Never discount a career in retail "Huge opportunities" exist from the sales floor to management
By Denise Deveau, Postmedia News Sept 21, 2010 http://www.vancouversun.com/news/thewest/Never+discount+career+retail/3550399/story.html#ixzz10DNW0mUA
Since the age of 22, Ricardo Carerra-Lowe has been around the world more than once; immersed himself in the high-powered fashion world of Prada, Ralph Lauren, Hugo Boss and Gucci; and been recruited by major retail players in Milan, Hong Kong and Los Angeles.
How did he manage it? It’s simple, says this Edmonton native, who is now the associate vice president, project director for !iT Jeans in L.A. He has loved retail ever since he took his first job as a Christmas "fill-in" for the high-end Liberty of London department stores in the United Kingdom. "I ended up being asked to open up a Ralph Lauren concession," he says. "They thought I sounded American, so I was made an assistant buyer for the Ralph Lauren line." That job took him from London to Paris and back, and inspired him to do more.
His experience led him to Hong Kong, where he worked as a menswear buyer for Lane Crawford Joyce Group, a leading Asian high-end retailer. "Here I was at 25 in the centre of luxury brands and travelling all over the world," he says. While there, he received a call from Milan to oversee global retail operations for Nicola Trussardi. Eventually his career brought him to L.A. to manage worldwide distribution for the likes of BCBG Max Azria and !iT Jeans.
Carerra-Lowe says working in fashion retail is "almost like a rush. I also trained in design, so I can see everything about the industry from how a design happens, to how it’s marketed and the customers' reactions."
Paul McElhone, executive director for the School of Retailing at the University of Alberta in Edmonton says Carerra-Lowe is an outstanding example of where a retail career can take you if the desire and the skills are there. "A lot of young people look at retail as an accidental career that pays poorly and the working conditions aren’t great," he says. "But with the right retailer and training, the pay increases very rapidly. At the senior level, it pays as well if not better than other professions, with some store managers making $150,000 to $200,000 a year."
One should never discount retail as a great career path, says Marilyn McNeil-Morin, chair, School of Fashion Studies and Performing Arts at George Brown College in Toronto. "One in every eight jobs in Canada has some connection to retail. Thirty per cent of those are at management level. So there are huge opportunities for someone with training and a desire to move up."
She cites many examples of students who have fast-tracked their careers in retail, including a recent graduate who is now working to support the expansion of Victoria's Secret in Canada. "She will be an executive in no time," McNeil-Morin says. "Many international companies come in looking for people at the local level. The potential is huge."
A high-powered retail career does take a particular personality profile however, McElhone says. "It’s not for the meek. It takes tremendous stamina, energy and willingness to work very long weeks. You have to be someone that loves people and working in a job that is different very day. If you like a really structured, predictable type of job, it’s not for you. But take someone with an entrepreneurial spirit and they thrive."
Jessica Kennedy, owner of Nokomis Clothing in Edmonton, was entrepreneurial enough to buy her own fashion store at the age of 26. She admits she had her eye on being a buyer for a high-end retailer, but after taking a course in fashion management, she wanted to do more behind the scenes. With her own store, she says she gets to work with many of the country’s up-and-coming independent designers. "I love visiting their studios to learn what’s new and give them feedback on how things are selling."
The "joy of the job", as she puts it, is that she gets to do something different every day. "I’m not just a buyer. I do the marketing, planning, advertising, hiring, training, bookkeeping — I even clean the bathrooms! Every day is completely different. It’s such a treasure because nothing gets boring. And I get to have a really great wardrobe. My closet is packed full."
For Carerra-Lowe, being in all aspects of retail is like enjoying a really gratifying meal topped off with dessert. "The variety and the constant learning experience keep driving you and pushing you further."
Questions:
1) How do most individuals in the retail sector find themselves in managerial positions?
2) What can some store manager’s make a year?
3) What special characteristics must individuals in the retail sector possess?
4) What are some benefits to positions within this industry?
Grads fast-tracked into retail management: Path to the top is as varied as those climbing the ladder
By Derek Sankey, Postmedia News September 21, 2010
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/thewest/Grads+fast+tracked+into+retail+management/3535603/story.html#ixzz10DPGwvKH
Russell Dudley got his first job in retail at the age of 14, working part-time for a grocery store while in school. Years later, when he completed a master’s of science in management degree, he happily found himself returning to the grocery retail game.
“If you like exposure to people and the changing atmosphere that comes with it, then retail is the ideal place to be,” says Dudley, who is enrolled in a management training program with Loblaw Companies Ltd. in the Greater Toronto Area.
Retail isn’t just a summer job on the sales floor for him anymore. He is now in a training program designed to give him broad exposure to Loblaw’s operations and open up pathways to the top of the retail business. Since becoming a “colleague” in Loblaw’s gradLoblaw program nine months ago, Dudley has been working in every department and job in the company and will continue to do so for another nine months when he “graduates.”
“You really get to see the different possibilities,” he says. “You see how their roles function and what their day-to-day work life is like. If that’s a desired thing for you, you can pursue it down the road.” He plans to become an assistant store manager when the training program ends; his ultimate goal is to become a store manager or district manager within five years.
“The one thing that gets overlooked sometimes is how diverse the career opportunities are in retail,” says Elizabeth Evans, director of the Ted Rogers School of Retail Management at Ryerson University.
Retailers are increasingly targeting post-secondary graduates to become the next generation of managers, and are investing heavily in training new talent as part of succession planning. “You’re seeing increasing numbers of retailers looking at investment in their talent,” says Evans. “We’re certainly seeing retailers more engaged in recruitment at the university level … and making dollars available for employees to take courses or upgrade their credentials.”
Retail is the largest private sector employer in Canada, comprising about two million employees, she says. Many retailers used the recession period to develop critical talent for better times. Failure to attract and fast-track talent will prove costly in the long-term, as recent experience showed.
“Alberta a couple of years back was a real eye-opener in terms of what it meant to be in an over-heated, competitive marketplace for talent,” says Evans.
Leah De Santis, senior director of colleague engagement at Loblaw, says the company’s training program benefits new recruits and existing employees alike. “Other colleagues see what types of talent we’re bringing in with our grads and it also reaffirms for them that they have the opportunity to take similar training,” says De Santis. “It’s kind of opened eyes about what else people can do to grow and stay with the company.”
Launched in April 2009, the gradLoblaw program now involves about 300 trainees. There are plans to hire more in January.
“The intent of the gradLoblaw program is really to build a pipeline of bright and enthusiastic talent … which sets them up for their future success,” De Santis says. “We take a long-term view.” Evans says perceptions about the retail sector are changing. Companies are doing a better job of promoting their business as a long-term career with competitive remuneration.
In addition to sales, areas of retail where people are finding these rewarding careers include logistics and supply-chain management, merchandising, buying, technology, marketing and communications, real estate and human resources.
Dudley appreciates the access he and his peers get to executives and training that helps them understand the business from the sales floor all the way up to the executive suite. After the last nine months, he’s as eager as ever to continue along this path; he says he couldn’t conceive of taking up another line of work.
Eiren Good finishes the Loblaw program in about six months. He will move into his new role in a distribution centre in Calgary as an operations specialist and transition to a site manager position.
“You can tailor your career to the direction you want to go in,” says Good. “There’s no doubt that there has been an incredible investment made and it certainly does not go unnoticed. The idea is that you’re able to grow and build a solid foundation.”
Evans says people interested in a retail career should consider the diverse opportunities in the sector, do some research, identify their personal interests and strengths along with the kind of corporate culture they’re seeking. “There is no end to what the opportunities are in retail,” says Evans.
Questions:
1) Explain how Loblaw’s management training program works. Why are they recruiting in this manner?
2) What are the benefits to this type of management training program?
3) How many individuals in Canada work within the retail sector?
3)