It’s commonly accepted the retail industry can be an excellent career choice: progression routes are fast and direct, which means you could be managing the whole kit and caboodle in no time. It’s rewarding, people-centred, constantly evolving and hands-on.
It’s also a sector that rewards with a whole host of transferrable skills for those who are flexible and open to new notions. In fact, there are few other jobs sectors that can better prepare you to move right to the top or, alternatively, to an entirely different sector.
If you are chasing that senior position or keen to consider options outside of traditional retail, the first step to understanding what you could do next is to identify what your transferable skills are – those talents that will guide you a couple of steps ahead of the competition on any future career path.
So let’s find out how you measure up . . . or where there is room for improvement.
Customer Management
In retail you are on the frontline and will meet customers daily, no matter your level in the grand scheme of things. This makes the balancing of profit and customer service a very exposed affair.
Are you able to engage with customers face-to-face and remain attentive, patient and pleasant? Good! What about when Davey attempts some dangerous twerking next to the porcelain vases? Still calm and collected? Excellent! If you can handle Davey, or Great Uncle Shug bawling about not stocking his size 27 shoes, you can handle almost anything.
People Management
It’s great that you get on with everyone, even Wee Jess with her hourly bunion updates but, above and beyond being a team player, there are two fundamental skills you still need in order to stand out. The first is the charisma to motivate, directly and indirectly, other stakeholders. The second is the ability to manage and monitor performance in a structured, forward-thinking manner.
These attributes – and both can be learned and honed – allow the best retailers to offer positive input in almost any sector where people management is key.
Project Management
Retail teaches you how to work under pressure, especially on those particular busy days when, inevitably, you have big decisions to make or you’re against the clock. Working to a tight deadline, bringing many different elements together, and staying entirely focussed on the goal are the mainstays of being a good project manager.
Time control, priority identification and task completion: all of these retail talents can be invaluable elsewhere.
Profit & Loss Management
Working in retail helps enhance technical skills such as numeracy, through calculating, stock taking or money handling – which also involves a high level of responsibility – and a level of IT competence through using ever-more complex tills and computerised stock systems. This means most retailers will offer high levels of accountability.
At the heart of all this activity, however, the very best retailers will also have a strong understanding of the key factors in a P&L strategy and the right tools for driving the best results: a talent any corporation will be keen to attract.
Business Management
Not every retailer will have the chance to develop the business on a wider stage, however those who do are able to develop a highly transferable and covetable skill. This knowledge of business development, especially when boosted by People Management, is vital for businesses who want to grow.
Retail will also give you better commercial awareness – that is, experiencing the inner workings of a business and protocol, and how commercial decisions are made. Never underestimate how a little knowledge of the business side of retail can greatly increase your chances in any career.