Retail Management Your complete guide to starting your career

Retail Management Your complete guide to starting your career If you’re thinking about a career in retail management, either because you’ve put in your time in the entry-level retail trenches and want to move up in the field or you’re considering a career change, you probably have a general idea of what to expect. After all, retail is not for the faint of heart. However, there’s a difference between working in retail and making it your career, so if you’re considering taking that step to level up, we have the info you’ll need to help make that decision. How will you know if it’s a good fit?If you’ve gotten this far, it’s likely you’ve already found retail to be a good fit for you, on paper. But what are the qualities you’ll need to have as a retail manager?Good personality counts for a lot here. Some common traits found in successful retail managers include:Strong customer focus. The customers may or may not always be right, but they will always be your priority. Manag ers who care about providing excellent customer service, even under stressful circumstances, do well.Leadership skills. The manager will be in charge of other employees as well as store operations, so it’s important to be someone who can step up and lead rather than melting into the crowd.The ability to make peace. Whether it’s dealing with employee drama or customer issues, at some point the manager will have to be the one who fights off irritation or frustration and placates different kinds of personalities to make sure things are resolved well.If you struggle in any of these areas, it doesn’t mean you can’t be a good retail manager, but it might mean putting in extra work to create a successful professional persona. Being part of retail management means being able to navigate the challenges of keeping everything running smoothly while also accommodating corporate/business goals and customer needs.What is the day-to-day like?Retail managers are typicall y responsible for the daily operations of a brick-and-mortar store- whether it’s a big box giant like Walmart or your Mom and Pop hardware store down the street. Basically, every store needs someone to ensure that sales goals are being met, staff are being managed, the store is operating well, and that customer needs are being met. A retail manager’s tasks may include:Opening and closing the storeHiring and managing staff membersManaging the daily employee scheduleAnalyzing sales and setting sales goals for the storeCreating and maintaining store budgetsAnalyzing and coordinating inventoryCreating store displaysWorking with and reporting to senior management in the company (for example, a head office or a store owner)Communicating financial informationWorking with vendors and suppliersEnsuring that the store is clean, organized, and well-maintainedMonitoring expenses and store losses (security)Handling escalated customer service issuesRetail managers are responsible fo r making sure everything gets done in a store, and that it’s done well. Retail managers can also expect to work long weeks (potentially more than 40 hours), on varied schedules. After all, stores are open all week long, and increasingly on holidays. This is not your standard 9-to-5 in a cubicle gig.What types of retail management jobs are out there?Some of the most common retail management job opportunities include:Store ManagerRetail Operations ManagerTeam LeaderStore General ManagerAlthough most retail management positions are still in what we would think of as â€Å"normal† stores, the retail landscape is definitely changing. So in addition to the traditional store manager roles (showing up at a specific store and making sure that physical operations are going according to plan), there will be increasing opportunities to manage digital retail as well. Managers who are well-versed in supply chain logistics or online sales have versatile skill sets that could help the m advance in our increasingly digital economy.What education will you need?One of the best things about getting started retail is that you don’t need to get an extensive education before you jump in. The retail path often starts with a high school degree and on-the-job training, and then growing experience as you take on more responsibility. Hands-on experience is often more valuable in this field than a specific education credential. To become a retail manager, however, an associate’s degree, bachelor’s degree, or course in sales, business, or management can help you get to the management level faster.If you don’t have a degree, don’t worry- there’s still a path to retail management. You can take your existing experience and use that to create longer-term goals. You can also stay and grow within a certain company, using the promotion ladder to get where you want to be. At every level of your retail career, make sure you’re learning e verything you possibly can about how your store (and retail in general) works, because this is an education you can’t get elsewhere- and you never know when that information can help boost you to the next level.What skills will you need?As mentioned before, retail managers have to be able to juggle many different obligations and tasks. These core skills will serve you very well in a retail management career.Communication skillsManagers have to be able to communicate clearly and effectively with all sorts of different people: employees, upper management, suppliers or vendors, and employees. That means being able to adapt a message to the right audience and strike the right tone as necessary. Listening skills are also essential, so that potential problems can be understood and addressed as quickly and efficiently as possible.Problem solvingEvery retail manager is going to deal with problems- problems with employees, problems with customers, problems in getting the right merchan dise, problems with security, you name it. If your solution to a direct challenge is to pull inward, turtle-style, and hope it goes away, this job might not be for you. Instead, retail managers should be able to see a problem clearly, and be able to come up with a workable solution- even if it’s not a perfect one.Results focusIt’s not enough to keep a store going- managers will also be responsible for performing well according to different metrics, whether it’s a store’s financial performance, sales goals, employee goals, customer feedback, etc. It’s crucial to understand what these criteria are that you’ll need to meet and focus your attention on hitting them.ProfessionalismAs mentioned before, the retail manager will often need to step in and be the grownup in cases of conflict or customer complaints. A professional demeanor at all times is very necessary.Math skillsRetail managers are often responsible for extensive reporting and analysis when it comes to a store’s finances and budgets, so being able to do the math efficiently and accurately is important.Negotiation skillsWhether it’s trying to create an employee schedule without causing a revolt or trying to get a better deal from vendors, knowing how to negotiate your way out of any situation is a powerful tool for a retail manager to have.Engaging people skillsRetail managers are not solo acts, so they have to be able to inspire their teams to do work together for the common good of the store. Fear and anger are not the best motivational tools around, so it’s essential to have the skills to be able to get people to want to do their best work- and to motivate them when they don’t necessarily want to do it.What is the potential career path? â€Å"Retail management† can seem like an end goal in and of itself, so if you haven’t thought much yet about the nuances of what you can do once you get to that point, you’re not alone. Once you get a certain level of management experience, those skills are very transferable all over the retail landscape. You may decide to specialize in a particular area, like one of the following:MerchandisingMarketingPersonnel managementCustomer serviceTrainingOperationsWarehousingOnce you have skills and experience, you may find that different management opportunities may open up even within the same company.What kind of salary can you expect?According to salary.com, retail managers can make a pretty wide range of salaries, with a median between $48,091 and $65,734. Specific salary depends on factors like experience and location.What is the outlook for retail management?Retail itself may be changing with the times, but the need for retail isn’t. Companies will always be selling goods, products, and services, and will always need qualified leaders to help them do that in the most efficient and profitable ways possible. Retail management is a career with solid opera tional foundations, and will continue to be an in-demand career path for those with the experience, leadership skills, and the commitment to customer service.If you’re looking for help with your resume,  you can also download free templates from our Resume Library to get started.

The Decision Making Process

The Decision Making Process Free Online Research Papers Decision making is a process of making choices among alternative courses of action. Decision making process involves a cycle of activities and events that begin with identification of a problem and ends with the evaluation of implemented solutions. In this essay I will discus the steps in the decision making process that I have applied to a decision that I have already made in my life. In fact I have made numerous decisions in my life such as joining a tertiary institution, getting married at the age of 25, having a child, buying a car and buying a house as well. In this essay my focus will be on buying a house. The first step of identifying and defining the problem became very urgent because I was renting a house for $300 per month. I had been renting from year 2000 till year 2005. I spent about $21,600 in rent for 6 years! Therefore I had a discussion with my wife to buy a house since we were not in a position to migrate overseas in the near future with just a diploma in education. The money that we would spend on rent will be used to make down payments. Generating and evaluating possible solutions towards buying a house was the step that I had skipped since one of my uncles had already seen the house that I initiated to buy and my wife had already desperately wanted that particular house. So this effort to locate, clarify, and evaluate alternative solution did not make sense to me at that time. I think this was not the best possible solution. I will discus this later in this essay. In this step I chose the behavioural decision model. I acted on the assumptions on what I had perceived in the first place. This was the first satisfactory decision that came across my attention. I was imperfect in my decision making and I had only partial knowledge on the property that I was interested to invest in. To implement my decision I had to secure a loan. The total cost of my investment was $80,000. I borrowed from Fiji National Provident Fund from my housing eligibility which became my initial deposit to the bank and the rest was funded by Colonial National Bank at an interest rate of 6.99% per annum for the first year and thereafter on a flexible interest rate. This meant that I did not have to use a single cent from my personal savings. Thus to implement my decision on buying the house had no obstacles. Finally I bought the house. I had to make a down payment of $525 per month. Initially I had thought that I won’t have difficulty in committing for my loan repayments. Instead of $300(which I used for my rent while I was renting), I had to commit another $225. Carefully I calculated that I will end up with no savings if I continued with my payments. The following year the interest rate was also anticipated to increase. So I evaluated my decision and made another (two bedroom) flat adjacent to the existing building worth $10,000 (which was part of my personal savings). I went to stay in this flat. The front flat was given on rent for $500 per month. Finally my payments were back to normal. The insights that I have learnt as a decision maker are: 1.) The benefits of my financial decisions. I had long term capital growth. Full rents paid to my nominated bank account-this helps my cash flow. Short to medium terms-tax variations, tax minimisation and negative gearing-this helps legally reduce the tax I pay. 2.) The cost-benefit analyses regarding my financial decision Each time when we make decisions new insights will be developed and might weigh the criteria’s performance differently. This makes for ineffective decision making or decision making mistakes. This also complicates learning from the decisions we make, as the bases for judging the outcomes changes each time. My second step towards buying the house could have been done more thoroughly. In fact there is nothing wrong with the location of my house, but if I would have invested the same amount of money in Nadi or in Lautoka City, I would be earning more than double the amount of money as rental income. This would mean I would still have to rent though. I also did not do sound financial planning and risk management framework in the beginning. I must have structured my financial commitments to suit my lifestyle needs and objectives before making the decision to buy the house. This is due to the fluctuating interest rates since currently my down payment per month is $721. Further I must have consulted a professional advisor who should have been very independent regarding the decisions that I should have made. This would have sorted out: the location of my investment my daily/weekly/monthly financial commitments where to commit my finance from. (The only financial institution that I consulted was Colonial National Bank) Finally I would like to say that decisions must be made using a pre-defined decision making process and skilled decision analyses. They are based on the values and perceptions of the decision maker and include carefully considered alternatives (choices) and options along with periodic validation of the decision and its effects. Wise Decisions may or may not follow external influences and expectations. Sound decisions are right, based on what one knows at a given point in time. What I have observed, is that Good Decision making is not an accident. It is a repeatable process. Good decision makers take a systematic approach to their decision making. They know or understand what situation they need to resolve and why they need to resolve it. They eliminate distractions, anxiety, subjectivity, and individual bias from the process. They generally create multiple potential solution options from which to choose. They make their choices based upon relevant facts and information, not on partial or conflicting data. Research Papers on The Decision Making ProcessIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New EmployeesThe Project Managment Office SystemBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfThree Concepts of PsychodynamicResearch Process Part OneOpen Architechture a white paperStandardized TestingNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceUnreasonable Searches and Seizures

Analysis of Walden, by Thoreau, using Stylistic Devices

Analysis of Walden, by Thoreau, using Stylistic Devices In Walden, Thoreau uses techniques to convey thoughtful reflection and unwavering confidence towards his actions and convictions. By contemplating his past ventures and personal beliefs, he urges the reader to take specific paths in life with a strong and forceful credibility.Thoreau's use of syntax expresses his philosophical yet audacious approach towards his quest to live simply and without superfluous needs. The semicolons and commas in the first sentence of paragraph four string together his descriptive memories of the Hollowell farm in a long and drawn out manner. The recollections tumble from his mind directly into his pen, causing the sentence to reflect his stream of rushing thoughts at a quick but steady pace. He fondly recalls the exact state and condition of every aspect of the farm, using commas to gracefully fit them into the sentence. In sentence four of paragraph ten, Thoreau deviates from his lengthy, pensive sentences to a short, repetitive exclamation stating, "Sim plicity, simplicity, simplicity!" Instead of using eloquent and extensively written phrases to urge his readers to live a life of abnegation, he resorts here to a curtailed, but powerful statement that summarizes his dominant exhortation with a passionate fervor.Original title page of Walden featuring a picture ...Such repetition reinforces his earlier passages in which he urges the reader to live without excess, revealing his confidence and therefore allowing his persuasion more authority.Thoreau's use of diction allows the reader to understand his cogitative aversion and distaste towards the material world that is full of exorbitant and unnecessary goods. Life within such a society is "petty" and "fluctuating," and human improvements are "external and superficial." He is critical of America, for its states are constantly bickering over boundaries and other trivial and foolish concerns. Men concern themselves with constant building and constructing, work he believes to be unnecessa ry for...

Portfolio Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Portfolio - Essay Example I am, however, still having difficulties in more difficult English words, those that are not usually used in the every day life or in the regular textbook. I still find myself searching for the meaning of these words. Also, I’m still having problems in writing English paragraphs because I tend to write the same words in the different sentences within the same paragraph. This is because I still need to further expand my knowledge of English words and their synonyms. However, I know that I can still add to my knowledge in the English vocabulary by exposing myself more to this language through reading English books, papers and articles and through interacting with other people who are native English speakers and writers. Before taking this class, the English grammar was the most difficult area for me. As I am not used to writing or speaking English sentences, my sentence structure in English was not really that good. The grammar pre-test that we took at the start of this class really showed that grammar is a big weakness for me. But after taking this class, I can say that my English grammar has significantly improved. The lessons on verb tenses and the subject – verb agreement could be simple lessons for those who are good in writing in English but for me, these two lessons were challenging ones because they are at the core of what I needed to correct in my grammar. Although these lessons were hard for me, they have helped me improve my grammar in this aspect. Reading the two textbooks, the reading strategies and the improving study skills have also exposed me to proper English grammar. Of course, as I am still developing my English skills, I still find it hard to write English sentences prop erly. Sometimes, it is easier to go back to my old English grammar rather than to have to think things through to ensure that the subject and the verb agree all the time, that I am using the proper verb tense and that

Changes in Financial Reporting for a Nevada Casino in regards to Essay

Changes in Financial Reporting for a Nevada Casino in regards to Regulation 9A and the SarbanOxley Act - Essay Example With this in mind, it can be stated that the influence of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act adoption in 2002 on the financial reporting of the Nevada casinos is quite comparable to that of the other public companies. On the contrary, the impact of the Regulation 6A which was put into effect in 1997 was much more specific in nature. Both of these legislative acts, however, became two more integral parts of extremely complex regulative environment the gambling industry operates in. The major requirements that explicitly affect the Nevada casinos, besides the restrictions on the audit procedures, pension funds blackout periods and restriction on loans to senior management, are corporate responsibility regulations and use of the non-GAAP financial measures in press-releases and reports. The CEO and CFO of each issuer shall prepare a statement to accompany the audit report to certify the "appropriateness of the financial statements and disclosures contained in the periodic report, and that those financial statements and disclosures fairly present, in all material respects, the operations and financial condition of the issuer." A violation of this section must be knowing and intentional to give rise to liability. (AICPA) TheThe issue of the use of non-GAAP financial measures in information releases through mass media or corporate reports is quite important for the casinos because these channels are used not only for communicating data to the investors, but as well for the PR-purposes with the general audience. SEC Regulation G (adopted under 401(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act) regulates this issue and provides that the use of non-GAAP financial measures in press releases or other public disclosures must be accompanied by a presentation of, and reconciliation to, the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure. (Martin 1) The Regulation 6A named "Cash Transactions prohibitions, reporting, and recordkeeping" closely addresses, on the other hand, the very characteristic feature of the casino business - the cash transactions. It is part of the Nevada's regulatory system for currency transaction reporting which, according to the Nevada Gaming Commission and State Control Board consists of the following: NGC Regulation 6A adopted January 1997 effective May 1, 1997 (prior version adopted and effective May 7, 1985). The regulation was amended March 20, 2003 to delete state suspicious transaction reporting requirements and was effective immediately upon adoption. NGC Regulation 6.090 Currency Transaction Reporting Minimum Internal Control Standards (6A MICS). Version 3 required compliance as of May 1, 1997. CPA 6A MICS Compliance Reporting Requirements (CPA 6A MICS Requirements). Version 1 required compliance as of November 1, 1997. Internal Audit Compliance Checklists for Currency Transaction Reporting. Version 1 required usage for any work performed for fiscal years ended April 30, 2001 and thereafter. (Currency Transaction Reporting 1) The restrictions set by the Regulation 6A on the cash transact

Realism Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Realism - Coursework Example It is actually due to the absence of some influential authority at international scale that could maintain peace and order by creating impediments on the way of inflicting injustices and violations at the hands of the powerful states. Consequently, the weak states remain under stress and pressure, and hence are bound to imitate the policies devised and designed by the big powers. William Golding’s world-famous Lord of the Flies (1954) also throws light upon the same notion that absence of any regularity force turns the earth into battlefield in the wake of tussle and conflict between various factions, communities and states as well. Golding has skilfully portrayed the scenario of national and international politics in the novel, where Ralph represents democracy, justice, struggle and determination, while Jack symbolizes strategic and financial power that is misused in order to subjugate others under one’s domination. Similarly, Simon is the representative of intellect, wisdom and philosophy; the intellectuals and philosophers explore and point out goodness and evil, and provide a theoretical outline to lead a civilized life; however, they are unable to implement and enforce the same, and hence lack practical leadership qualities in their personality. Moreover, the cultured but weak nations like Piggy cannot overcome the injustices and malpractices prevailing all around them, and eventually become victim of the same at the hands of the cruel stratum at last. The conflict between good and evil certainly gives birth to the anarchic structure, where the powerful stratum guises as savage and beast, and violates against the prevailing socio-political structure in order to rule over others, as Jack captured the attention of majority boys on the foundation of his physical strength on the one hand, and his financial position

Collaboration in social work practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Collaboration in social work practice - Essay Example As a reciprocal process it involves collaboration and trusting attitudes. A recent scandal at National Kidney Foundation (NKF) one of the biggest NPO in Singapore is shed light on the need for building trust and IOC. NKF is experiencing Public distrust and a low confidence rating in the Singapore Public. This has also adversely caused loss of public/donor trust in NPOs. Solutions to regaining trust lie in establishing interorganisational collaborations among partners. The public perceive IOC as less likely to misappropriate funds since management in joint programmes is more rigid than in programmes run by individual NPOs. It is also widely believed that IOC promotes openness. This research aims to establish the role of trust and interorganisational collaboration in regaining public trust. It utilises a qualitative case study methodology whereby two cases are analysed, NKF and Morning Star Community Services. IOCs play a big role in trust building in collaboration activities especially when partners have to rely on one anther to execute certain activities therefore resulting into synergy.