All of these reviews are written in a manner that the author is anticipating management to be reading their comments! Perhaps, they are going to be sure to make it known that they posted here! The posts zing with glowing reviews of a worker's paradise and "look at me" puffery of how smart and capable they are as they bestow their ability to "promote" the company to success by their very presence. Surely, this is done with the hope that it will be instrumental in the advancement of their career! The top of this food chain is throwing their heads back with laughter! Unless you are in your 20's and fresh out of college, this is a horrible company to work for!! The manager who posted that you are just a number with this company told the truth! If you get on with this company as a part-timer or just a regular full time employee, don't plan on advancing with the company! Trust me! I have witnessed employees work over 10 years before getting promoted to asst. manager and it was rare at that! This company recruits wide-eyed youth, fresh out of college, and quickly slaps them into the position of an asst. manager with a mandatory 44 hour work week, paying 35k with benefits. Does anyone ever have their adrenaline slow down enough to ponder why? You will more than earn every red cent of it! It is a win-win situation for SW! You are nothing more than a STRONG warm body; a grunt to get out and roll out paint....as much of it as inhumanly possible! This is not a typo. I said, "inhumanly".
Proskeep working hard and you will keep your job, smart move for a college student looking for a management position on a their resume, great temporary position with excellent pay while seeking desired job
Consextremely physical and psychologically draining work, low pay for those not in management
Day in and day out things revolve solely around store staffing. Good store managers that are true leaders are generally successful depending on their ability to connect with their team. Upper management is continually shifting and there are rough patches with each transition. Ultimately the team mentality and respect for your fellow co-worker is what gets everyone through the day, but your entire work/life balance hangs by a thread. The job isn't your typical retail job-it requires a lot of hands on activities and account/customer management. It can be extremely overwhelming for new employees because of a monumental learning curve when it comes to products and application. The consequences of an improper recommendation from a single employee can literally mean thousands of dollars in complaints (which comes out of the pocket of the manager and assistant manager). Despite this learning curve, there is little to no formal training except for outdated computer courses which focus mainly on workplace safety, and are essentially useless as training modules for sales. The true training comes from absorbing information from seasoned employees and regurgitating your version of a sales pitch to customers until you have developed your own "selling style". Because it isn't a typical retail environment, turnover is typically very high. As a result, I have personally seen and experienced short staffed store managers and assistant managers working 70 plus hours a week for multiple weeks in
ProsQuarterly and year end bonus, vacation and benefits, work place relationships
ConsWork/Life balance, Company Culture, Lack of training
Bachelor's degree for a blue-collar job - don't get that desperate!
I found Sherwin-Williams at the Career Fair at my university and began my short career with them in their Management Training Program as an MTP at first, then as Assistant Manager in a store over 100 miles from my home. I told the recruiter, who would also be my District Manager, that I had signed a contract two months earlier to purchase a home in Fort Worth and he promised I would be placed locally.
After my training, the DM surprised me with two "choices" of stores to transfer to, both in Texas but both located over 100 miles from my home. Either one required me to rent a place to stay and pay utilities, which reduced my salary considerably. The relocation program never paid me back for the moving expenses.
The company is only interested in selling paint, regardless of what they say. They "say" you will be managing the profitability of the store you go to, but the reality is they are always monitoring and calling, taking micromanagement to new heights.
The manager of the store I ended up at (the lesser of two evils) did not have a degree and had bumped her head up against the ceiling (no degree prevented her from advancing) at the company for 12 years. The two part-time employees, also without college degrees, were disappointed when a newcomer was "placed" in the Assistant Manager position (just because I had a degree), the job each of them was vying for and a position I was thrust into (by virtue of being an MTP with a college degree). They both felt they were more qu
ProsGood training about paint through the corporate office
ConsYou have to move to wherever they send you, you have to break your lease when they transfer you, customers who treat you badly, company puts the customer above you
5.0
Inside Sales Representative | Henderson, KY | Oct 8, 2013
A great company to work for!
A typical day at Sherwin Williams revolves greatly around working together as team. It is essential to work together to insure all orders are filled and all customers are assisted. Here your day begins and ends with providing customer service. You will interact with retail customers inside the store as well as contractors and property owners. You assist in picking out colors, wall papers, boarders, flooring that will compliment each other in housing. You will fill those orders that are already in store and place orders with vendors for out of store orders. At time you will deliver orders and may demonstrate how product is used. You will make sales calls to up coming projects for future business and call on complaints as well to find the best solution for the customer and Sherwin Williams. You will keep up monthly paper work. Process transactions and payments for account holders. You will call on past due accounts and place credit apps for new accounts.
You learn great customer service skills in dealing with retail customers and account holders along with earning their trust in a business aspect as often you enter the homes and personal lives. You learn to work well with you team members as it takes involvement from each staff member to ensure customer quality.
You will learn more than just dealing with customers and accounts as you will often deal with outside vendors and members from other store and regional management. You will work in weekly inventory control
ProsNice breaks and lunces, closed major holidays with holiday pay, sick time, works with you on your schedule and family.
ConsOpen some major holidays for sales, meeting goal, inventory is on halloween
3.0
Retail Assistant Manager | Saginaw, MI | Nov 5, 2020
Coworkers make all the difference
Let me say first that the store you are at makes a huge difference in your experience. The store I am at is both contractor and retail DIY based, so we do a bit of everything. My current manager is looking to scale down the DIY and turn the store into a commercial store that fits more to contractors than homeowners.
Most contractors are decent to deal with. They know what they want, what color it needs to be in, and how much they need. You go get it, tint it, and shake it, ring them out, and help them take it to the vehicle if you're able. Some contractors are awesome to deal with and are really personable and fun to talk to. It's like you automatically made a new friend, cool uncle, or older brother you never had. A few contractors are horrible to work with though. I have been degraded, stereotyped, yelled at, argued with, been hit on and propositioned by them, and verbally fought with these types.
Homeowners are scattered everywhere. They don't know anything, know some of what they want, or know exactly what they want. Some you have to take them through every single possible step of the way through the process and explain every single aspect to them, and some you just need to look at the photo they have on their phone and copy it. Some need help picking colors and you have to guess what they're thinking and how their house looks and what their personality is to even narrow down some of the options. Some homeowners you have to argue with because they liked the color in the
ProsHeavy employee discount on paint and supplies, coworkers (in my experience), fair working hours
ConsStereotyped by gender (females are hit on and males are expected to know everything), constant heavy lifting, constant scripting in sales pitches and ringing people out, point of sale system needs a major update
Some heavy lifting involved with little supervision or training.
A typical day of work involves answering the phone, writing down the paint and supplies order, finding the product on the shelf, coloring it if needed. As far as coloring the paint goes, most of the time for latex based paint, the computer puts in the appropriate amount of color. You just have to select which paint color you want. But for oil based paint, you have to manually add the color using a separate machine. You also have to put away inventory whenever a truck comes in. I didn't learn how to handle the forklift machine that lifts the palette of paint but if I stay much longer with this job, I'll eventually pick it up. Inventory management is where the heavy lifting comes into play. Some of the paint is stuffed in there on the shelves really tight. Sometimes you have to climb on top of buckets of paint in order to reach the paint or the box of masking tape or whatever on the top shelf. There is some risk of falling and so the job is potentially dangerous. One of the hardest parts of the job is when someone is placing an order over the phone but the jargon they're using doesn't make sense because they're giving you incomplete info. The most enjoyable part of the job IMO (and this will vary depending on your taste) is preparing paint samples for customers. The samples are small and lightweight, therefore, they're easy to handle. The management provided very little training and they are nice in the beginning but they will get crabby if you've been there for a few mon
ProsMost of the guys I worked with were really cool and calm under pressure.
ConsThe one woman I worked with ended up being verbally abusive, yelling at me, demeaning me and making me feel incompetent.
Freedom to see the world and let your true self shine
Typical work as an auditor starts with risk-based planning of facilities to be audited and then making the appropriate travel arrangements (reserve parking, calling uber, flights, hotels, etc).
A typical day at a store includes reviewing financial statements and
inventory analysis to identify high risk areas, making sure the store is operating according to Policy and Procedures, and that the store adheres to State and Federal regulations.
You are almost always on your own, having to think/act independently. You see your supervisor every 3 months, see your colleagues every 6 months. How diligent you work when without supervision and the decisions you make everyday all adds up in the end.
Even though nobody sees anybody, everyone chats with each other everyday for help, to collaborate on projects, etc. There is probably more communication going on between colleagues than other places where people work in the same office everyday. Always can find someone to talk to when needed.
I've enjoyed every aspect of my job, including sometimes when going to audit an away store, I'd have to get there the night before. This ends up taking a lot of personal time (drive could be 3-5 hours, or need to fly), but it's all part of the free-roaming and being on my own that I enjoy. I've gotten to explore a lot of cool places, tried different foods, and gotten to Platinum Elite on IHG and Gold (reaching Diamond soon) on Hilton, all expenses paid.
It does get repetitive rather quick
This employer is not ideal unless you work in management, but even that is worthy of debate. Sherwin Williams (henceforth SW) has phased out the majority of full-time positions. Should you interview for a job at SW they will assure you that they only promote from within the company and that is true in the loosest sense. Over a decade ago they imposed a policy that requires an employee to have a college education - it doesn't matter what kind - in order to be eligible for any position beyond entry level. The result is a system where they hire graduates - who, more often than not, know nothing or don't care about the industry - at a part-time basis, then promote them within just a few months. Its a system that bypasses dedicated, experienced employees that have developed a rapport with a returning customer base. That sounds like a good deal for the graduate, except that salaries tend to be low for managers, too. Experience, gender, friends in the company all factor into a salary that hasn't exceeded 45k per year since the 1990's (roughly). The real incentives are the bonuses offered based on your profits which are largely determined by the location of the store you manage. If your regional manager is not also your friend, then you will likely be stationed at a low traffic, low grossing store and you won't see any bonuses. Should you have favor within the company, you can make an easy six figures a year while your part-timers struggle to do all the labor. The hard part of that s
ProsDowntime leaves plenty of space for employees to do just about anything they want at the stores.
ConsLiterally everything else.
4.0
New Home Sales Consultant | Houston, TX | Oct 31, 2018
Great Company
Typical work day: I set my own schedule, customers are booked in my calendar and I go assist them with color pallets for their project: whether it is a home or business property.
What I learned: My position is very fun, learned a lot about paints, stains, how much work goes into our products from the quality perks, to the testing each bristle of a brush goes through before we put it in our stores. I also had the opportunity to get a little designer experience and exposure to different styles and traditions of homes. It's amazing how colors work, how they can transform a room and make someone feel.
Hardest part of the job: For me it is finding a balance: time management with limited hours, without forgetting to give yourself a break. It can be overwhelming at times to always have two phones. Or when the slow period comes around and consultations aren't being booked as frequently, so you have to take them as they come and you end up working 7+ days straight in order to meet the minimum requirement. However, I enjoy most they people I meet doing my job. People from all different walks of life, you get to hear their backgrounds, stories, what they've been through, their dreams & visions for their current project, and I get to help in the process of making it happen.
Sherwin-Williams is honestly a great company. I love my position, only problem is, its only part-time and the opportunities to advance didn't interest me because I would loose the perks of the job I love; t
Prosmeetings are fun and informative, team bonding, volunteering projects, district meetings, traveling, meeting new people, 401k investment & matching
Conspart-time position, no health benefits, wear & tear on personal car, taking work home with you, slow periods and time/hour limits
Competitive, Interesting, Fast-Paced and a Crash Course
I found this job posting on Craigslist, and in the job description, it was looking for "RECENT COLLEGE GRADUATES LOOKING FOR A CAREER WITH SHERWIN-WILLIAMS", and I was immediately interested.
As an MTP for Sherwin-Williams I was able to work hands-on with paints, chemicals, solvents, an array of paint & industrial equipment, all while working alongside some of the most skilled people in their craft of paint and sales. Being able to see business being conducted on a day-to-day basis was something I appreciated and tried to fully grasp within my time there. The Managers of Sherwin-Williams were very knowledgeable, willing and able to help whenever you needed assistance and reading material was at your disposal in the store as inquiries for products and services were frequent, detailed, and no two ever the same. Attention to detail was the gold standard and my team & I worked very hard everyday to ensure the success of our business. Daily operations included, but were not limited to training of employees, cash handling, submitting daily/weekly/monthly reports, attending district training, reporting directly to the manager with daily activity, matching colors for painters, shipping hazardous material, ordering product stock, handling of purchase orders, audit submission, bi-annual stock counts, and more. Days could be very slow for a stretch, then become surprisingly busy out of nowhere so we were focused and quick to respond to customer traffic and product orders. There were go
Prosflexible lunches, great benefits, plenty of opportunities to expand upon, relaxed but fast-paced working environment
Consunfair treatment in specific aspects
Questions And Answers about Sherwin-Williams
If you were to leave Sherwin-Williams, what would be the reason?
Asked Mar 29, 2017
Pay is not competitive. Promotions are not based on merit, but politics. Middle management is completely useless and so far removed from the realities of day-to-day life of store operations. They will postpone necessary repairs that need tending to to save a buck (knowing they won’t be the ones dealing with those repercussions). Too many “upper management” positions. Fire some of those people and you’ll have money to actually staff your stores. No store staffing. No actual help from reps. Reps sit at home all day and get the glory for the store’s leads and relationship bridging. Poor COVID-19 response. NO PRODUCT. Constant issues with DSC shipments. Allowing stores and reps to steal accounts. Giving accounts away to other stores to make stores meet budget to please stock holders. I could go on and on. Here’s a better question, what’s a reason to stay with this failing company?
Answered Sep 20, 2021
Lack of hours and only having me work on weekends even though I was never told only weekends at the interview or in the job description.
Answered Apr 17, 2021
What is the best part of working at Sherwin-Williams?
Asked Nov 26, 2019
The co-workers.
Answered Nov 1, 2020
On the road all the time.
Answered Oct 10, 2020
What is starting pay for this position?
Asked May 20, 2016
Started at $10/hr then once promoted to keyholder and after a year of working I went to $11.50/hr as part time
Answered Jul 20, 2020
15.00 in GA 90 days probation then 19.35
Answered May 24, 2019
How are the working hours at Sherwin-Williams?
Asked Nov 6, 2016
Sometimes 48-60 hrs a week. 24 hrs open warehouse
Answered Jan 9, 2020
I was a store manager, and I would work 8-12 hours a day with no work life balance.
Answered Dec 11, 2019
How long does it take to get hired from start to finish at Sherwin-Williams? What are the steps along the way?
Asked Jun 20, 2016
It took about 2 weeks from interview to drug and background check.
Answered Oct 3, 2019
It was a quick process. In-person interview with HR, in-person interview with the hiring manager (Supervisor) the next day, and in-person interview with the department manager and a Director a few days later. All in all, from the time I was asked to interview to the time I accepted an offer, it was less than 2 weeks.
