Your Retail Jobs

Working within the retail industry can be brilliant but also stressful. I know because I worked within the retail industry for 6 years, beginning my career in HR and working my way to area manager for a region within the republic of Ireland. I worked in all areas of the clothing industry from an office environment training managers, and I also spent many a late night on the shop floor liaising directly with my team and customers on a daily basis.

We all live in a 24 hour work culture today. Life is stressful and so is work. The retail industry is no different - it is a pressurised environment and depending on who you work for can be unrewarding.

If you have reached the point that you feel you need to move your career forward within retailing then there are some fundamental steps that you need to do.

Here is our guide to starting the process - remember, this is just the beginning. The beginning of a voyage of discovery for you which will lead you to self empowerment, belief and confidence. Don’t worry about the fact that changing career or taking that bold step to ask for a salary increase, promotion or flexible working is daunting - the fact is 'it is'! However, with our help and guidance, and through self analysis and understanding of your key motivators, you can make that change in a controlled and calculated manner.

So, here is our guide. You can 'dip in and out' of the various tips we will give you and you may want to do some in-depth research yourself. You may even want to contact A Brave New World for further guidance. Whatever you decide, make sure it will work for you and fit into your life. Our tips are generic, which means that you can use them if you decide that you want to remain within retailing or indeed can be used if you decide that you want to make that break and do something completely different.

Step 1: What motivates you?

You have obviously decided to make a change within your career, that’s why you are here. Change can be daunting, exhilarating, challenging or scary. Don’t be afraid of the fact that you want to change - embrace it. You will learn some new and fascinating things about yourself that you may never know existed. So, the key here is to firstly get to grips with your inner motivations and reasons for working in the first place - you need to understand what ‘career’ means to you personally.

Career can mean different things to different people. Take a look at our article 'understanding what career means to you'. This will get you thinking about why you work (what makes you get out of bed on a wet cold Monday morning? Etc), how you work (what are the technical aspects of your job – do you enjoy using them? Do you feel you may have a skill gap? Or would you rather not be using certain skill sets within your job?), and with whom you work (how do you network with others within your industry sector or with people outside your industry sector. Basically, how you communicate on a daily basis with people around you.

Take a blank sheet of paper and list under each section any thoughts that come to mind – brainstorm, talk to other people, colleagues, friends etc and get a good picture of how they see you professionally and personally. This will help you understand how you behave and may shed some light on the fact that for example, one of your staff is difficult to 'bring around to your way of thinking' perhaps. It might be that they feel you are abrasive or not clear enough in your communication to them.

Step 2: What are your achievements?

Once you have identified your own personal motivators and got a clearer picture of your objective profile, it is very important to start evaluating your major career achievements. Again take a look at our article on 'The Importance Of Selling Your Career Achievements'. To be successful in getting that promotion or moving into another industry sector, it is important for you to be fully aware of what you are selling - yourself and your major achievements.

Take a blank sheet of paper and start writing. Stories about you and what you have achieved are the key here. Perhaps you put in place a new stock taking system which led to the increase of sales of a particular item or you put a new staff rota in place which gave your team flexibility. Write these stories down as you would write an essay. For each story (we would suggest between 6 - 8), go through them again and pick out the achievement (for example with the story about flexibility and the difference it would make to morale within the department etc.) Bullet point the achievements as they will be the crucial selling point within your CV.

Step 3: Your CV is a snapshot of you

Once this is completed and you are happy with your achievements, you can now start putting your CV together. Remember a CV is a snapshot of you - it must convey your unique selling points, be to the point and convey your personality too. Go to our article on 'Creating a CV that will open doors'. When we describe a CV we call it 'the blurb on the back of the book'. You know when you are going on holiday, you reach the airport, you have nothing to read so you dash into the bookshop and browse for a good read. Your decision to buy a book will more than often depend on that little paragraph at the back of the book - the snapshot of what you are getting. A CV is just like that. If the 'reader' likes what they read you will be invited to interview to expand on the 'blurb'.

Step 4: Get to know the company

Before you are invited for interview, it is important to do your homework. Not only should you have researched the company on the internet and got any salient information that will help you understand what the company is all about, but you should also have been doing research into what it is like to work there. Network yourself into talking with someone within the organisation and ask them a series of questions. For more information on this read our article 'The Informational Interview'. This is fairly self explanatory and within retailing it should be easy to network into other retail sectors.

All the above steps are achievable. It is up to you to make that change. However, there is no point in becoming overwhelmed or stressed out with the perceived enormity of the whole thing. Stress is a negative state and in order to move forward, you need to eliminate as much as you can any stress from your life. Take a look at our article on 'Coping with stress at work'. We give some useful and practical tips and advice on how to combat and avoid stress at work.

Above all, enjoy the process of moving on - it is a positive step and whatever you do you will be successful, you just have to believe in yourself and understand your own personal motivators, values and beliefs. Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

A Brave New World

yourretailjobs have partnered with a leading career development organisation, A Brave New World Ltd. Headed by Katie Slater and Alice Jones who have had extensive experience in career development and talent management, including first hand experience working within the retail sector. To contact A Brave New World for further career advice or information on their career coaching programmes please go to www.abravenewworld.co.uk.