Pros
10% discount on merchandise, first to see new products coming in. Almost always something to do. You will be more knowledgeable of your area than management. Quarterly bonuses if you've been there long enough and sales are good. If you're smart, do good work, and don't mind management breathing down your neck, you can be promoted fairly quickly.
Cons
Extremely stressful area. Incomplete training due to unwillingness to schedule more than one person in department at a time. Someone needs to be in the department at all times, as such all breaks/lunges need to be covered, but no one is trained to do so! Management will lie about anything to try and get you to work harder. Very little appreciation -- in fact, it's sometimes in the negative. If you work fitting room, be prepared to deal with customers wanting to try copious amounts of clothing, phones ringing off the hook, management talking at you through walkie while ignoring any attempts to get them to answer phones, and zoning the area surrounding the fitting rooms. Management knows almost nothing about Jewelry department. They know how to open the safe, do a return, and maybe a layaway. If there's a more complicated issue, you're screwed if your department manager isn't around. Most people at my store who took department manager positions stepped down quickly because they couldn't deal with the stress from the store manager. Even though it's Wal-Mart, customers often expect you to treat them like they're in a classy jewelry establishment, and expect you to have vast amounts of knowledge about jewelry. All jewelry associates are taught is ear piercing, how to display the items, how to make sure people don't run off with items, and how to ring said items up.
