I worked in various managerial roles within CeX Hornsby and Tuggerah, had the opportunity to experience the closure of stores, but more frequently the opening of new stores. I started as a casual sales assistant, but quickly moved into a part-time manager role in Tuggerah. My training was fast-paced but efficient and effective, and necessarily so as the business encourages fast transactions. Operations managers encourage you to think with a business mindset, and operate your store as a micro-business, rather than another retail store of a wider company. I found that this allowed me to engage my entrepreneurial spirit and implement actions that I thought would benefit the company and was able to see the real results of those actions in store. More often than not, if you stumbled across a good idea and let other managers know, those managers would start implementing that process in their stores. The company is very open in terms of communication - everything is just an email away. Every manager or employee of HR, IT, even the greater board of directors are very responsive and interconnected. Working day to day can be extremely fast paced and busy, depending where you are. I found that stores in the West and Central Coast were the busiest. If you want to work here and thrive and succeed, you need to be fast, understand time efficiency and be able to prioritise necessary tasks, sometimes over the intricacies of certain processes. If the store does will, everyone does well. If you're not fast at first, get fast. If you can't get fast, you will fail. Period. The company rewards those who dive into the culture and believe in the business, and I always appreciated that. Operations aside, the culture of CeX is what hooks you. The friends I've made, the work parties, the humour of the company and its managers, the general message of CeX and certainly the reactive approach to fixing problems. CeX encounters blips here and there, and that's because the company was born out of some guy yelling 'START' and everyone jumping in at once. If something goes wrong just fix it and move on, and that attitude is something I will carry into my personal business endeavours. While the grind can get repetitive and sometimes tedious, the people, the culture, the message of CeX was an entirely worthwhile experience. 

The only negative I would ever say about working at CeX is not even the company's fault, it's just the nature of a second-hand business. When you're a business that gives out money as well as selling items, you're going to attract a different kind of demographic; sometimes very unhygienic, smelly, abusive, violent, rude, and judgemental. I once had a grown woman throw a controller at a teenagers head, and believe me, that's nothing compared to the slew of experiences any staff member or manager could tell you. If you can deal with 2 or 3 absolute degenerates, you will experience a world of wonderful customers who thrive on the message of CeX, and benefit from a company that teaches you more about business than a business degree could. CeX is tough, but it's worth it. I love this company and I know I will miss it.

As the summary states, this job is awesome in my opinion but it's definitely not for everyone and I'll state why now

Let me start with the pros of this job:
- An amazing opportunity to display your knowledge on tech
- A sweet 15% discount of all items
- A great team of fellow SA's and managers (from my experience)
- Convenient locations for people who use public transport as the stores are next to stations (probably at your local westfield!)

However, there's a few things to keep in mind:
The customers will break you if you don't have a strong enough spirit. Cex is a second hand store, meaning that some of the products (understandably) can turn out to be faulty at times. Unfortunately, some people can't understand this and you'll eventually cop some abuse while working here as a result. You'll be yelled at, sworn at and you'll have people telling you how to do your job constantly, trying to find loopholes. Not to mention, so many people trying to negotiate with you about pricing and also blaming you for certain prices on things.

Secondly, this job is not for you if you're lazy.
Alot goes on behind the counter, more than you'd think if you've only ever been a casual shopper. This mostly includes cleaning the store's shelves and windows, merching shelves and a whole lot of organising. This includes sorting through cables, matching the right accessories and boxes to consoles and phones.

If I had to give any advice to newcomers, just show up with all your energy and give it your best shot. Nail your fundamentals and don't try to move too far too quickly. Master what you've learned and move onto the next thing.

Higher management do not communicate with staff. Higher management have nothing positive to say about their stores. Higher management are very unprofessional and often times use inappropriate language and slurs. Higher management don't deal with issues as they arise. Higher management contantly move staff around  from store to store which leads to staff quitting quite regularly. Most stores do not have managers and are being run by people on supervisor roles or casual staff. There is a lot of gossip that goes on within the company. Higher management dislike each other. Staff are constantly subjected to verbal abuse from customers. CEO also acts as HR which makes it difficult for staff who wish to express their concerns. All stores are trained differently so there is no streamlined way of carrying out tasks which leads to staff members having regular disagreements. This could be a very enjoyable job if Higher management actually cared for their staff, they don't, they'll gaslight you into thinking they do, they don't. 

My experience with this company has been deeply disappointing. They present themselves as an organisation that values communication, teamwork, and staff wellbeing, but the reality is far from what they preach. Despite constant messaging about openness and support, genuine communication from management is almost non-existent. When staff reach out for assistance—whether it’s regarding internal pressures, overwhelming workloads, or external stresses that impact performance—their concerns are routinely ignored or brushed aside. This lack of care creates a culture where employees feel undervalued, unheard, and left to manage issues entirely on their own. The company’s refusal to address repeated pleas for support has had a noticeable impact on morale and overall wellbeing. It’s disheartening to see a business talk so strongly about supporting their people while doing so little in practice. I cannot recommend this workplace to anyone seeking a respectful, supportive, or genuinely communicative environment.

Worked at Parramatta CeX previously and this store is very fast paced and sometimes unprofessional. The guy who trained me for the job in store did everything different from everyone else so I got into trouble for the tasks he TRAINED me to do. Sometimes when I had to serve a customer they would take the discs I would be sorting out that I had put away in a safe place and hide it so I could get in trouble by the supervisor. One of the supervisors had my probation 'cancelled' (employment stopped) because apparently I had mocked them which is completely false. Also said I wasn't doing my tasks when they gave me like 5 tasks to do at once so how am I meant to sort out discs at the same time cleaning and dusting the glass, and stocking shelves all at once plus more. All in all don't recommend but its good experience in a fast paced retail environment.

I personally hated my time at Cex as I succumbed to workplace bullying.
Even the boss himself had a few laughs at me. 
I have a mild case of Autism, this means I sometimes struggle to adapt to new things quickly as others would.
Every day I was sent downstairs to "merchandise". This means try to fill in the holes.
Some people their were nice, I can think of 3 who actually talked to me.
The others would sigh at my presence and giggle like children when I walked away.
I made the company alot of money but that wasnt important I guess as i was never allowed to be put on the tills even though I begged many times and proved my worth in sales.
Whereas the pretty girls who couldn't sell a single thing got put on the tills straight away.
I wonder why......
I've been scared to shop at the store ever since. I went home crying multiple times as I was teased every single day!
DO NOT WORK AT THE IPSWICH BRANCH!!!

What is the best part of working at the company?
The people in the same role as you, the day goes pretty fast when it's busy and the variety of stores you may be asked to work at (more shifts!)

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Store managers are either the most wonderful people or the most toxic. Certain stores are understaffed and overly busy, making it hard to perform all daily tasks. Everyday there are atleast 3 encounters with deranged crackheads unreasonable customers. Not every store is the same, some are run by wonderful people and some are run by toxicity.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Generally easy going, nice banter but the customer base is wack.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Overworked in some stores while others are very fulfulling and positive.

I would not recommend to anyone. Not only are the customers awful and rude. They are unaware of personal hygiene and attempt to trade in infested consoles all the time. Higher management was no better. They constantly threaten everyone who isn't a sales assistant to keep them on their toes and keep them scared. 

Each store has a different atmosphere and other staff members are generally super polite and easy to get along with. 

Work Christmas parties are dangerous for anyone who isn't a 6ft tall man for numerous reasons. Not a good place for women to work at all; most customers would make rude comments on the daily, most inappropriate advances. The higher management is openly misogynistic too, and will rarely let you success past a supervisor.

It’s not a bad first job or for part time because your colleagues are usually quite fun and u can have a laugh most of the time. However i worked there in 2019 summer for about 7 months and management there is quite bad. Even the way we pushed for sales wasn’t morally good in my opinion, I wouldn’t recommend ever buying anything expensive from there unless you know someone who works there. Lunch was very short (30min) for a 9 hours shift (you couldn’t normally do any less than 7 hours per shift) and after the store closes you are expected to clean the shop up and you don’t get paid for it. Overall I think it’s fun bet definitely not a professional workplace.

There are some upsides you can come across here, especially if you like gaming or technology. Customers can be a pro and con, but overall not bad. 

Unrealistic expectations and workload placed on people though. You won't get full time hours but are expected to have full time availability and they do not let you have a second job, even though you're casual which makes no sense.

You're expected to show up before your rostered and start working unpaid and do closing unpaid. Fair Work complaint waiting to happen I guess. 

Pretty toxic culture as well that mainly deals in picking you apart with things that are wrong with no recognition.

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