Employee Review of Trader Joes - Check out more reviews of working at Trader Joes

Pay - The pay for part-time crew members is better than average. As a new employee coming on it depends on how much experience you have but most likely you will be started at $10 to $12 dollars an hour. Raises are every six months and can vary between nothing and one dollar per raise. It depends on what score you get on your review but most people get 3's (on a 1 to 5 scale) and get a raise of 30 to 40 cents. Supervisors get paid required overtime which makes it hard to leave the job.

Respect- The management (captain and first mate) are always available to talk about store issues. Supervisors (full-timers) are always around to listen to concerns if management isn't available. Crew members are regularly praised for their achievements and offered developmental plans if they need help in certain areas.

Benefits - The benefits are great. Health insurance is offered after you work a certain number of hours in a quarter. Employee discount is 10%.

Job security - IT is pretty hard to get fired at Trader Joe's. If you show up and work hard and give the customers all your attention you will do well here .

Work/Life balance - As a part-timer it is easy to have a good work life balance. Shifts are usually around 7 hours and you can work as little or as much as you want depending on your schedule outside of work. As a full-timer you are at the mercy of the store and will work at least 47.5 hours a week. More if you get a lot of sick calls or if there is a special flyer coming out. Also as a supervisor be prepared to work a descending schedule starting with nights (usually 1pm-11pm) for two nights, the "turn-around (usually 7a-5p) for one day, then super early mornings starting at 4am for your remaining two work days. This can make for a terrible balance because you are tired all the time and don't want to do anything except sleep outside of work.

career potential - It's more difficult than it used to be to get promoted to "novitiate" or entry level supervisor than it used to be. If you work hard, relate to people well and get good review scores you will have no problem getting promoted pending upon if there is a need in your area.

location- sometimes out of the way places but mostly in easily accessible areas

co-worker competence - depending on who does the hiring in your store it can be hit or miss. Lots of people work at Trader Joe's for a long time so they know what they are doing but occasionally you will get a newbie who has no clue what they are doing.

work environment - pretty relaxed overall. Keep your hands moving and you can talk all you want. Most people are pretty cool even the customers. Be prepared to do the occasional all day register shift if there are a lot of sick calls. It doesn't happen often but keep a smile on your face and you'll do fine.