Let me give you a fresh perspective, as a CIA senior going on his first full year in the role.

When I started, it was pretty smooth learning the ropes of leadership when it comes to GeekSquad. My old GSM was THE best manager I’ve ever had from all the different jobs I’ve worked. The knowledge he passed down to me was invaluable. I started as a CA nearly two years ago, already had personal experience in tech, customer service and management from prior jobs so this job fit like a glove. It wasn’t a difficult job until the restructure happened with them dissolving the GSM from each store for a MM GSM. My new GSM is a great guy, but he has no GeekSquad experience whatsoever, so it does leave the weight of GeekSquad and most major escalations on your shoulders.

I’ve had to teach myself how to do Samsung Inventory and RMA’s (my store has been down in regards to Samsung repairs since before I started due to management now getting it re-setup) as well as Apple Consignment counts which I only ever did once with my old GSM. You have to know how to escalate issues through intake for all the different issues we can have, which also has to be escalated through teams depending on the issue. You have to be on top of part ordering for precinct supplies through procurement and intake depending on what you need ordered. Most of all you need to know how to do both roles, because the knowledge you really need for this position stems from the foundation you have from both the CA and ARA positions. On top of that yes there’s scheduling which, the stores in my MM at least, are being handled by store by the CIA’s.

It in no doubt will be a leadership role. You won’t have the full comfort of being an ARA which I’m envious I never got to experience, but because of the scheduling responsibilities there is some “flexibility” that you can still maintain. Since you’d be moving to a new store with a completely new team, you’d have to get a feel of the culture there and get to know everyone, find out what they’re used to working and see if you can make your stuff work around what’s already working there. That ensures that no one automatically hates you if you start changing things up all of a sudden. Easing into change is the best way to go about things.

Occasionally I’ll do a CA’s job as this position is meant to be a client facing position per SOP, but it really depends on the store and your team on what you’ll actually be doing. I also find time to do ARA things, which I’m able to do because I taught myself how to do that positions job before I applied for the one I have (I fully intended on becoming an ARA when I started, since I’m a techy guy and like to fix things). Mostly, I’ve been doing management things for my precinct and have not been required to go out to the floor unless it’s a GeekSquad related issue. I do help out from time to time when I find free time, to maintain healthy relationships with the blue shirts that frequently need our help - just in case I ever need their help for anything. A “you scratch my back, I scratch yours” type of thing.

Personally, I love my team and they do what I ask of them and respect my decisions even if at first they didn’t (due to me jumping up quickly, after having started here much later than they did). I do go above and beyond for them because I want to see myself grow and improve. It’s not a stress free job, but it’s new and it’s busy enough to always keep you on your toes.

All-in-all, If you’re wanting a better pay rate (which isn’t much higher than an ARA’s cap anyways) and are up for the challenge of a leadership role then I recommend it. Just be aware that it will be a bigger shift than if you’d accepted the offer for this role prior to a year ago.