Gap News and Happenings.

What do you think -- is this company going to survive and thrive? Are they looking to expand their staff, or do you think layoffs are inevitable?

How does Gap stack up against the competition?

I am currently on hold with the Gap's 3rd party employment verification vendor trying to confirm past employment for a candidate with our agency. I have been on hold for 26 minutes. Did I mention that we will have to pay to get this very basic information? I am trying to find out how much..

To begin of course I called the for the immediate supervisor for a reference, the employee I spoke to informed me that she was only in once or twice a month; when I asked for an office voice mail it was explained that they could not give that information out it is "private". So, asked for a number for HR in 10 minutes a number was delivered. Now I call HR, oops, nope, really a business line for employees to use. But what the heck I get in the queue and wait in phone line to speak to a benefits operator and eventually get to HR. HR informs me that the only information available is dates of employment, not even if they are eligible for re-hire, and that info is only available from their third party vendor The Work Number and as I said before she was sure to tell me that we will need to pay for the information but not able to say how much.

I am still on hold. We will probably not hire this candidate based on our inability to get information from the past employer. Our candidate worked for the Gap for a stated four years.

What a great company to work for, what excellent job experience nobody will ever know about!

If this is the best face their culture can put on for "outsiders" imagine working for them. I can tell you one thing I will never shop at The Gap, Old Navy or Banana Republic.
Survive maybe, thrive not likely.