How else can one spin this professional experience?

[opalnipotent]

So my partner is unemployed as of a couple of days ago. (eep!) He's spent the last seven years in retail management, and the retail industry is looking pretty bleak at the moment. His degree is in graphic design, but that was a long time ago, and he doesn't do things like html and flash. (he was a print designer, which isn't really an option

Comments

[kutsiekittie]

Well, remember he did not START out in management, so he had to work his way up through at least 2 ranks :)

So that can be emphasized in that he can learn & master new skills quickly.

hmmmm i can't think of anything else, because my experience is pretty much the opposite of his.

[lightz474]

He's got a lot of fields to pick from. He could apply for a catering job or do an internship for a computer or oil company. There are a lot of places hiring for internships right now for the summer. I suggest that he check out craigslist, yahho dot com, Baker Hughes, and perhaps a retail manegment position.

[gradeafan]

I think he should be sure to list that his management experience was with 30 employees and then list it as "project" driven. There are a lot of "Project Manager" type positions in larger corporations. He's shown that he's capable of running things so that's where I'd focus.

You don't necessarily have to say it's retail experience. There are some companies who need managers that are familiar with scheduling or running a sales team even if it's business to business rather than retail.

Just my thoughts....

f

i babble.

[kutsiekittie]

As far as I can tell, retail management is translatable to sales/marketing/business management careers, as well as the HUGE insurance industry.

So what I would do as advise him to point out the budgets he has handles for operations, and to state measurable results of his leadership (talent recruitment/training, employee retention, daily budgets, daily sales goals, monthly sales, etc., coordinating hours, and communications with corp office)

He should TOTALLY have some info about what the sales figure were, where his store ranked in his region/district/overall company, etc. So I'd take some stats like that, if they are GOOD... (ranked top store by sales in my region for 5 consecutive years) (reduced shrink from 5% to 1%, received recognition for lowest shrink for 3 quarters in 2008) stuff like that.

That shows his skills really making a difference where EVERY business kind of is the same. you know? Every business has product that can be stolen, every business needs to make more money this year than they did last year, stuff like