How Did Just ‘Working Retail’ Turn into Your Career?

Yes, a retail job. When that first comes to your head what do you think of? A job for teenagers during the summer to make a little spare cash then jump into their junior year of high school? Yes, that may be the first thing you think of but for many a retail job is all they ever known. Now of days, starting off in retail can be a jumpstart to your life long career. You all have heard of the dreadful term many of you guys start off as before… a sales associate. You know, the job you get anxiety going into where the customers are your number one cause for your worst headache. Where you have to clean up everyone’s mess because the customers forgot their manners at home. Also, while forgetting that you are a real person too only here to do your one job as a sales associate not a counselor. You know those customers that spill their life story to you thinking you care? As if you care?! But you go along with the flow and shake your head with a polite smile while thinking; who the hell cares? Not me. Or personally my favourite customers are the ones who take out all the crap that has ever happened to them and treat you like garbage because they obviously forgot their glasses at home because they can’t tell that the sign says ‘Buy one get the second 50% off’ and no you’re not getting them both for 50% off. I could go off about the word sales associate meaning so much more and did I mention only getting paid minimum wage? But I’ll save that for another day. In all truth, a sales associate is an excellent stepping stone to future career paths. All supervisors, mangers, store managers, and district mangers have all been in the shoes of a sales associate before. Yes, it is not that fun but in the end hard work does pay off with promotions and your paycheck getting bigger and bigger while you’re laughing to the bank thinking that you started off as just a sales associate.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in May 2014, Sales Managers can make upward of $126,040 a year with an average hourly wage of $60.60. Just that alone would give me motivation to become a sales manager and make retail my future career path. Is that why so many people stick out the struggle of retail and stay forever? Yes, the money can be a main motivator as well as the flexibility of the job.  Many other jobs you are forced into strict hours that could mean 12 hour work days 7 days a week with very to no flexibility. I asked the ‘How Did Just Working Retail Turn into Your Career?’ to many of my fellow colleagues. Haleema Singh answer stood out to me, who is a mother of two girls aged 17 and 15 loves the flexibility being a supervisor allows. She said “It’s great! Still working 40 hours a week I still have the time to be a mother to my girls. Most of the time I can still send my daughters off to school because it not a 9-5 job. I pick my schedule to work around my family… My family cannot revolve around my work schedule. Life goes on and being a supervisor allows exactly that, freedom!” That is why so many people currently in retail picked this as their career path because it provides two amazing things; flexibility and a salary that is very comparable to other jobs that you would have to gone to college for and waste even more money when money is already tight. When you could have your career already there for you and room to grow in the business. What more can you ask for? You just have to have the guts to stick out the struggles of that oh so wonderful ‘retail life’. If you want something more creative than the more cookie cutter jobs like supervisor or manager but want retail you can try something in the field of visual. All retail stores have a visual department that can let you be more creative in the same field. All these reasons are why retail became many peoples career path for life.