Retail Managment Any Experience
Discussion
slipstream 1985 said:
a degree to run a "department" of a supermarket. sack that.
I see your job is within retail management are aged around 26 judging by your username and have a decent fleet already so what have you done to get to the role you are in today? And are you happy with a career in retail? I agree though with all the money a degree is costing me I certainly don't wont to be stuck aged 30 running a single department on a crappy 25k salary and if that is what realistically what is going to happen I am going to look at other sector's. I am course willing to work hard and put a lot of effort in wherever I work as I strive to get good money as soon as possible to enjoy some nice car's and get on the property ladder younger in life. I have always had the silly aim of no matter what to own a Ferrari by the age of 30 now matter how silly that sounds for example
greggy50 said:
I have always had the silly aim of no matter what to own a Ferrari by the age of 30 now matter how silly that sounds for example
Well, to make your choice easy, you just need to ask Sainsbury's how many people on their graduate scheme are store managers at 29.When they tell you the number is zero (in all likelihood) you won't need to ask them how many drive to work in Ferraris.
Seriously though, it strikes me that you have high long term goals, but you are fulfilling that on a mundane 'short term' job backed up with the hint that you might progress to a higher level in a store sooner or later.
JustinP1 said:
Well, to make your choice easy, you just need to ask Sainsbury's how many people on their graduate scheme are store managers at 29.
When they tell you the number is zero (in all likelihood) you won't need to ask them how many drive to work in Ferraris.
Seriously though, it strikes me that you have high long term goals, but you are fulfilling that on a mundane 'short term' job backed up with the hint that you might progress to a higher level in a store sooner or later.
My store manager is look's late 30's and drive's a 911 Carrera S. But yeah I see your point to be honest I am striving to achieve something with a high level of pay at an early age and this industry is probably not the way forward from how it appears. I also having the option of getting into the construction industry as my dad is pretty high up and a good company and could get me a place quite easily so need to consider this as well I really don't know. My mind is a mess at the moment I am probably going to get a 2.1 in Business being realistic and I have not an idea where to aim for. I have a placement year next year and need to start looking for it and applying for it in a few month's time and thinking of a suitable sector to aim for that meet's my needs of a decent wage earlier in life is killing me. Open to suggestions of course although I suspect what I am aiming for and what is possible is very different...When they tell you the number is zero (in all likelihood) you won't need to ask them how many drive to work in Ferraris.
Seriously though, it strikes me that you have high long term goals, but you are fulfilling that on a mundane 'short term' job backed up with the hint that you might progress to a higher level in a store sooner or later.
VeeFour said:
Don't pay too much attention to the car..... The company car opt out will be circa 5k per year, so enough to get a 911 on the never never..... As opposed to the 320ED you get on the list.
Bingo. Any old sod can finance a nice car - it is just whether it is worth it. Just on what my mortgage interest rates have fallen, that wold finance a Porche - hell, even a 2007 Ferrari F430.
The reality is when you get in your 30's your priorities change.
If you aspire to buy a Porche on finance when you are nearly 40 and have that being your goal in life above all else, than that's good. If you wan't to buy that car in cash though, that is not going to happen.
My advice is to not get too het up about the choice of placement. Whatever you do you will learn something. Two good friends of mine who did significant placements out of their Civil Engineering degrees did stints at top civil construction firm.
One now reports directly to the board of a travel firm, the other works on the board at a large international disaster relief organisation.
Remember one thing about retail its all about profit, they will pay the lowest wage they can get away with, once your on salary they will 'make' you work 12-16 hour days, work your days off, work bank holidays etc for no extra pay.
I work in a retailers head office as a store designer, I bet your thinking wow I bet your on loads of money, yeah 25k a year BUT i work 9-5 with the odd extra hour a week plus I get all the head office benefits.
When I worked in store I refused to go onto salary I was taking home 2-3k a month due to all the overtime.
I think the original post is a tad optimistic, ive seen 100s of graduate trainees come and go, ive seen 100s of department managers come and go, only the very very best get promoted you have to have a certain mind set to become a store manager.
I work in a retailers head office as a store designer, I bet your thinking wow I bet your on loads of money, yeah 25k a year BUT i work 9-5 with the odd extra hour a week plus I get all the head office benefits.
When I worked in store I refused to go onto salary I was taking home 2-3k a month due to all the overtime.
I think the original post is a tad optimistic, ive seen 100s of graduate trainees come and go, ive seen 100s of department managers come and go, only the very very best get promoted you have to have a certain mind set to become a store manager.
putting all the above into perspective it sounds like hard work for little money, and lots of stress.
one of my friends earns £35k pa with just an onc and apprenticeship experience fixing cranes as a sparky, leaving many hrs a week spare to play with his cars! no stress, no massive long hrs. yorkshire based also, not having to work all over the uk. choose your career path carefully, we have a graduate engineer working for us with an excellent engineering degree who is on £30k pa with 2 yrs experience and will end up on circa £37k in 5 yrs.
one of my friends earns £35k pa with just an onc and apprenticeship experience fixing cranes as a sparky, leaving many hrs a week spare to play with his cars! no stress, no massive long hrs. yorkshire based also, not having to work all over the uk. choose your career path carefully, we have a graduate engineer working for us with an excellent engineering degree who is on £30k pa with 2 yrs experience and will end up on circa £37k in 5 yrs.
Greggy50 - If you are looking at Sainsbury´s, I was a placement student there in 1996!! 
but in the distribution side. I don´t know how it is now, but back then, it was a great way to kick start your career. It´s easy to go "native" and not do too much, but if you work hard, build relationships, it can really pay off. JS sponsored my final year and the brought me back to Charlton depot where I worked my way up for 18 months and then left for a big supplier...
That placement and the 18 months afterwards, I got more from than any other role, mainly around how to deal with people, how to negotiate, how to be noticed and still be part of the team etc etc. I won´t give the cliched PH view of how well I am doing as a result of this as it´s meaningless on the internet, but those years were good for my work education and I would not swap them for anything.
JS are a good place to start and will support you... all the best
T-J-K
PM me if you want more
but in the distribution side. I don´t know how it is now, but back then, it was a great way to kick start your career. It´s easy to go "native" and not do too much, but if you work hard, build relationships, it can really pay off. JS sponsored my final year and the brought me back to Charlton depot where I worked my way up for 18 months and then left for a big supplier... That placement and the 18 months afterwards, I got more from than any other role, mainly around how to deal with people, how to negotiate, how to be noticed and still be part of the team etc etc. I won´t give the cliched PH view of how well I am doing as a result of this as it´s meaningless on the internet, but those years were good for my work education and I would not swap them for anything.
JS are a good place to start and will support you... all the best
T-J-K
PM me if you want more
It all depends what type of person you are.
I used to work for Tesco and there was an Operations manager, must've been on say £30k+ at 28, a few years after coming out of Uni. He would of more than likely done a grad placement.
When I was leaving he was training to be Store manager (say £50k+ and big bonuses).
So it all depends on you.
I wouldn't say it is great money if you are talking as if you want to own a Ferrari, but for a person who's a born manager it's easy money.
I used to work for Tesco and there was an Operations manager, must've been on say £30k+ at 28, a few years after coming out of Uni. He would of more than likely done a grad placement.
When I was leaving he was training to be Store manager (say £50k+ and big bonuses).
So it all depends on you.
I wouldn't say it is great money if you are talking as if you want to own a Ferrari, but for a person who's a born manager it's easy money.
greggy50 said:
slipstream 1985 said:
a degree to run a "department" of a supermarket. sack that.
I see your job is within retail management are aged around 26 judging by your username and have a decent fleet already so what have you done to get to the role you are in today? And are you happy with a career in retail? I agree though with all the money a degree is costing me I certainly don't wont to be stuck aged 30 running a single department on a crappy 25k salary and if that is what realistically what is going to happen I am going to look at other sector's. I am course willing to work hard and put a lot of effort in wherever I work as I strive to get good money as soon as possible to enjoy some nice car's and get on the property ladder younger in life. I have always had the silly aim of no matter what to own a Ferrari by the age of 30 now matter how silly that sounds for example
ferrari by 30 is not a silly ambition. dont get me wrong iv sacrificed some things in my life but gained others. Cant have everything in life but work hard and put the graft in and youl make it.
Also worth remembering that times are tough - any job that pays a decent wage is good. You'll get out of it what you put in - you might feel that they don't appreciate you, or that you are over-worked, but take the opportunity to improve your core skills and learn new ones and that will see you good later on. It's easier to get a new job when you've got one to start with. There will always be someone younger than you, less intelligent than you, and who works fewer hours than you, but still has a job that pays more. Go for something that you enjoy doing and work hard and you'll not go wrong.
Sounds a better bet than going onto benefits and holding out for that dream job that will get you your ferrari by 30 (if it exists).
Sounds a better bet than going onto benefits and holding out for that dream job that will get you your ferrari by 30 (if it exists).
Okay thank's for the help
Think I am going to go for it the money seems decent and I will learn a good range of skill's to help me in the future and its a guaranteed job for a few years which is better than being stuck unemployed. If it is not the thing for me I can always try and switch career path in the future to something else as I am only young and the more experience I get on early in life the better. Hopefully if I put a lot of effort in and do the hours I will get the rewards but only time can tell that
Think I am going to go for it the money seems decent and I will learn a good range of skill's to help me in the future and its a guaranteed job for a few years which is better than being stuck unemployed. If it is not the thing for me I can always try and switch career path in the future to something else as I am only young and the more experience I get on early in life the better. Hopefully if I put a lot of effort in and do the hours I will get the rewards but only time can tell that
Well just to update this did a placement year at a construction company called Lakesmere and I am due to start on a graduate scheme at a company called Cofely UK (Part of GDF Suez) when I finish University in September
Was offered a retail role (not Sainsburys) but decided the unsociable hours were not for me and it was all too easy to get stuck at one level in the foodchain.
This scheme I am on offers 4 x 6 month placements in different areas of the business before moving onto a pretty decent role afterwards (varies depending on what areas you prefer etc) pay is around £25k to start and for my age (just gone 22) and I am really rather thrilled to be honest and can't wait to start
Was offered a retail role (not Sainsburys) but decided the unsociable hours were not for me and it was all too easy to get stuck at one level in the foodchain.
This scheme I am on offers 4 x 6 month placements in different areas of the business before moving onto a pretty decent role afterwards (varies depending on what areas you prefer etc) pay is around £25k to start and for my age (just gone 22) and I am really rather thrilled to be honest and can't wait to start
Congratulations.
If you're going into engineering, worth trying to get close to some project management work early on. If you like it (and are good at it) you can build a skill set that is transferable between industries and very much in demand both for permies and contractors (even more so if you end up getting security clearance).
greggy50 said:
Was offered a retail role (not Sainsburys) but decided the unsociable hours were not for me and it was all too easy to get stuck at one level in the foodchain.
I think you've hit the nail on the head here ^^^. I nearly went into retail in a similar way straight after university and whenever I look back am convinced I made a much better call by not doing it. That's not to say it won't work for everyone but the base of the corporate pyramid is very wide in retail.If you're going into engineering, worth trying to get close to some project management work early on. If you like it (and are good at it) you can build a skill set that is transferable between industries and very much in demand both for permies and contractors (even more so if you end up getting security clearance).
LooneyTunes said:
I think you've hit the nail on the head here ^^^. I nearly went into retail in a similar way straight after university and whenever I look back am convinced I made a much better call by not doing it. That's not to say it won't work for everyone but the base of the corporate pyramid is very wide in retail.
If you're going into engineering, worth trying to get close to some project management work early on. If you like it (and are good at it) you can build a skill set that is transferable between industries and very much in demand both for permies and contractors (even more so if you end up getting security clearance).
Yes I agree and to be honest the prospect of having to work weekends and unsociable hours having come from a placement that was a more traditional mon-fri role really did not appeal at all.If you're going into engineering, worth trying to get close to some project management work early on. If you like it (and are good at it) you can build a skill set that is transferable between industries and very much in demand both for permies and contractors (even more so if you end up getting security clearance).
It is called a business graduate management scheme so project management will be a major part of it from speaking to a current graduate, projects I could get involve in include queen elizabeth hospital and various nucleur power plants etc... which they all provide intergrated services for. They did say if placed on a power plant I will need security clearance and will have to send of forms very soon if I want to be vetted in time for my September start date.
Other placements may include things such as procurement and logisitics etc... but from speaking do think they is the chance to move into areas you find of more interest as time goes on.
My Dad is currently a contruction manager so will be able to give me some good advice along the way as well and company itself also provides me with a mentor throughout and a regular chance to meet directors etc... so really hope it is something I can thrive in
greggy50 said:
They did say if placed on a power plant I will need security clearance and will have to send of forms very soon if I want to be vetted in time for my September start date.
Do get those papers in. Security clearance is one of the few career enhancing things that you can't achieve independently (you MUST be sponsored through it). Lots of contract jobs come up where SC/DV is required and, if you've not already got it and kept it current, the job will almost certainly go to someone who has. The relatively small number of people who have it also pushes up day rates vs non-SC/DV roles.
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