Experiences at Half Price Books

1. The people you get to work with
2. The amazing discounts
3. Getting paid to talk to people about books

Sold books to intelligent yet thrifty customers.

Probably the largest project I've personally been involved with at HPB was the remodel of our store. We increased our space about 40%, and we stayed open nearly every day of the construction/renovation. This required moving entire sections several times and accomodating the workers as they declared areas off-limits or safe for use. Afterwards, all of us were spending every free minute setting the sections back up in their new areas, expanding shelves of certain categories and shrinking others as space dictated. It was a massive, three-month project, but in the end, it increased sales like nothing else and we're still reaping the rewards....

Very informal, very laid-back. Basically, when you're being interviewed, the managers are trying to get an idea of who you are. They are looking for people who are willing to engage them in conversation instead of just parroting back the "best" answer that the book on interviewing told them to give (it doesn't work here - it's a bookstore, and they've seen and read all the books). The interviewers want to know about your likes and dislikes, if there are any conflicts in a schedule that make you unable to work certain times (Sundays off for church, can't work Tuesday mornings due to prior commitments, etc...), and basically make sure you are a fairly normal human being. They'll probably go over the answers you gave on the "short answer" part of the application, asking for more details or clarification on some points.

The interview is your time to shine. If you've made it that far, you've nearly got it made. Just show them you've got some initiative, you aren't afraid to ask questions, and that you possess a reasonable intelligence about you. If they ask about your hobbies, or what you like to read/watch/listen to, they want you to expand on that, not just say, "I like country music and I mostly watch the History Channel."...

Mostly I miss the great friends and co-workers I had who have moved on to other prospects in life: going back to school, moving out of state, and so forth. Since I still work for the company, this is kind of a hard question to answer. Forgive me for the short reply.

Everything. And that's no exaggeration. I mean, c'mon, it's a bookstore. Political science, medicine, young adult, fiction, non-fiction, science fiction, comic books, manga, movie reviews, the newspaper, the ingredients on a bag of Doritos...if it's got words on it, I guarantee you somebody is reading it here....

The staff. Seriously, I've never worked at a place with a more laid-back, relaxed, fun-loving group of people who have also taken their work seriously without being anal-retentive about everything. The atmosphere as a worker is very nice - if you're feeling down, people will do their best to cheer you up. If you've got a personal problem you need to discuss, managers will listen. Need time off for a family emergency or need to switch hours on Saturday for Sunday? Somebody will always come through for you. You don't get that anywhere else, at least that I've found....

The buy counter is where all the action is when it comes to this type of question. Over the years, we've found all sorts of things from peoples' drug stashes and bullets to diapers and underwear in the buys we do. It never fails to make everybody else's day when one unlucky buyer encounters something out-of-the-ordinary in a box of books....

I haven't got a clue about this one. Internet access at work is pretty restricted, and most co-workers have very active lives outside of work which, for most of them, translates into not a lot of time spent on the Internet. One of the women I work with maintains a blog of her own, and I know some of the other workers read it, but aside from that I honestly can't say what blogs people are reading there. I'm not a blogger on either end, so I can't even plug anybody else's site for them. :)...

I can honestly say that there have been very few "bad teams" at my store. I can think of some co-workers who didn't fit in very well, but they didn't stick around long enough to become a problem for anybody (some of them barely lasted two weeks before deciding the store wasn't for them). Our managers are pretty good at screening for people who work well with others and will fit in with the general atmosphere of the store, so this is a very difficult question to answer; most everybody has been very easy to work with....