What job experience needed for entry level retail..?

spadoosh

For my interview at a retail job i turned up in my hoody and jeans because they had called me at college asking if i could come in there and then to do the interview. I appologised for the appearance but the interviewer laughed it off.

I then proceeded to detail my work history (labouring). We then moved on to talk about caterham 7 that had just pulled up in the car park. He then offered me the job. The same interviewer interviewd later on after i started working. When there was a recruitment drive and he did the interviews there was a surge in very attractive female employees. He once took a chinese lady on. After 2 hours on the shop floor another manager had to step in, her english language skills just were non existent, ive often thought i could speak better chinese than she could english, i can say next vegetable please, and happy new year in cantonese.


Not much need in the way of qualifications and i doubt your v will be omitted because you dont have retail experience. Youll do much better with a proactive attitude and quite a big smile. Mention things like enjoying organisation and clear direction and you should be on to a winner. If your very energetic (a fart in a bottle my nan would say) try and show some of that. If they think you can move quickly and accurately (processing orders, putting stock out effectively, tills) it will help.

System

Some retailers - not mentioning names here seem to employ the under 25s as they can pay them less.

I remember going to an interview programme with a retailer when I was 26 or 27. There were about 14 of us, 10 were under 25 - we had to do a brief introduction about us.

About 2-3 weeks later, I went into the place as a customer and saw 8 out the 10 under 25s in uniform. I do wonder how many of them were still working for them 6 months later.

These retailers that seem to target under 25s is not a good move as they tend to have a higher turnover and recruit more. You must have seen it yourselves, under 25s getting a job, getting trained and then a few months later, they have left.

In my workplace, excluding the ones that have retired. About 1 in 4 people that have left the employer in past 4 years, were over 25 years old.