Microsoft officially starts hiring for retail
updated 11:45 am EDT, Fri August 21, 2009
MS Starts Hiring Retail
Microsoft late Thursday acknowledged that it has started hiring for its first true retail chain. The listings support those leaked earlier this month and show the company partly mirroring Apple's retail worker strategy, albeit without special names. Those manning Microsoft's Guru Bars are labeled as "technical advisors" while the equivalents to Apple's Concierges, who greet and direct customers, will be "customer service associates."
New to the jobs is the retail trainer, who Microsoft says will be asked not only to educate staff about the company's hardware and software but at times to deliver presentations to outsiders. There's no indication that staff will be trained on the specific notebooks that will go on sale.
The company remains silent on when the initial Mission Viejo, California and Scottsdale, Arizona stores will open as well as any future expansion plans, although the Windows developer has made it a point to open the stores in cities and sometimes in locations where Apple stores operate.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: May 2005
X-Box
I can see people going in there mostly for the X-Box and associated software. I wouldn't be surprised if, three years from now, MS re-purposed the stores as X-Box stores, reducing Windows (or Zune) stuff to minimum, if not eliminating it completely. Then again, MS has been known for hanging onto money-losing ventures forever (WinMob, Zune, even X-Box hardware itself).