well, my mother started out with less managerial experience, but more book-related. she started at the bottom, and worked her way right up.
she had an honours degree, with a post-grad in librarianship, plus five years experience in a university library. she stopped working to have my brother and me, and then started working right at the bottom, just part-time in a bookshop. over eight years she has worked her way up, and is now ops manager for most of scotland. irrelevant of experience, I expect you will have to start right at the bottom. however, you should move up very quickly, and can be senior staff in a few years.
but be the ass. man. that all the staff like to work with coz unlike the rest of managment you help and are interested in your product and you fellow staff
trust me this attitude goes a long way with aspiring junior staff and it means you get th ebest of both worlds be the manager but also do the sales assistant stuff as much as possible
sorry for the lack of capitalization, i think i have a virus.
i think there's a lot of value to be had in both positions, and don't shortchange the knowledge you'll get as a lowly bookseller. for one thing, you'll get far more hands-on customer relations experience on the floor. you'll also rapidly develop your breadth and depth of knowledge of books when you're thrown into the fray as a bookseller.
as a manager, you'll probably get more insight into the workings of merchandising, an extremely important skill if you want to make it in retail. and of course, you'll get requisite managerial experience, but that might come at the expense of more extensive practcal bookselling experience.
I guess what I'm asking is whether or not a bookstore would hire someone like me as an Assistant Manager right off the bat. Is that unrealistic?
I'm intelligent, I'm a fast learner, and I have plenty of customer relations experience, so could is starting from scratch really indispensable?
Assuming that the ladder of progression goes from Bookseller, to Senior Bookseller, to Assistant Manager, to Branch Manager, and assuming that I do indeed have to start from the beginning, how long can I expect to take before I make it to each step?
Depends on the bookstore and what they're looking for. Some bookstores value book-related experience, and want that with their managers. Others want retail and customer service experice, and others want management and HR experience.
It can't hurt to apply for a managerial position, just to see what's out there, and if you're a fit for the job.
Assuming that the ladder of progression goes from Bookseller, to Senior Bookseller, to Assistant Manager, to Branch Manager, and assuming that I do indeed have to start from the beginning, how long can I expect to take before I make it to each step?Most retail positions have high turnover. Bookstores tend to more stability, but not always. I've worked in bookstores where you could achieve the first three steps of the progression in a year. Especially if you let them know that's what you'd like to do - lots of places prefer to promote from within, rather than hiring from outside
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don't count on that progression, or on them hiring you right off the bat. while your graduate degree and interpersonal skills will no doubt be a huge leg up, what all retail business look for in a manager is prior management experience, which has nothing to do with the product you are selling.
that being said, they might fast-track you to a management position if you make your ambition known.
A couple of things to think about.As much as Im not one to crap on people's dreams, you really ought to work in a bookstore to sqwelch some of your romantic notions of what it's like to work there
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Comments 10
she had an honours degree, with a post-grad in librarianship, plus five years experience in a university library. she stopped working to have my brother and me, and then started working right at the bottom, just part-time in a bookshop. over eight years she has worked her way up, and is now ops manager for most of scotland. irrelevant of experience, I expect you will have to start right at the bottom. however, you should move up very quickly, and can be senior staff in a few years.
Reply
but be the ass. man. that all the staff like to work with
coz unlike the rest of managment you help and are interested in your product and you fellow staff
trust me this attitude goes a long way with aspiring junior staff
and it means you get th ebest of both worlds
be the manager but also do the sales assistant stuff as much as possible
Reply
i think there's a lot of value to be had in both positions, and don't shortchange the knowledge you'll get as a lowly bookseller. for one thing, you'll get far more hands-on customer relations experience on the floor. you'll also rapidly develop your breadth and depth of knowledge of books when you're thrown into the fray as a bookseller.
as a manager, you'll probably get more insight into the workings of merchandising, an extremely important skill if you want to make it in retail. and of course, you'll get requisite managerial experience, but that might come at the expense of more extensive practcal bookselling experience.
Reply
I'm intelligent, I'm a fast learner, and I have plenty of customer relations experience, so could is starting from scratch really indispensable?
Assuming that the ladder of progression goes from Bookseller, to Senior Bookseller, to Assistant Manager, to Branch Manager, and assuming that I do indeed have to start from the beginning, how long can I expect to take before I make it to each step?
Reply
It can't hurt to apply for a managerial position, just to see what's out there, and if you're a fit for the job.
Assuming that the ladder of progression goes from Bookseller, to Senior Bookseller, to Assistant Manager, to Branch Manager, and assuming that I do indeed have to start from the beginning, how long can I expect to take before I make it to each step?Most retail positions have high turnover. Bookstores tend to more stability, but not always. I've worked in bookstores where you could achieve the first three steps of the progression in a year. Especially if you let them know that's what you'd like to do - lots of places prefer to promote from within, rather than hiring from outside ( ... )
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that being said, they might fast-track you to a management position if you make your ambition known.
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