Believe it or not, but retail is one of the biggest, most profitable industries in the UK. I say ‘believe it or not’ because, if daily news items are to be believed, retail is heading for an abyss of doom – what with all the job cuts and closing of stores.
The reality is, though, that retail isn’t about to throw the towel in just yet. Still on its feet with the crowd cheering its name, retail is still delivering product and profit. It’s also, more importantly the job seeker in all of us, delivering prospects.
Despite the apparent job losses, retail employs close to three million people throughout the British Isles, with opportunities actually as readily available as the frequency of redundancies. To know this, and find these opportunities, though, all you need is to be a bit streetwise; a bit smart with your search.
You see, when you think of retail, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the jobs on offer are solely those ‘stand on your feet all day’ types wherein you’ll keep the shelves and rails full to the brim. In reality, though, there’s an increase in what the industry calls ‘etail’ jobs. And no, that’s not me having spelt ‘retail’ wrong – there are in fact etail retail jobs.
Etail is perhaps a fairly new phenomena to the industry in terms of its descriptive tendencies, but since the dawn of the internet age there have always been etail jobs – but perhaps weren’t called so. Anyway, etail jobs are jobs that deal with retail duties in an online environment. As more and more stores embrace the internet and take their shop floors to the world wide web, more and more people are being sought to deal with e-commerce; or ‘etail’.
So, it’s with this knowledge that you should – if you’re looking for a career in retail, or even a cash-cow retail job, that is – broaden your job search. If you’re savvy with technologies, can handle the internet and some familiar, more popular computer softwares, then you’re on for a good start. Throw in good communication skills, the ability and willingness to work around flexible hours and you might just be the ideal candidate for a retail job.
When you’re searching for a job, it’s best to be nice and open to suggestion. If you’re a long time out of the game, then that old saying ‘beggars can’t be choosers’ comes to mind. Not that you’re a beggar, I’m sure, but it’s more a famous saying that everyone should welcome. When it comes to jobs in retail, don’t simply settle for cold calling instore; have a look online, on job boards and company’s own sites. If etail is of interest, then it’s more than likely that etail vacancies will be found online – to attract a more apt candidate.
Now that you’ve read this, go and find that etail job.
A great online resource for retail jobs in JobsRetail.co.uk. With a simple upload of your CV, you can search and apply for thousands of jobs in retail on offer from some of the UK’s biggest retailers. As well as that, you can opt to have your CV found by recruiters and employers.
