The rise of retail jobs

A report in The Guardian newspaper last month, following a survey conducted by the Trendence Institute, alerted job-seekers and employment experts to a significant shift in the graduate jobs market.

 

The survey – which consulted over 25,000 students and graduates – found that finance, traditionally one of the UK’s biggest graduate career choices, had been squeezed out of the top 5 by retail jobs.

 

Consulting the offers on reed.co.uk, the UK’s top job site, today also confirms that opportunities in retail and management positions appear to be more readily available to younger or graduate employees.

 

With graduate schemes run by brands like John Lewis as well as retail options offered by mobile brands like Orange and food retailers EAT, many of the UK’s leading graduate employers are shops rather than banks and management consultants.

 

Also, the retail sector had a very positive start to the new year, even after the usual Christmas and sales boost: permanent vacancies advertised in the retail sector were up 15% in February 2012, and with an overall 6% rise in advertised vacancies, it is a shining light in the UK employment sector.

 

One of the key successes of the retail sector – and the appeal of retail jobs to young people and graduates who are looking for part-time work or a full-time year-long position between studies – is its wide availability of part-time and non-permanent staffing positions.

 

And the benefits of working in a retail job temporarily are extremely clear. Employees have the opportunity to focus on developing excellent teamwork, think on their feet (especially when dealing with customer complaints, damaged goods or management issues) and encourage deeper understanding of how IT and finance work in the day-to-day running of a business.

 

More than that, between-study jobs in retail can also lead to lifelong careers and success. As dominant retail brands like Arcadia Group, Harrods and John Lewis look to cast the net wide and develop young talent in all sectors, from logistics to buying to HR, graduates and gap-year students can also gain valuable experience off the shop floor.

 

One of the major growing areas is in the ‘business’ side of retail; and employees who begin with public-facing or ‘front-of-house’ duties can use their studies to move onto a graduate scheme which will develop skills to run another department, such as merchandising and finance.

Source: Northwalespioneer.co.uk, Friday 7th September 2012