Retail Managment Any Experience
Discussion
Hello just wondered if anyone on here had some experience of retail management at all. Currently I study a degree in Business Studies at Lincoln University and work as a supervisor in Sainsbury's petrol station with me working for the company since I was 16 making it 3 years now aged 19. Manager has said as part of my gap year I seriously should consider the placement they offer in logistics as can put in a good word for me and then said that after this as long as I don't cock up I should be offered a place on the graduate scheme.
Looking at what they offer it appears the placement (in retail) is around 15k a year and then when you move onto the graduate scheme which will when I am 22/23 the wage is 25 - 30k depending on the area but ideally I will be based in a store nearer home so can save up some money for a couple of years before moving out. After that prospects are that the idea of the scheme is to get your to a deputy management role within 18 months which will then be paid a wage of circa 35 - 40k. After this store management is the next stage with a potential wage of 60k+ and onwards from that into head office.
The upsides to me seem that the money is good I could quite easily be earning 35 - 40k by the age of 25 which to me seems pretty good and also it is an area I already have a bit of experience in and seem to enjoy. The downsides appear to be that the holiday is pretty crap (23 days a year) although this can increase as time goes on and the fact hours can vary and be longer than expected.
Any experience of this type of role and good and bad points is much appreciated as have to start sorting my placement's out early next year and wherever I go will highly influence where I end up in the future and need to decide whether this is the correct route to go down or not
Looking at what they offer it appears the placement (in retail) is around 15k a year and then when you move onto the graduate scheme which will when I am 22/23 the wage is 25 - 30k depending on the area but ideally I will be based in a store nearer home so can save up some money for a couple of years before moving out. After that prospects are that the idea of the scheme is to get your to a deputy management role within 18 months which will then be paid a wage of circa 35 - 40k. After this store management is the next stage with a potential wage of 60k+ and onwards from that into head office.
The upsides to me seem that the money is good I could quite easily be earning 35 - 40k by the age of 25 which to me seems pretty good and also it is an area I already have a bit of experience in and seem to enjoy. The downsides appear to be that the holiday is pretty crap (23 days a year) although this can increase as time goes on and the fact hours can vary and be longer than expected.
Any experience of this type of role and good and bad points is much appreciated as have to start sorting my placement's out early next year and wherever I go will highly influence where I end up in the future and need to decide whether this is the correct route to go down or not
greggy50 said:
Hello just wondered if anyone on here had some experience of retail management at all. Currently I study a degree in Business Studies at Lincoln University and work as a supervisor in Sainsbury's petrol station with me working for the company since I was 16 making it 3 years now aged 19. Manager has said as part of my gap year I seriously should consider the placement they offer in logistics as can put in a good word for me and then said that after this as long as I don't cock up I should be offered a place on the graduate scheme.
Looking at what they offer it appears the placement (in retail) is around 15k a year and then when you move onto the graduate scheme which will when I am 22/23 the wage is 25 - 30k depending on the area but ideally I will be based in a store nearer home so can save up some money for a couple of years before moving out. After that prospects are that the idea of the scheme is to get your to a deputy management role within 18 months which will then be paid a wage of circa 35 - 40k. After this store management is the next stage with a potential wage of 60k+ and onwards from that into head office.
The upsides to me seem that the money is good I could quite easily be earning 35 - 40k by the age of 25 which to me seems pretty good and also it is an area I already have a bit of experience in and seem to enjoy. The downsides appear to be that the holiday is pretty crap (23 days a year) although this can increase as time goes on and the fact hours can vary and be longer than expected.
Any experience of this type of role and good and bad points is much appreciated as have to start sorting my placement's out early next year and wherever I go will highly influence where I end up in the future and need to decide whether this is the correct route to go down or not
Couple of things to bear in mind - retail management and logistics management generally have pretty high staff turnover rates, people move around a lot, worth asking why. The plus side of this is that there's no shortage of jobs out there and opportunities to climb the ladder or even diversify if you fancy a bit of a change, new challenges, whatever - it's not hard to move sideways is the point. Just be weary of slipping into your comfort zone and losing the will to progress for too long if you've been there for the best part of a decade.Looking at what they offer it appears the placement (in retail) is around 15k a year and then when you move onto the graduate scheme which will when I am 22/23 the wage is 25 - 30k depending on the area but ideally I will be based in a store nearer home so can save up some money for a couple of years before moving out. After that prospects are that the idea of the scheme is to get your to a deputy management role within 18 months which will then be paid a wage of circa 35 - 40k. After this store management is the next stage with a potential wage of 60k+ and onwards from that into head office.
The upsides to me seem that the money is good I could quite easily be earning 35 - 40k by the age of 25 which to me seems pretty good and also it is an area I already have a bit of experience in and seem to enjoy. The downsides appear to be that the holiday is pretty crap (23 days a year) although this can increase as time goes on and the fact hours can vary and be longer than expected.
Any experience of this type of role and good and bad points is much appreciated as have to start sorting my placement's out early next year and wherever I go will highly influence where I end up in the future and need to decide whether this is the correct route to go down or not
greggy50 said:
Hello just wondered if anyone on here had some experience of retail management at all. Currently I study a degree in Business Studies at Lincoln University and work as a supervisor in Sainsbury's petrol station with me working for the company since I was 16 making it 3 years now aged 19. Manager has said as part of my gap year I seriously should consider the placement they offer in logistics as can put in a good word for me and then said that after this as long as I don't cock up I should be offered a place on the graduate scheme.
Looking at what they offer it appears the placement (in retail) is around 15k a year and then when you move onto the graduate scheme which will when I am 22/23 the wage is 25 - 30k depending on the area but ideally I will be based in a store nearer home so can save up some money for a couple of years before moving out. After that prospects are that the idea of the scheme is to get your to a deputy management role within 18 months which will then be paid a wage of circa 35 - 40k. After this store management is the next stage with a potential wage of 60k+ and onwards from that into head office.
The upsides to me seem that the money is good I could quite easily be earning 35 - 40k by the age of 25 which to me seems pretty good and also it is an area I already have a bit of experience in and seem to enjoy. The downsides appear to be that the holiday is pretty crap (23 days a year) although this can increase as time goes on and the fact hours can vary and be longer than expected.
Any experience of this type of role and good and bad points is much appreciated as have to start sorting my placement's out early next year and wherever I go will highly influence where I end up in the future and need to decide whether this is the correct route to go down or not
I was in a similar situation when I was at uni I worked part time at PC World. Looking at what they offer it appears the placement (in retail) is around 15k a year and then when you move onto the graduate scheme which will when I am 22/23 the wage is 25 - 30k depending on the area but ideally I will be based in a store nearer home so can save up some money for a couple of years before moving out. After that prospects are that the idea of the scheme is to get your to a deputy management role within 18 months which will then be paid a wage of circa 35 - 40k. After this store management is the next stage with a potential wage of 60k+ and onwards from that into head office.
The upsides to me seem that the money is good I could quite easily be earning 35 - 40k by the age of 25 which to me seems pretty good and also it is an area I already have a bit of experience in and seem to enjoy. The downsides appear to be that the holiday is pretty crap (23 days a year) although this can increase as time goes on and the fact hours can vary and be longer than expected.
Any experience of this type of role and good and bad points is much appreciated as have to start sorting my placement's out early next year and wherever I go will highly influence where I end up in the future and need to decide whether this is the correct route to go down or not
The store manager there was very enthusiastic about me rising in the world of retail. He was a grafter and that was his life. However to me, it was a job to get some cash, as with a business degree I hoped for better things.
The point is, do you want a career in retail?
Well, it's unlikely you'd be earning that kind of money at 25 - as that assumes you'd have been promoted to deputy store manager by 25, which is very rare - and it's also a pretty difficult process to get there.
Store managers start at around £40k, plus up to 50% bonus, although top earners could be on £80k basic.
However.... it's bloody hard work, very stressful, and, ultimately, I didn't consider it to be worth the hassle and bailed out.
Consider how many people out there are still deputy managers in their 50s... would you really want to be stuck grafting away like a 20 year old when you're rapidly approaching retirement?
Store managers start at around £40k, plus up to 50% bonus, although top earners could be on £80k basic.
However.... it's bloody hard work, very stressful, and, ultimately, I didn't consider it to be worth the hassle and bailed out.
Consider how many people out there are still deputy managers in their 50s... would you really want to be stuck grafting away like a 20 year old when you're rapidly approaching retirement?
I'm trying to graft my way up in retail at the moment. Joined the company I'm with in November as a Christmas temp. Within a few weeks I was asked to stay on permanently. After a couple of months I was put onto the company's management training scheme. I was sick of college when I joined and the scheme is pretty good from the training perspective so it was a no-brainer. However, the supermarkets are where I want to be. I'm unconvinced of how long the company I'm with has left to run as well, which is incentive for me to finish the training and get some experience far quicker than expected.
I figure that if in a couple of years time I'm still with this company and not been able to progress further than store management then I'll either hope that my experience will get me onto a supermarket training scheme or grit my teeth and do the one thing I've been trying to avoid, university, and get onto a post-graduate scheme, with Aldi ideally if they're still running theirs come that time.
It is an industry with a tremendous amount of pressure but the rewards for those who are successful are worth having imo.
I figure that if in a couple of years time I'm still with this company and not been able to progress further than store management then I'll either hope that my experience will get me onto a supermarket training scheme or grit my teeth and do the one thing I've been trying to avoid, university, and get onto a post-graduate scheme, with Aldi ideally if they're still running theirs come that time.
It is an industry with a tremendous amount of pressure but the rewards for those who are successful are worth having imo.
I worked at Tesco for 7 years after i left school and did various roles, whilst i was there not one of the people i worked with went higher then department supervisor and whilst working up to that they were doing 14-15 hour days and whilst salaried they weren't paid overtime so a large part of their working week was unpaid. Because i was on an hourly rate i was actually earning more than some of them for doing less hours. Even now, 12 years after i left 2 that i still talk to who still work for the company are only department managers, neither have got as far as Store manager or anything else.
If their graduate scheme is anything like where i work then you will be doing the crap jobs for years and wont be earning anything like they say you "could", you'll be moved on frequently and will probably find yourself with a few weeks notice if that for finding new digs etc when you change roles. My flatmate got told on a Thursday he was starting his new role on the following Monday, he had to commute from Oxford to Gatwick until he found somewhere to live.
That said the new boss of Tesco was a regional manager when i was there so you can get there
If their graduate scheme is anything like where i work then you will be doing the crap jobs for years and wont be earning anything like they say you "could", you'll be moved on frequently and will probably find yourself with a few weeks notice if that for finding new digs etc when you change roles. My flatmate got told on a Thursday he was starting his new role on the following Monday, he had to commute from Oxford to Gatwick until he found somewhere to live.
That said the new boss of Tesco was a regional manager when i was there so you can get there
vit4 said:
and get onto a post-graduate scheme, with Aldi ideally if they're still running theirs come that time.
Word of advice... don't.They always have vacancies, because they turn over managers at a horrific rate. You'd be lucky to last 12 months.
Their 'training' involves running a store, which means being in at 6am to take in deliveries, before mopping the floor, cashing up the tills, etc.... and you'll finally get out when the store closes.
I'm sure the rewards are there when you get to regional manager with them - but something like only 1 in 100 make it - the rest bail out to companies offering a better work / life balance.
I can throw in some advice on Tesco which may or may not be similar to Sainsburys
There are a lot of jobs at 'floor manager' level but going up higher there is obviously a lot of competition for jobs so I wouldn't be so confident that you would necessarily get there - and almost certainly not at 25 or even 30.
Whilst I was there my store streamlined the management structure (i.e they got rid of a coupel of layers) which makes promotion even harder AND it meant more work for everyone else.
All managers worked shifts and very long days - I couldnt handle it personally, especially when you consider you could be doing it for a many number of years. Also the managers got shifts around a lot within stores and to other stores.
So my advice is, if you don't mind working longer shiftwork and and are you are aware you won;t progress as fast as they make out then go for it.
There are a lot of jobs at 'floor manager' level but going up higher there is obviously a lot of competition for jobs so I wouldn't be so confident that you would necessarily get there - and almost certainly not at 25 or even 30.
Whilst I was there my store streamlined the management structure (i.e they got rid of a coupel of layers) which makes promotion even harder AND it meant more work for everyone else.
All managers worked shifts and very long days - I couldnt handle it personally, especially when you consider you could be doing it for a many number of years. Also the managers got shifts around a lot within stores and to other stores.
So my advice is, if you don't mind working longer shiftwork and and are you are aware you won;t progress as fast as they make out then go for it.
Okay thanks for the advice here paint's a more realistic picture of what I can expect. Think I am still going to apply anyway for the placement anyway as it still seems interesting to me and will be good as a back up if I don't get one at a car company which is what I would ideally want. If not I think I would still be pretty pleased with a career in retail as I do enjoy it at the moment albeit on a far smaller level and that starting wage for the graduate scheme aged 22 of 25k does seem very appealing to me.
It was the scheme below I was looking btw
http://www2.sainsburys.co.uk/graduates/schemes/ret...
It was the scheme below I was looking btw
http://www2.sainsburys.co.uk/graduates/schemes/ret...
VeeFour said:
Word of advice... don't.
They always have vacancies, because they turn over managers at a horrific rate. You'd be lucky to last 12 months.
Their 'training' involves running a store, which means being in at 6am to take in deliveries, before mopping the floor, cashing up the tills, etc.... and you'll finally get out when the store closes.
I'm sure the rewards are there when you get to regional manager with them - but something like only 1 in 100 make it - the rest bail out to companies offering a better work / life balance.
I have already been warned away from aldi meant to be a horrible company to work for despite the decent money even on a fairly basic level job you are required to do a hell of a lot more work than you would at a rival company. They always have vacancies, because they turn over managers at a horrific rate. You'd be lucky to last 12 months.
Their 'training' involves running a store, which means being in at 6am to take in deliveries, before mopping the floor, cashing up the tills, etc.... and you'll finally get out when the store closes.
I'm sure the rewards are there when you get to regional manager with them - but something like only 1 in 100 make it - the rest bail out to companies offering a better work / life balance.
OK, starting salary looks good - but ignore the promise of 'promotion to deputy within 18 months', as that will never happen.
What will happen is that you'll do your training and be appointed as a department manager - could be any department in the store, on any store (within reason) on your region.
But you'll either get no pay rise when this happens, or will get a token 500 quid.
You may be stuck as a dept. manager for several years - doing several different departments to 'prove yourself'. Your pay rises will be token gestures, or you'll be red-lined as being paid too much for your grade....
When you finally make deputy manager, you'll be on low 30s and could be stuck there for decades....
Think of it as a big pyramid - lots of dept. managers who want to make deputy, around twice as many deputies as there are stores, so maybe 10% of all graduate trainees will make store manager. The rest will fall away and resign themselves to being deputy managers as they have family responsibilities and need the stability of the role.
The way to get on is to skip between companies, taking a promotion at each step - but that step up to store manager will still be very tricky.
What will happen is that you'll do your training and be appointed as a department manager - could be any department in the store, on any store (within reason) on your region.
But you'll either get no pay rise when this happens, or will get a token 500 quid.
You may be stuck as a dept. manager for several years - doing several different departments to 'prove yourself'. Your pay rises will be token gestures, or you'll be red-lined as being paid too much for your grade....
When you finally make deputy manager, you'll be on low 30s and could be stuck there for decades....
Think of it as a big pyramid - lots of dept. managers who want to make deputy, around twice as many deputies as there are stores, so maybe 10% of all graduate trainees will make store manager. The rest will fall away and resign themselves to being deputy managers as they have family responsibilities and need the stability of the role.
The way to get on is to skip between companies, taking a promotion at each step - but that step up to store manager will still be very tricky.
greggy50 said:
I would still be pretty pleased with a career in retail as I do enjoy it at the moment albeit on a far smaller level and that starting wage for the graduate scheme aged 22 of 25k does seem very appealing to me.
"There is no such thing as a free lunch" applies here.25k may be generous now - but look at the reasons behind offering that.
And consider how generous 25k sounds when you are 32 instead of 22. As that is the reality. From the link you've shown highlight all the times that 'have the potential to'. 'could' and 'might' suffix these timescales.
Then ask them how many people they take on each year, and how many 25 year old deputy store managers they have and how many 30 year old store managers they have.
Edited by JustinP1 on Sunday 5th June 20:09
JustinP1 said:
"There is no such thing as a free lunch" applies here.
25k may be generous now - but look at the reasons behind offering that.
And consider how generous 25k sounds when you are 32 instead of 22. As that is the reality. From the link you've shown highlight all the times that 'have the potential to'. 'could' and 'might' suffix these timescales.
Then ask them how many people they take on each year, and how many 25 year old deputy store managers they have and how many 30 year old store managers they have.
Yeah if I was still on 25k at 30 + I would be slightly more than pissed off I aspire to earn a lot more than that. Think I need to speak to my manager about more realistic prospects of the scheme as he seems a pretty nice down to earth bloke and hopefully wont feed me rubbish.25k may be generous now - but look at the reasons behind offering that.
And consider how generous 25k sounds when you are 32 instead of 22. As that is the reality. From the link you've shown highlight all the times that 'have the potential to'. 'could' and 'might' suffix these timescales.
Then ask them how many people they take on each year, and how many 25 year old deputy store managers they have and how many 30 year old store managers they have.
Edited by JustinP1 on Sunday 5th June 20:09
Thanks for the advice however certainly given me a lot to think about and need to start looking into different area's as not appealing as I first thought. As said I would love to get a job in the automotive industry but as I am studying business studies I am not sure if this will be possible especially in terms of a placement.
greggy50 said:
Okay thanks for the advice here paint's a more realistic picture of what I can expect. Think I am still going to apply anyway for the placement anyway as it still seems interesting to me and will be good as a back up if I don't get one at a car company which is what I would ideally want. If not I think I would still be pretty pleased with a career in retail as I do enjoy it at the moment albeit on a far smaller level and that starting wage for the graduate scheme aged 22 of 25k does seem very appealing to me.
It was the scheme below I was looking btw
http://www2.sainsburys.co.uk/graduates/schemes/ret...
a degree to run a "department" of a supermarket. sack that. It was the scheme below I was looking btw
http://www2.sainsburys.co.uk/graduates/schemes/ret...
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