Why Young People Should Opt for a Retail Career
In an effort to look at the bright side of life, anyone managing to launch a retail career nowadays will have the excitement of unsurpassed opportunities to persuade shoppers to shop. If they can find a job in the first place, that is.
The challenges partially explain why "over half of career advisers still see retail as a good sector for young people to work in," according to new research commissioned by Skillsmart Retail and reported in Specialty Food Magazine. According to the survey, despite the recession, 51 percent of career advisors considered retail to be a better place for young people to work in than five years ago, when the economy was booming.
The magazine's Raphael Giacardi says that the study, Quantifying Perceptions of a Career in Retail, shows that only 11 percent of the 406 professionals surveyed thought the sector had become a worse career prospect than five years ago, while a quarter identified no change between 2003 and 2008.
Amongst the reasons cited for improvement were "increased opportunity and career structure, wider availability of training and qualifications, and better pay (linked to the introduction of the minimum wage."
The report showed that retail comes out on top when compared to the hospitality and finance and banking sectors in the development of useful workplace skills, provision of opportunities for employees of all ages and the prospect of being given responsibility at an early stage.
Skillsmart Retail's chief executive, Anne Seaman, reminded the magazine, "Career advisers are very influential in helping young people make choices about jobs in different sectors. Because of this, it is good to know that they believe retail is a better place to work now than in 2003 - in spite of the current financial climate."
Discussion question: What do you think of retail as a career? In what ways can the retail industry improve how it recruits talent?