Retail Management Your complete guide to starting your career

Retail Management Your complete guide to starting your career If you’re thinking about a career in retail management, either because you’ve put in your time in the entry-level retail trenches and want to move up in the field or you’re considering a career change, you probably have a general idea of what to expect. After all, retail is not for the faint of heart. However, there’s a difference between working in retail and making it your career, so if you’re considering taking that step to level up, we have the info you’ll need to help make that decision. How will you know if it’s a good fit?If you’ve gotten this far, it’s likely you’ve already found retail to be a good fit for you, on paper. But what are the qualities you’ll need to have as a retail manager?Good personality counts for a lot here. Some common traits found in successful retail managers include:Strong customer focus. The customers may or may not always be right, but they will always be your priority. Manag ers who care about providing excellent customer service, even under stressful circumstances, do well.Leadership skills. The manager will be in charge of other employees as well as store operations, so it’s important to be someone who can step up and lead rather than melting into the crowd.The ability to make peace. Whether it’s dealing with employee drama or customer issues, at some point the manager will have to be the one who fights off irritation or frustration and placates different kinds of personalities to make sure things are resolved well.If you struggle in any of these areas, it doesn’t mean you can’t be a good retail manager, but it might mean putting in extra work to create a successful professional persona. Being part of retail management means being able to navigate the challenges of keeping everything running smoothly while also accommodating corporate/business goals and customer needs.What is the day-to-day like?Retail managers are typicall y responsible for the daily operations of a brick-and-mortar store- whether it’s a big box giant like Walmart or your Mom and Pop hardware store down the street. Basically, every store needs someone to ensure that sales goals are being met, staff are being managed, the store is operating well, and that customer needs are being met. A retail manager’s tasks may include:Opening and closing the storeHiring and managing staff membersManaging the daily employee scheduleAnalyzing sales and setting sales goals for the storeCreating and maintaining store budgetsAnalyzing and coordinating inventoryCreating store displaysWorking with and reporting to senior management in the company (for example, a head office or a store owner)Communicating financial informationWorking with vendors and suppliersEnsuring that the store is clean, organized, and well-maintainedMonitoring expenses and store losses (security)Handling escalated customer service issuesRetail managers are responsible fo r making sure everything gets done in a store, and that it’s done well. Retail managers can also expect to work long weeks (potentially more than 40 hours), on varied schedules. After all, stores are open all week long, and increasingly on holidays. This is not your standard 9-to-5 in a cubicle gig.What types of retail management jobs are out there?Some of the most common retail management job opportunities include:Store ManagerRetail Operations ManagerTeam LeaderStore General ManagerAlthough most retail management positions are still in what we would think of as â€Å"normal† stores, the retail landscape is definitely changing. So in addition to the traditional store manager roles (showing up at a specific store and making sure that physical operations are going according to plan), there will be increasing opportunities to manage digital retail as well. Managers who are well-versed in supply chain logistics or online sales have versatile skill sets that could help the m advance in our increasingly digital economy.What education will you need?One of the best things about getting started retail is that you don’t need to get an extensive education before you jump in. The retail path often starts with a high school degree and on-the-job training, and then growing experience as you take on more responsibility. Hands-on experience is often more valuable in this field than a specific education credential. To become a retail manager, however, an associate’s degree, bachelor’s degree, or course in sales, business, or management can help you get to the management level faster.If you don’t have a degree, don’t worry- there’s still a path to retail management. You can take your existing experience and use that to create longer-term goals. You can also stay and grow within a certain company, using the promotion ladder to get where you want to be. At every level of your retail career, make sure you’re learning e verything you possibly can about how your store (and retail in general) works, because this is an education you can’t get elsewhere- and you never know when that information can help boost you to the next level.What skills will you need?As mentioned before, retail managers have to be able to juggle many different obligations and tasks. These core skills will serve you very well in a retail management career.Communication skillsManagers have to be able to communicate clearly and effectively with all sorts of different people: employees, upper management, suppliers or vendors, and employees. That means being able to adapt a message to the right audience and strike the right tone as necessary. Listening skills are also essential, so that potential problems can be understood and addressed as quickly and efficiently as possible.Problem solvingEvery retail manager is going to deal with problems- problems with employees, problems with customers, problems in getting the right merchan dise, problems with security, you name it. If your solution to a direct challenge is to pull inward, turtle-style, and hope it goes away, this job might not be for you. Instead, retail managers should be able to see a problem clearly, and be able to come up with a workable solution- even if it’s not a perfect one.Results focusIt’s not enough to keep a store going- managers will also be responsible for performing well according to different metrics, whether it’s a store’s financial performance, sales goals, employee goals, customer feedback, etc. It’s crucial to understand what these criteria are that you’ll need to meet and focus your attention on hitting them.ProfessionalismAs mentioned before, the retail manager will often need to step in and be the grownup in cases of conflict or customer complaints. A professional demeanor at all times is very necessary.Math skillsRetail managers are often responsible for extensive reporting and analysis when it comes to a store’s finances and budgets, so being able to do the math efficiently and accurately is important.Negotiation skillsWhether it’s trying to create an employee schedule without causing a revolt or trying to get a better deal from vendors, knowing how to negotiate your way out of any situation is a powerful tool for a retail manager to have.Engaging people skillsRetail managers are not solo acts, so they have to be able to inspire their teams to do work together for the common good of the store. Fear and anger are not the best motivational tools around, so it’s essential to have the skills to be able to get people to want to do their best work- and to motivate them when they don’t necessarily want to do it.What is the potential career path? â€Å"Retail management† can seem like an end goal in and of itself, so if you haven’t thought much yet about the nuances of what you can do once you get to that point, you’re not alone. Once you get a certain level of management experience, those skills are very transferable all over the retail landscape. You may decide to specialize in a particular area, like one of the following:MerchandisingMarketingPersonnel managementCustomer serviceTrainingOperationsWarehousingOnce you have skills and experience, you may find that different management opportunities may open up even within the same company.What kind of salary can you expect?According to salary.com, retail managers can make a pretty wide range of salaries, with a median between $48,091 and $65,734. Specific salary depends on factors like experience and location.What is the outlook for retail management?Retail itself may be changing with the times, but the need for retail isn’t. Companies will always be selling goods, products, and services, and will always need qualified leaders to help them do that in the most efficient and profitable ways possible. Retail management is a career with solid opera tional foundations, and will continue to be an in-demand career path for those with the experience, leadership skills, and the commitment to customer service.If you’re looking for help with your resume,  you can also download free templates from our Resume Library to get started.

The Life and Death of a Star

The Life and Death of a Star Stars last a long time, but eventually they will die. The energy that makes up stars, some of the largest objects we ever study, comes from the interaction of individual atoms. So, to understand the largest and most powerful objects in the universe, we must understand the most basic. Then, as the stars life ends, those basic principles once again come into play to describe what will happen to the star next. Astronomers study various aspects of stars to determine how old they are as well as their other characteristics. That helps them also understand the life and death processes they experience. The Birth of a Star The stars took a long time to form, as gas drifting in the universe was drawn together by the force of gravity. This gas is mostly hydrogen, because its the most basic and abundant element in the universe, although some of the gas might consist of some other elements. Enough of this gas begins gathering together under gravity and each atom is pulling on all of the other atoms. This gravitational pull is enough to force the atoms to collide with each other, which in turn generates heat. In fact, as the atoms are colliding with each other, theyre vibrating and moving more quickly (that is, after all, what heat energy really is: atomic motion). Eventually, they get so hot, and the individual atoms have so much kinetic energy, that when they collide with another atom (which also has a lot of kinetic energy) they dont just bounce off each other. With enough energy, the two atoms collide and the nucleus of these atoms fuse together. Remember, this is mostly hydrogen, which means that each atom contains a nucleus with only one proton. When these nuclei fuse together (a process known, appropriately enough, as nuclear fusion) the resulting nucleus has two protons, which means that the new atom created is helium. Stars may also fuse heavier atoms, such as helium, together to make even larger atomic nuclei. (This process, called nucleosynthesis, is believed to be how many of the elements in our universe were formed.) The Burning of a Star So the atoms (often the element hydrogen) inside the star collide together, going through a process of nuclear fusion, which generates heat, electromagnetic radiation (including visible light), and energy in other forms, such as high-energy particles. This period of atomic burning is what most of us think of as the life of a star, and its in this phase that we see most stars up in the heavens. This heat generates a pressure - much like heating air inside a balloon creates pressure on the surface of the balloon (rough analogy) - which pushes the atoms apart. But remember that gravitys trying to pull them together. Eventually, the star reaches an equilibrium where the attraction of gravity and the repulsive pressure are balanced out, and during this period the star burns in a relatively stable way. Until it runs out of fuel, that is. The Cooling of a Star As the hydrogen fuel in a star gets converted to helium, and to some heavier elements, it takes more and more heat to cause the nuclear fusion. The mass of a star plays a role in how long it takes to burn through the fuel. More massive stars use their fuel faster because it takes more energy to counteract the larger gravitational force. (Or, put another way, the larger gravitational force causes the atoms to collide together more rapidly.) While our sun will probably last for about 5 thousand million years, more massive stars may last as little as 1 hundred million years before using up their fuel. As the stars fuel begins to run out, the star begins to generate less heat. Without the heat to counteract the gravitational pull, the star begins to contract. All is not lost, however! Remember that these atoms are made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons, which are fermions. One of the rules governing fermions is called the Pauli Exclusion Principle, which states that no two fermions can occupy the same state, which is a fancy way of saying that there cant be more than one identical one in the same place doing the same thing. (Bosons, on the other hand, dont run into this problem, which is part of the reason photon-based lasers work.) The result of this is that the Pauli Exclusion Principle creates yet another slight repulsive force between electrons, which can help counteract the collapse of a star, turning it into a white dwarf. This was discovered by the Indian physicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar in 1928. Another type of star, the neutron star, come into being when a star collapses and the neutron-to-neutron repulsion counteracts the gravitational collapse. However, not all stars become white dwarf stars or even neutron stars. Chandrasekhar realized that some stars would have very different fates. The Death of a Star Chandrasekhar determined any star more massive than about 1.4 times our sun (a mass called the Chandrasekhar limit) wouldnt be able to support itself against its own gravity and would collapse into a white dwarf. Stars ranging up to about 3 times our sun would become neutron stars. Beyond that, though, theres just too much mass for the star to counteract the gravitational pull through the exclusion principle. Its possible that when the star is dying it might go through a supernova, expelling enough mass out into the universe that it drops below these limits and becomes one of these types of stars ... but if not, then what happens? Well, in that case, the mass continues to collapse under gravitational forces until a black hole is formed. And that  is what you call the death of a star.