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Designing a Retail CareerIf "retail" makes you think "dead-end job," then you may be overlooking the opportunities available in this field for motivated job seekers to advance and gain transferable skills. Individuals with a retail background can equip themselves to move up the ladder into management or switch to a different field altogether. Kathy Mance, vice president of the National Retail Federation Foundation – the research and education arm of the National Retail Federation (NRF) – says that in order to be successful in retail, it's important to possess strong sales skills and enjoy working with people. "It's really about attitude," says Mance, adding that strong skills in sales, customer service and management are portable across many industries, including hospitality and tourism, financial services, insurance and even customer service call centers. The U.S. Department of Labor reports that employment opportunities for retail salespersons are expected to be good because of the need to replace the large number of workers who transfer to other occupations or leave the labor force each year. In addition, many new jobs will be created for retail salespersons as businesses seek to expand operations and enhance customer service. (1)
According to the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES), there were nearly 144,000 individuals employed as retail sales workers in Cook County in 2002, and that number is expected to jump more than 8 percent by 2012. (2) The median hourly wage for retail salespersons is $9.37 per hour, while a more experienced individual can earn as much as $13.55 per hour. (3) Knowledge of specific working conditions in the retail sector can help determine whether a job seeker is a good fit. For example, retail employees may have to deal with angry or discourteous people; work in a group or as part of a team; and, they'll typically have to work evenings, weekends and holidays – often with longer hours around winter holidays. (4) In the retail industry, there is no standard policy prohibiting the hiring of individuals with criminal backgrounds. "Each employer sets its own parameters [for hiring ex-offenders]," says Debra Fieldhouse, outreach coordinator for the NRF Foundation. Skills and qualifications that retail salespeople need in order to be successful include the ability to:
Movement between jobs in the retail industry has traditionally meant lateral shifts from one sales clerk job to another – rather than a progression along a career path. However, according to The Joyce Foundation (5), employers are becoming more interested in changing that trend as they begin to recognize the benefits of helping their best workers advance and avoiding the cost of high turnover and loss of productivity. The Chicago Workforce Board recently received a grant from The Joyce Foundation to help identify the steps that employees in the retail as well as the restaurant and lodging industries will need to take to advance to better jobs. For this project, the Workforce Board will partner with industry associations like the National Retail Federation Foundation to research the skill requirements for jobs; the career paths that enable employees to advance across industries; and the challenges faced by both workers and employers. (CJC will keep readers posted on the results in future issues of Industry Insider.)
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