How Old Do You Have to be to Work at Barnes & Noble?

To get an entry-level job at Barnes & Noble as a barista/cafe server or a bookseller, you must be at least 16 years old.  

The Booksellers and Café teams are the frontline of Barnes & Noble’s business. The exceptional, personalized service they offer is what connects the brand to their customers. The company hosts nearly 100,000 events a year, and they count on their Booksellers to engage with customers, including regional businesses and educational and entertainment institutions, tailoring the stores to become pillars of the local communities.   

Their knowledge of popular culture and trends as well as the products Barnes & Noble sells helps the booksellers stay fresh and relevant.

Teen Jobs at Barnes & Noble and Age Requirements

Barista/Café Server  (Hourly)

As a Barista/Café Server at Barnes & Noble, you are responsible for selling by providing exceptional customer service in the Cafe through the company’s café service standards. You make the Café experience interactive and engaging by enthusiastically sharing your knowledge about the products and services and meeting the needs of the customer. You care about and value people and exemplify the company’s core values.

Job responsibilities include:

• Deliver exceptional customer service that ensures sales and high levels of customer satisfaction.
• Execute on the café service standards: offer a warm welcome, recommend add-ons, personalize the customer’s order, offer membership, and thank the customer.
• Greet and establish rapport with customers, proactively engaging them in conversations about the Café products, services, and promotions to determine their needs and recommend the right products.
• Ensure all customer transactions are processed accurately and in a timely manner.
• Prepare and serve drinks and food in accordance with the Café standards and health code.
• Perform all support tasks in the Café, including baking, completing prep sheets, cleaning cases and equipment, and restocking displays.
• Use the maintenance checklists throughout the day to maintain Café cleanliness.
• Drive sales by engaging all customers in the café and customer sampling of Café products.
• Ensure execution and compliance with operational standards for the Café.
• Perform all opening and closing tasks.
• Protect Company assets by ensuring the accurate execution of loss prevention procedures, including cashiering and inventory standards, waste logs monitoring, sample recording, coupon redemption and discount and return policies.
• Help orient new café servers, ensuring a smooth acclimation to the store and the bookselling culture.
• Assist in any area of the store as needed.

You must be at least 18 years old to work as a Barista/Café Server at Barnes & Noble. 

Bookseller  (Hourly)

As a Bookseller, you are responsible for selling by providing exceptional customer service through the four core service principles at Barnes & Noble. You make the shopping experience interactive and engaging by enthusiastically sharing your knowledge about the products and services and meeting the needs of the customer. You care about and value people and exemplify their core values.

Job responsibilities include:

• Deliver exceptional customer service that ensures sales and high levels of customer satisfaction.
• Execute on the four core service principles: put the book in the customer’s hand, offer to order, offer the Member program, and fast cashiering.
• Greet and establish rapport with customers, proactively engaging them in conversations about Barnes & Noble products, services, and promotions to determine their needs and recommend the right products.
• Ensure all customer transactions are processed accurately and in a timely manner.
• Share knowledge and enthusiasm about all products, services, and promotions, providing a personalized experience to multiple customers at the same time.
• Respond to customer’s concerns and questions, and secure the sale.
• Drive customer loyalty through successful selling of Memberships, gift cards, Kid’s Club, and other sales initiatives.
• Communicate specific product needs to managers to ensure the store is stocked appropriately with in-demand titles and customer requests.
• Recover the selling floor during each shift by: gathering and restocking items, straightening bookcases, maintaining tables in the Café, maintaining restroom cleanliness, and performing other store housekeeping tasks.
• Support and promote business development sales and in-store events
• Assist in any area of the store as needed.
• Adhere to all inventory and loss prevention standards.
• Help orient new booksellers, ensuring a smooth acclimation to the store and our bookselling culture.

To work as a bookseller at Barnes & Noble, you must be at least 16 years old.

Maintenance Clerk  (Hourly)

As a Maintenance Clerk at Barnes & Noble, you are responsible for delivering world-class customer service through consistent maintenance of the store. You also ensure that the store is clean and customer-ready.

Job Requirements include:

• Perform opening and closing cleaning duties
• Perform light maintenance/facilities duties, including painting, changing light bulbs, and changing ceiling tiles.
• Maintain the cleanliness of interior and exterior areas of the store’s facilities, including hourly maintenance of restrooms.
• Monitor and manage trash removal for the entire store

To work as a Maintenance Clerk at Barnes & Noble, you must be at least 16 years old.

Can a 15 Year Old Work at Barnes & Noble?

No. The minimum age to work at Barnes & Noble is 18. We do have a page on our website specifically for 15-year-olds that you can view for other options.

Can a 16 Year Old Work at Barnes & Noble? 

Yes. 16-year-olds can work at Barnes & Noble. We do have a page on our website specifically for 16-year-olds that you can view for more options.

How Much Does Barnes & Noble Pay Part-Time Workers?

The hourly earnings for employees at Barnes & Noble vary because of state and city minimum wage laws. However, we can give you a general idea of what the hourly pay is for each position.

Barista/Café Server (Hourly)

As a barista/cafe server at Barnes & Noble, you will be making somewhere between minimum wage and $13 per hour. If this is your first job, then you will most likely start at minimum wage. 

The average hourly rate for a Barnes & Noble barista/café server is $10.

Bookseller (Hourly)

The rate of pay for booksellers is between minimum wage and $15 an hour. You will most likely start out at the lower end of the range.

The average hourly rate for a Barnes & Noble bookseller is $10.

Maintenance Clerk (Hourly)

The rate of pay for maintenance clerks is between minimum wage and $15 an hour. You will most likely start out at the lower end of the range.

The average hourly rate for a Barnes & Noble maintenance clerk  is $10.

How Much Experience Do You Need to Work at Barnes & Noble?

Barnes & Noble is an entry-level friendly company, and they do hire teen workers. You can apply for a position without any experience and get hired. However, if you do have some work experience, it could get you a higher hourly pay rate and move you faster into supervisory and management positions.

What Should You Wear to a Job Interview at Barnes & Noble?

When you show up for your interview at Barnes & Noble, you will want to be dressed in business casual attire. Consider something like a buttoned-down shirt with nice slacks and dress shoes. You do not want to show up too casual in a t-shirt and jeans. 

Barnes & Noble Interview Questions

The possible questions in a job interview are endless, and it always depends on the interviewer. But, there are some common questions that they do often ask. 

Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a difficult customer and what was the outcome?

Why are they asking?  

When it comes to life in customer service, you will come across your share of upset or difficult customers. If you have prior work experience, they might ask you this question to see how you dealt with the situation because it does come up, and you need to handle it in the best way possible.

What’s the ideal answer?

If you don’t have any experiences with difficult customers, that’s okay. If you do, tell them the story (if you handled it well, and it had a positive outcome). If the situation ended up with you screaming and yelling or getting fired, that’s not a story you want to share.

They want to hear that you did your best to make the difficult customer happy. Or, if you couldn’t fix the problem, you notified a manager and had them help you.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

Why are they asking?  

If a manager asks you this question, they are trying to find out what your career and personal goals are. Are you simply looking for a part-time job to make some extra money? Or, do you have specific career goals that you believe working at Barnes & Noble will help you achieve? There are opportunities for advancement, so they are asking you this question to see where their company fits into your plans.

What’s the ideal answer?

Be honest and share your goals. If you don’t yet know what you want to do with your life, that is okay. An ideal answer would be that you are wanting to gain some work experience and skills while making some money. If you want to eventually move to a different area, that is fine, too. Barnes & Noble has stores all over the country. It would allow you to have a good job while being able to move to a different area. 

If you want to move up through the company and be a manager, let them know. The ideal answer for this question is to be honest about what your goals are.

Why should we hire you?

Why are they asking?  

If a manager asks you this question, they are trying to get you to sell yourself. Part of your job as a team member is selling products to Barnes & Noble customers. They are wanting to find out how well you can communicate, while being positive and professional.

You may not have any previous work experience, but you can still have skills like communication, time-management, money-handling, etc...

What’s the ideal answer?

Know your strengths. If you get asked this question, tell them how you will benefit their business. They want to hear that you have good verbal communication skills, have a friendly and upbeat demeanor, and can give good customer service. 

Tell them that you are a reliable worker who will show up to work on time for every scheduled shift. And, if you are interested in a long-term career with the company, definitely let them know. 

Benefits of Working at Barnes & Noble 

All Barnes & Noble associates receive a discount on merchandise. However, benefits are for full-time workers only.

Benefits include:

• Medical, dental, and vision benefits
• Paid Vacation
• Paid Sick Days
• Paid Holidays
• 401(k) savings plan 
• Maternity and Paternity Leave

What it’s Like to Work at Barnes & Noble

How to Apply at Barnes & Noble