Graduate Jobs Within Retail
Below are three jobs, that do not involve being based on the shop floor. You may want a position where you are responsible for buying the goods to stock the supermarket shelves.Buying and purchasing jobs are vital to retail, but to work in such positions you need to be have a good understanding of marketing. Professional qualifications in purchasing or marketing would be beneficial to the role. You would be responsible for predicting how likely it was that a new product would be in demand and how effective running a promotion or special offer around the product would be.
Buyers and purchasers must have good numeracy skills and be confident when using IT. The role includes analysing huge amounts of data to discover any emerging trends. You would have to monitor the performance of products and be able to recognise the need to terminate contracts with suppliers when necessary.
If you have excellent IT and organisational skills, but little experience in marketing, you may find the position of supply chain management more suited to your skills. In the role, you would be responsible for getting products out onto the shelves.
This includes sourcing the product, purchasing and transporting it in addition to warehousing and distributing the good. You would need good communication skills for this role as you would work closely with suppliers and customers. Professional qualifications that are valued in this role include purchasing, logistics and transport management.
As a retail manager you would be responsible for a shop or group of shops. You would be the face of the company and would be responsible for branch profitability. Skills needed would include the ability to be able to deal with customer comments and complaints. You would need to be able to motivate your workforce and would be responsible for the safety and security of both customers and staff.
Graduates normally work in the role after joining a retail company training scheme, usually experience is needed working on the shop floor and in non-selling departments of the store.