems is a different thing. Staff tend to get free copies of rulebooks. I got a free staff copy of WFB 8th edition rulebook, I got a "free" Dark Vengeance box (actually paid for by painting the store copy in own time), a free copy of the 40k 6th edition rulebook, and would have got a free copy of The Hobbit rulebook had I not ended up having to leave.

At no point was I ever given the impression that I had to have an army for each system in the 2 and a half years I was with GW. I will however agree that it's not a job for someone with family commitments, and ultimately this is why I'm no longer with them. Married to a teacher, and pretty much unable to get any time off when she's off as it is, and further cuts that will further reduce availability of cover to the point that basically I would have got my holidays when I was told I was having them.

As others have said, it's a job that, when times are good, it's awesome. When times are bad (regardless of where the cause lies), look out.

Other than the fact that any cost they incure training the staff to play the games and useing stock for display is tax deductible? yeah why wouldnt you want fully trained staff and beautiful and aspirational armys ready to use? lol

i find it interesting that the OP has not posted in a few pages of this thread. given the level of outright hostility (justified or not) im not surprised. however, one would assume that the OP has been informed or at least done some kind of research into the online community hes entered. ... or at least i would hope so.

as mentioned a zillion times, the OP is probally just a drone hired online to be online, and likley dosent even play the games. his job is to simply advertise about advertisments.

i would also like to agree that working ANY retail job is going to be stressful on family and social lives. i worked in a casino for 3 years - and 90% of the shifts were nights and weekends. because thats when the demand for staff was. retial, especially around the holidays is the same. many stores open for longer, have more customers and thus longer lines and more need for additonal staff. if your going to apply for such a job, it would seem prudent to know what your getting into before submitting the app.

and finally... i believe a sales person should KNOW his product. i dont want to buy a computer or a car from a guy who knows nothing about his products. if you have zero interest in apple computers or ford cars, then DONT SELL them as your job. so if your not a wargamer, and have no interest in GW or its games, then why sell? if you do, then why not take advantage of the discounts? - heck as a WHFB and 40k player, i would be more then happy to work at a GW store, simply for that discount.

anyway, all of that has been said, so ill shutup now, and if the OP is still around, - once again, any chance of opening a store in regina? or at least getting me in touch with a product sales rep so i can get my IR store up and going?

It's too late everyone. You scared the poor OP off ages ago...

I don't know if he's scared off... maybe he just doesn't work weekends.

Ah. That is also a possibility!

narked wrote:
It's nonsense (at least in the UK) that there is a requirement to collect armies from all 3 systems

Maybe in the UK, but the GW representative admitted that you are expected to "volunteer" to buy all three armies or you aren't the kind of person they want to hire.

 Commander Cain wrote:
It's too late everyone. You scared the poor OP off ages ago...

Good. Maybe next time they'll think twice before being a disrespectful and treating the community like nothing more than free advertising space.

Yeah, how dare a corporate goon post news in the news & rumors section...

 Peregrine wrote:

narked wrote:
It's nonsense (at least in the UK) that there is a requirement to collect armies from all 3 systems

Maybe in the UK, but the GW representative admitted that you are expected to "volunteer" to buy all three armies or you aren't the kind of person they want to hire.

No actually, he did not.

He said, quoting here the reply to you:

No we don't require you to buy models. I would question why you would want to sell miniatures, if you were not into them.

You're welcome to read into that what you like, but it seems pretty distinct that the statement is "you are not expected to buy all three armies".
Anyways, who in the world is going to jump at a chance to work at a retail shop for retail wages on worse than normal retail hours if they did not already have an interest in GW's products?

 Peregrine wrote:

 Commander Cain wrote:
It's too late everyone. You scared the poor OP off ages ago...

Good. Maybe next time they'll think twice before being a disrespectful and treating the community like nothing more than free advertising space.

All you have done is vindicate the perception that Games Workshop has had of the community.

Notably that they are not worth the hassle of communicating with.

 d-usa wrote:
Yeah, how dare a corporate goon post news in the news & rumors section...

News and rumors or not, it's still a forum where discussion is supposed to happen. It is pretty obvious that the GW representative had no interest in having a discussion with any real substance, and just showed up to spam their link on what they saw as a free advertising space. They should have been treated no differently than any other spambot account.

 Peregrine wrote:

 d-usa wrote:
Yeah, how dare a corporate goon post news in the news & rumors section...

News and rumors or not, it's still a forum where discussion is supposed to happen. It is pretty obvious that the GW representative had no interest in having a discussion with any real substance, and just showed up to spam their link on what they saw as a free advertising space. They should have been treated no differently than any other spambot account.

How is that different from Brother Vinni? Or any number of the "companies" which post here on Dakka?

It's not. They engage in some minor discussion, and then they're gone until they have new crap to flog.

 Kanluwen wrote:
You're welcome to read into that what you like, but it seems pretty distinct that the statement is "you are not expected to buy all three armies".

Oh please, it's just textbook manager language. You don't explicitly say that X is a requirement because it's probably something you can't legally require your employees to do, you just make it very clear that anyone who doesn't do X is "lacking in team spirit" or "not fitting in with our company's culture" or whatever and will be fired. To anyone who isn't dedicated to white knighting for GW it's just another case of the same old "voluntary" condition of continued employment.

Anyways, who in the world is going to jump at a chance to work at a retail shop for retail wages on worse than normal retail hours if they did not already have an interest in GW's products?

Someone who can't get any better job? You know there's a bad economy with high unemployment, right? Taking a worse than average retail job with GW is better than having nothing at all.

And nice job with the strawman turning "buy all three armies at your own expense" into "not interested in GW's products". You can be interested in GW's products and do a good job of selling them without wanting to buy, build, and paint an entire army for each of their games.

All you have done is vindicate the perception that Games Workshop has had of the community.

Notably that they are not worth the hassle of communicating with.

What happened here wasn't communication, it was spamming.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Kanluwen wrote:
How is that different from Brother Vinni? Or any number of the "companies" which post here on Dakka?

It's not. They engage in some minor discussion, and then they're gone until they have new crap to flog.

Because they're actually promoting a product that most people wouldn't otherwise hear about. All GW did here was spam the link to their job application and lie about how awesome it is to work for them. Everyone knows that GW is hiring store managers, that's just the default for a retail store with a high turnover rate. Hit-and-run posting to tell everyone about it isn't giving anyone any new information or adding anything of value to the community.

Well...might I just say, in my good year of murking about here I haven't seen many posts from you that AREN'T mildly-aggressive...

But on-topic, if only I was near one of the stores....but the closest is in Philadelphia, and its not hiring....so...

 Peregrine wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:
You're welcome to read into that what you like, but it seems pretty distinct that the statement is "you are not expected to buy all three armies".

Oh please, it's just textbook manager language. You don't explicitly say that X is a requirement because it's probably something you can't legally require your employees to do, you just make it very clear that anyone who doesn't do X is "lacking in team spirit" or "not fitting in with our company's culture" or whatever and will be fired. To anyone who isn't dedicated to white knighting for GW it's just another case of the same old "voluntary" condition of continued employment.

To anyone who isn't dedicating to trying to justify their perception of an "Evil Empire", it's language that you'd have to be very clear about asking an employer when on the interview.

Not the web monkey who posts the job opening on a public forum.

Anyways, who in the world is going to jump at a chance to work at a retail shop for retail wages on worse than normal retail hours if they did not already have an interest in GW's products?

Someone who can't get any better job? You know there's a bad economy with high unemployment, right? Taking a worse than average retail job with GW is better than having nothing at all.

I'm quite aware of that, thanks. I'm currently seeking employment actually, while also doing college.
If you do not have the availability to work crap hours for crap wages, the retail chains do not want you. They want people who are desperate for work and have to take their offers.

And nice job with the strawman turning "buy all three armies at your own expense" into "not interested in GW's products". You can be interested in GW's products and do a good job of selling them without wanting to buy, build, and paint an entire army for each of their games.

I don't think you know what a "strawman" is.

As mentioned before, it's a crap job which has perks which are really only going to appeal to someone who already is involved with the products.
You can be as interested as you want in GW's products, but it's been known for awhile that they are not really interested in simply hiring people because of their aptitude for the products. They want a specific attitude, which most gamers do not have.

All you have done is vindicate the perception that Games Workshop has had of the community.

Notably that they are not worth the hassle of communicating with.

What happened here wasn't communication, it was spamming.

Again, you keep saying that.

Repetition does not make something true. There are plenty of sculptors/companies/painters that come on here and do the same thing as done here. In fact, many of them don't even bother replying until they come back to post their next products.

 Kanluwen wrote:

It's not. They engage in some minor discussion, and then they're gone until they have new crap to flog.

Hey I post everyday thank you very much, and where I was in GW US we were REQUIRED.

A 'crap job' may beat NO job for many folks.

A 'crap job' in a hobby they like may not be too bad to someone looking for a job in this economy.

Generally I have trouble calling an advertisement for open positions 'spam'. He isn't trying to get you to buy anything, he is announcing an opportunity for employment on a website where a LOT of the content seems to be from people using his company's products which just may indicate that some folks on this website may be interested in the opportunity he is advertising.

It seems a lot of past GW employees are willing to share experiences, but I have not seen too many of you state WHEN and WHERE those were. Frankly I question if these experiences are relevant to current open positions. I suspect GW has changed their business model over time.

The OP has no reason to engage in discussion with folks just out to trash talk. I strongly suspect anyone actually interested in the positions has contacted his via other means and he will work with them as needed. He would be doing his company wrong to try to engage on this forum past the initial contact after seeing the responses.

 Kanluwen wrote:
Not everyone wants to pay full RRP for what is by and large an inferior sculpt which might have to be ordered online, since not every independent will stock Mantic's stuff.

Yeah I'm with Kan here. "Buy different products from a different company" isn't a solution to anything. The 50% staff discount is a good thing (for Aussies, it meant they paid ROW retail prices!). It's not as good as it once was (buying bits by weight rather than by cost), but still, 50% is huge.

 Empchild wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:

It's not. They engage in some minor discussion, and then they're gone until they have new crap to flog.

Hey I post everyday thank you very much, and where I was in GW US we were REQUIRED.

Note that I did not say everyone.

You and Cyporiean are good about that, as is WarMill and Chapterhouse.

 Kanluwen wrote:
To anyone who isn't dedicating to trying to justify their perception of an "Evil Empire", it's language that you'd have to be very clear about asking an employer when on the interview.

Not the web monkey who posts the job opening on a public forum.

Ok, let's be nice and clear on this:

People who have worked for GW in their retail stores have stated that owning (at your own expense) armies for all three systems was mandatory (if not in explicit rules, at least as an implied threat of firing if you don't).

GW's representative posts a statement that owning those armies is "voluntary", but they only want to hire people who will volunteer.

Conclusion: GW's "must own armies" policy is still in effect.

I'm quite aware of that, thanks. I'm currently seeking employment actually, while also doing college.
If you do not have the availability to work crap hours for crap wages, the retail chains do not want you. They want people who are desperate for work and have to take their offers.

What's your point? You asked why someone would want to work for GW without being a hardcore fan and buying armies for all of their games, I posted some explanations for why that would be the case. Desperation and taking any job you can get is a perfectly good reason to want to work for GW.

Repetition does not make something true. There are plenty of sculptors/companies/painters that come on here and do the same thing as done here. In fact, many of them don't even bother replying until they come back to post their next products.

First of all, I don't really love them, especially when (like a certain borderline-porn sculptor) they insist on making new threads every time they make a new model.

But despite that, they aren't stating the obvious. "I made a new model, it's up for sale now" is at least relevant news that people probably don't already know. "GW is hiring" isn't news at all because GW is always hiring. It's an inevitable consequence of running a high-turnover retail store, you have to constantly hire new employees to replace the ones you fire. It makes about as much sense as a walmart representative showing up and posting "hey, we're hiring, check out our application form". No new information is being communicated, so it's no loss if they never post anything like that again.

From the first post, I believe the "News" is that there is a new Facebook page for searching about jobs at GW. Those that are interested have a new way to find out about opportunities. Those that aren't are just keeping this at the top of the forum.

 Peregrine wrote:

 Breotan wrote:
Wow. Such unnecessary hostility, guys. Remember Dakka rule #1.

It's perfectly justified hostility. It's non-constructive zero-content advertising by someone with no intent to participate in the community other than by posting advertising, so lock the thread and ban the poster just like every other spambot is banned.

There are threads on here for new stores all the time, why would the mods discriminate against GW ones?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Peregrine wrote:



And nice job with the strawman turning "buy all three armies at your own expense" into "not interested in GW's products". You can be interested in GW's products and do a good job of selling them without wanting to buy, build, and paint an entire army for each of their games.

You might be able to do a good job at selling all three systems if you hate two of them, but all other things being equal, someone who is passionate about all three lines is going to sell more models than the person who isn't. And that's why they want people who are into all three - it drives sales.