Owned by Limited Brands, Bath and Body Works is a specialty retail chain selling personal care products, skin care products and home fragrances. It specializes in bath soaps and gels, fragrances, lotions, candles and other accessories. The company is noted as an innovative brand and store with an emphasis on creativity and innovation. It aims to become the prime destination for personal care needs.
When seeking employment, the applicant might want to take a look at Bath and Body Works for their marketing, customer service, and their aggressive franchising. The company is always on the lookout for self-motivated personnel who know what personal care is and what customers want in fragrances and personal care products.
The Bath and Body Works application for a store personnel job can be downloaded from the website. This is filled up by the applicant and delivered to the nearest store. The stores have autonomy over most of the day-to-day operations including personnel hiring and manpower scheduling. The Bath and Body Works application form is a PDF document which can be downloaded from the Bath and Body Works website. There is a separate Bath and Body Works job application form for Hawaii applicants.
Bath and Body Works online job application is only available for jobs at the headquarters and regional distribution centers.
Bath and Body Works is a specialty retail chain with over 1,665 company-owned stores and at least 6 franchise stores. The specialty chain is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Limited Brands, which also owns Victoria’s Secret and the Canadian company La Senza. The store principally sells skin care, bath soaps, bath gels, fragrances, candles and accessories. It is no secret that the majority of its customers are women. Bath and Body Works careers require exceptional interpersonal skills, including sales and communications skills. Customer relations is a big part of every employee’s tasks, as almost every member of the store crew comes in contact with customers. The company is an equal opportunity employer, and the Bath and Body Works job application is open to anyone who is qualified for the position.
A Sales Associate is an entry-level position at Bath and Body Works and can earn from $6,000 to $30,000 a year. Bath and Body Works accepts part-time employees for its store operations. In addition to sales functions, the Sales Associate is also responsible for the merchandising and stocking of the inventory. Assisting customers takes up most of the time of a Sales Associate, and it is expected that she would have a good understanding of the fragrances on sale and their ingredients. This also holds true for other items on sale at the store.
When filing for a Bath and Body works application for the post of Store Manager, the applicant must have prior experience in a retail store environment. Each store is managed autonomously, but reporting to the District offices. The Store Manager is expected to have good people skills, which comes in handy with customer service and assistance is required. The Store Manager is also expected to have good product knowledge of the items that the store carries. Part of the responsibility of the Store Manager is the daily store management, manpower scheduling, staff training and monitoring according to company standards. Part of the duties of the Store Manager is inventory control, documentation, record keeping, store marketing as well as store level loss and fraud prevention. A Bath and Body Works Store Manager earns from $30,000 to $66,000 per year, depending on experience and store location.
Overseeing the sales and operations of a designated region is the District Manager. The Bath and Body Works District Manager is responsible for the logistical support of the stores in his area. He is also responsible for the sales and marketing campaigns, manpower needs, and support of the individual store’s efforts. A Bath and Body Works District Manager earns from $65,000 to $100,000 a year, depending on experience and location.
When seeking employment for jobs at district or main offices, the applicant can file his Bath and Body Works application online. Other main office jobs are available at the company website. These range through the various company support functions, from warehousing, delivery, logistics, IT, accounting, security, HR, architecture and design, sales and marketing, training, research and development, and administration. Store sales, and store personnel remain as the bulk of wanted personnel in a retail chain of this size. For more details about non-store jobs, you can consult the company website for careers. Applying for these other positions would entail processing at the company’s headquarters.
Before filling up an application for Bath and Body Works an applicant has to first be familiar with the company, its products and the customers. At some point, an employee will be asked assistance in choosing between two variant fragrances for a particular item. This customer support concern is fairly common and the Sales Associate is expected to be knowledgeable not only about the product but also about the fragrance (or smell) and its origins. Bath and Body Works customers are fairly knowledgeable about the items that they use and they have the brand loyalty of converts.
Applying at Bath and Body Works also requires a large dose of charm, patience and smarts. People skills are necessary in order to close a sale. Sometimes charm and knowledge would not be able to close a deal, in such cases, the Sales Associate can always bank on being able to help hoping that the customer would come back soon.
The Bath and Body Works online application process is standard, and almost all of it is done in the store. The store hiring decisions are made by the Store Manager. It is important to emphasize sales skills, and customer relations capabilities. This is the reason the Bath and Body Works application online form is downloadable and filed with the applicant’s store of choice. The application process is done locally at the store. The ability to articulate and communicate with a customer has to be presented during the hiring process. Failure to impress the Store Manager would mean non-acceptance for a job at Bath and Body Works.
For all intents and purposes, Bath and Body Works products are luxury personal care items and are meant to be used to pamper the body. The fragrances are unique and distinctive, which has made for a loyal client base. Users typically keep coming back when their beauty, bath, fragrance and personal care product runs out. Since these products are marketed in terms of family of fragrances, the associate is expected to know the fragrance and their benefits. Being able to assist in this manner would be an advantage for any prospective associate.
Climbing up the corporate ladder of Bath and Body Works could be done from within. However, unlike other companies which require their managers to start as Sales Associates, the Bath and Body Works application for management and supervisory position is open to outside applicants for managerial positions, as well as office openings for the district and main offices.
For all intents and purposes, the stores have an autonomous authority. This means that almost all management decisions pertaining to store operations are handled by the Store Manager. This includes Bath and Body Works employment application processing for Sales Associates.
The applicant must have a proven track record in leading a small team, managing a store, customer and community relations, as well as inventory, sales and marketing. Prior experience in a retail store environment is an advantage when applying for the job.
Bath and Body Works products are unique and very distinctive, for a newcomer, it would be hard to gain product knowledge only from training manuals. Some people have a hard time accepting a bathroom full of fragrances, each one different from every other bottle. An applicant with stock knowledge of the product line has a distinct edge in getting accepted for the post of Store Manager.
Prospective employees do not need to be users of Bath and Body Works products; however, an understanding of the underlying ideas behind multiple fragrances would help. This understanding would help bridge the gap when discussing these products with customers. In terms of the application process, if the applicant can convey his understanding of the products and the company’s marketing philosophy, there is a big chance that that person would be accepted as an employee.
As a part of Limited Brands, the compensation and benefits package of Bath and Body Works are competitive within the retail industry. With regards the perks and benefits, the company’s policies are inherently flexible in the employee’s use of the benefits. The benefits are also fitted in such a way as to reward employees for their longevity.
Bath and Body Works employees’ benefits package includes the following:
◦ Medical coverage. The employee has a choice of managed care medical plans. The plans are covered by Anthem BlueCross/BlueShield.
◦ Dental coverage. The employee has a choice of network coverage and out of network coverage. MetLife underwrites the dental coverage.
◦ Pharmacy Program. The employee pays for a portion of the cost of the prescription, with the company covering the rest.
◦ Basic Term Life Insurance. Every employee is enrolled in the basic term life insurance coverage with benefits equivalent to the employee’s annual base salary.
◦ Optional and Dependent Life Insurance. The employee has the option to increase the insurance coverage, as well as to include his spouse, same sex domestic partner or his children.
◦ Short-term disability coverage. Coverage is up to 30 days of the employee’s base pay to cover extended leaves due to injuries.
◦ Long-term disability coverage. This is a company paid benefit which is independent of the insurance coverage.
◦ Matrix Psychological Services Employee Assistance Program (EAP). This is a company paid benefit to assist the employee with counseling services/
◦ Health Care and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts. All employees are enrolled in this program which allows the employee to set aside money from their salary before taxes. This can be used for eligible health and dependent care expenses.
◦ 401(K) plan
◦ Retirement Contributions. This is an additional savings and investment instrument which goes towards the employee’s retirement funds.
◦ Stock Purchase Program. All employees are eligible to save through the company’s stock purchase option.
◦ Holidays. After the employee has worked for 30 days, he is eligible to receive paid days off for holidays.
◦ Paid time off for vacation and sick leaves.
The above list of benefits package is for illustration only. These are mostly available to current employees. An associate’s benefits package may or may not include the items listed above. These are not part of any package unless expressly stated by the company. Due to the nature of most of these packages, there is no assurance that these would be available to new associates, or that these would be offered in the future.
Founded in 1990, Bath and Body Works is a subsidiary of Limited Brands. It has 1,665 company owned stores in the United States. Its first international store opened in October 2010, in Kuwait. Among Limited Brands companies, it ranks second in sales, after Victoria’s Secret.
Bath and Body Works Career page: http://www.bathandbodyworks.com/category/index.jsp?categoryId=2987462
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