Working in Retail

I have had a few emails sent to me about how to get a job in retail. It is pretty easy really and you can make a career out of it. I would say get yourself a Saturday or weekend job first retail seems like fun but I can assure you it can be long and boring and you are standing on your feet 9 hours a day at least this way you can decide if it is for you or not. If you are someone who does not want to work weekends and loves having loads of time off during holiday seasons then don't bother these are key selling times in retail and even a Manager does not get these times off.

If you love fashion, meeting new people and have a chatty personality than retail will be an excellent choice for you as these are fantastic qualities to have. The pay for retail is not great and will usually be just above minimum wage if you are lucky but there are perks like uniform allowance, staff discount and target related pay plus you get to see things before they hit the shopfloor and can pick up some bargains as you know what is going into sale first because of this I would say pick a brand that you genuinely love otherwise these perks wont apply. I chose to work in a department store and I would highly recommend it you work with lots of different brands and lots of fabulous people too it suits me and I have been at House of Fraser for ten years now.

The are lots of opportunities to work up the ladder too I am happy at store Management level but you can move on into Head Office a lot of companies employ internally so you get to hear about these positions first. Retail is also great to have on your CV if you do want to work in the Head Office side of retail like Visual Merchandiser, Buyer or Merchandiser. My Weekend girl is studying at London College of Retail and she has gained a wealth of knowledge by working on the shopfloor.

I hope this has helped you out any questions feel free to email me styleofafashion@aol.co.uk xoxo