optician

sales associate

optical assistant

opticien

department coordinator

Hakim Optical

Hakim Optical is a company stuck in the past. Their systems are poorly designed and clunky, produced by a head office which follows the same description. Corners are cut at every opportunity, producing eyewear which is abhorrently overpriced, and of overall egregious quality. It is then your job to attempt to sell these glasses, and inevitably deal with the irrate customer when they return to have you repair a frame which has likely been hiding in a box in the back of the store since the early 80s. 
All of this is fairly as you'd expect, and easily overlooked as the honest rigours of any job. 
The worst, however, is yet to come. 
This system of cutting all corners for the sake of the bottom line breeds a work culture which rewards sales, no matter the cost in overall employee quality. Toxic, abusive workers are met with open arms and indeed find advancement within the company (despite numerous complaints from coworkers, doctors, managers, and customers), while good and hard-working employees are treated as second class. 
This is all reflected in an astounding turnover rate, and stores being perpetually understaffed. 
The frequency of new hires leads to a sort of training fatigue from all staff members, as there is no set training regimen, and new employees often quit within days due to the treatment they face from seasoned staff members. 
Upper management, and HR, are aware of these problems. They do not care to fix their terminally ill business. So long as there are customers they can swindle, from the nearly blind elderly to those uneducated and easily influenced by scientific language, they will continue. 
Low quality backed by minimum support and zero conscience. 

You are expected to learn and retain so much knowledge for the optical field, which would be fine if you were paid accordingly! Minimum wage with "commission" which you can only get after passing a test that has no consistent training programs to ensure you're ready.

The environment that upper management has created is stressful with no work life balance, with a schedule that comes out 4 days before the start of the week with no garuntee that you will get your day off requests approved. When you cannot get a hold of anyone in head office for more than 7 days to get an answer for a patient who is waiting with broken glasses there's a problem.

When the CFO runs a meeting with a province and proceeds to announce to everyone that the district manager is leaving due to menopause and other mental health issues but will be back soon there's a problem.

For anyone who is looking  for a job in the optical world or just a job in general, take a pass. As a licensed professional you will not be treated professionally here, and as a receptionist you will be expected to have the knowledge of a professional but get paid less than the person folding clothes across the hall.

Been here for about 4 1/2 years before leaving and a majority of the time I was a student optician/intern. Frames here are garbage. More than 3/4 of the frames would break constantly and finding warranty for them would just be as hard. They claim that their frames are just as good as Luxottica frames but you can easily tell it's cheap. They always run out of cases and clothes a and you wouldn't be able to get new ones for MONTHS. 

The original location I was in was perfect. I worked 10-7 most days and 9-5 on Saturdays. I had a bit of a life after the day ended but when I changed locations to a much busier location things went downhill quite quickly. My new manager was someone who only cared about themself and sales. They would watch me like a hawk if I happened to get 2 paying customer in a row but it was completely alright if they did it because they had a kid. 

Working there is fine assuming you have good people to work with. Most of the time you're working in groups of 2-6 depending on how big the store is.

It wasn't the worst place to work but head office doesn't care about store level staff. They put minimal company policies in place and then leave the rest up for interpretation but love to place the blame on everyone but them when something goes wrong. The CFO they hired is creepy and doesn't know what boundaries are. He loved to get into my personal space when talking to me. The amount of stress and knowledge that comes with this job isn't worth the minimal pay you get. Receptionist pretty much have to know just as much as the opticians but we get far less money. The spiff program they have is ridiculous as well and promotes a competitive work environment.

On the flip side, when you get a customer that is really appreciative of all the hard work you did to find them the right frame and lenses, it was very rewarding. I've had customer try on their new glasses and cry because they were so happy. Those small moments were great. 


You are required to do more that you are paid for. You could work there for 10 years and they will not increase your wage. Long hours, you have to take a 1 hour break which is not paid for, pay is never accurate you always have to count your hours and when you get paid less they tell you it’s too late to change it or that you should’ve mentioned it earlier, no vacations, no outside life, constantly being harassed to make sales when the prices of frames and lenses are ridiculously high, un sanitary, bad environment & managers gossiping with owners, lots of drama & under staffed, you always have to train someone & they usually leave then you have to train the next person, too many customer complaints, glasses are always made wrong but they still dispense it. Terrible company 

Let,'s face it:most of the management would find it hard to secure decent employment anywhere else! Hardly any skills, forget about forward looking or prepared for the 21st century!Hired only to keep them off the streets! 
A bunch of good or very good Opticians, some good sales assistants as well. Poor quality frames, subpar eyeglass quality but decent prices for the general public.
The ownership is from another movie altogether. Bad one. 
Benefits just a figment of owner's imagination. Pressure to sell from folks who most of the time don't know if they're coming or going.
You learn from Opticians and then you move on!

I worked for this company for almost 4 years.  No flexibility, rude staff AND managers. It was like being in highschool all over again, never have I been so stressed in a job. I was treated poorly, and looked down upon if I ever needed a day off, or if I was sick.  No time for family. So if you have a life or family, expect to never see them, over worked and under paid.  Although I did learn alot about Optics, even more about the stuff I will NOT put up with.  Locations are very cliquy. 

  Now working in  different Optical I can definitely justify leaving, for my own sanity, I choose not to support a company who cannot 
even fix their internal problems with their staff. They'd rather move the problems around, rather than fix it. There's a reason there's an extreme turn around. Not to mention alot of the managers like to talk behind your back. Not good. 

Apply elsewhere. 

I have been with hakim for 3 years now and have to say it is by far the best job I have ever had. It is not only a job it has turned into my career. I had zero optical experience when i sarted and I had an amazing team who trained me well beyond the skills I needed. In 3 years I went from receptionist to store manager. So there is alot of room for growth. Its both mentally and physically stimulating its a fast paced environment which I love. I have zero negative things to say about Hakim optical. The staff the doctors the higher ups all incredible. They will work with you and much as possible to keep you happy and successful if this is the path for you. We are all given equal opportunity and its up to us to excel or underachieve. The choice is yours!

This job was TERRIBLE . The managers are very rude, don't want to train you than they will be very angry when you don't know something even though it says you don't need optical experience that's a lie. I was there for about 3 months, never got trained properly than told I need to speed up the process or I'm not going to make it. It's like going to highschool all over again nothing but drama .I was also told that I was there to clean up after my manager not the manager clean up after me even though I didn't make a mess. I was also always yelled at and people were talking behind my back . You can try out the job for yourself but it's like living your own personally nightmare all you do is clean for 8 hours and just stand there.

I love working with insurance company helping clients get the sight to see, helping clients find the perfect glasses for them. Unfortunately the company made it very hard to balance both work and family due to the amount of hours you are asked to work. Having 2 children under the ages of 4 I was unable to work 51 hrs a week. If i could take work home then that would be a different story.When i asked management if i could have 35 - 40 hours a week, I was told this is a 44 -50 hour full time job. Unfortunately at the point I knew this employer would never let me balance both of the worlds I want. 
I did enjoy my time at Hakim Optical, I just wish they made it easier on mother who want to work and also be there for their families.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Optician 3 salaries reported	$30.50 per hour
Sales associate 7 salaries reported	$37,700 per year
Optical assistant 4 salaries reported	$38,700 per year
Opticien 5 salaries reported	$24.50 per hour
Department coordinator 2 salaries reported	$20.00 per hour

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