Pros
You will make lifetime friends, they will care for you and your families, you will care for them and their families Passion for the customer and their experience Passion for the best product and treats vendors with respect Best in class retailer Working on improvements to business enablers infrastructure (like HR systems, analytics) Some very smart people who are retail / consumer gurus - I have so much respect for them
Cons
“Nordstrom nice” - don’t trust that everyone has your best interest in mind Some leaders r_e_a_l_l_y don’t understand business, and don’t welcome/understand/trust data - yet continue on at the VP and above level Some leaders will treat you like you like a baby if you don’t have “store” or “merch” experience, even though your resume is golden and you’ve been with the company for years Speaking of resumes, recruiting is brutal. It’s a hot job market and top talent doesn’t want to work here for all the above reasons (and pay); plus offers are slow to market so great candidates have already received offers before Nordstrom even calls back the candidate for interviews Change being driven by HR is at times disingenuous and many have transitioned from being inspired to being on guard (job leveling) Don’t expect to drive change in yourself, the org, or the industry unless you’re looking to move the needle only marginally (or unless you are one of the favored “Golden Boys”) Extremely gender biased culture - basically all men in leadership have stay at home wives, and I was actually told by my boss that having children was “career suicide” (she had no children, yikes) Felt like I couldn’t “be myself” as a non-White female in leadership