How advantageous is Retail experience?

mega911

Hi, Im 16 and have been applying for my first job. So far it seems to have been going well. I have been told i have a good CV but i haven't gotten a reply. I was thinking of doing work experience behind a counter. Should i spend my time on that or should i just continue the way im going.
Any advice would be much appreciated.

Chattastrophe!

Well, obviously any experience and work reference is better than no experience or work reference. So of course you should go for it, get whatever experience you can.

What sort of jobs are you applying for?

LowKeyReturn

Retail and general sales experience stands you in good sted for any job. Every job, not matter what it is, requires and element of sales, influencing people and communications skills.

When you go to college the need to get a job may be come more pressing. Do not just do summer jobs. Pick something and stick with it even if it's only a couple of hours a week. The standard 18/19 year old's CV with May - September jobs usually ended up in my bin, even during the boom. You've now people like me and many of my friends, in our mid-late thirties, reskilling, with decade plus of retail management experience looking for PT work. The competition is pretty tough. That said there are many retail managers who would much rather take on a young lad/lass - just be prepared to take a few, figurative, knocks.

leggo

One retail client of the company I work for specifically looks for people with no experience for low-hour, starting positions (well, not that they'd turn down a really qualified people). The thinking behind it is that the position is low-responsibility so low-risk, meaning they can look for 'the best of the rest', so to speak. It's also a good company to work your way up the ladder, too, once you're in. They judge these people mainly on how they intro themselves when they walk into the store (and how they're dressed, since it's a clothes shop and all). If they've the type of personality that suits the store, they'll get an interview. So it is possible to get something with no experience.

wmpdd3

As you are under 18 you cant sell alcohol so try stores / business' that dont deal with it. ( some stores let assistants sell alcohol but it involves another person double signing the transaction)