Retail - the most undervalued job there is?

At the age of 16 I got my first job. Along with a group of friends, I got a temporary job at a new TK Maxx store. We helped to set up the store before it opened and had intensive training on everything from Heath & Safety to the TK Maxx philosophy. Even now it surprises me how much I enjoyed it. It was fascinating, but also great fun as we worked together in the run up to Christmas. We learned to wake up early to make it to work on time and we learned how to make our salaries last until the end of the month. We even saw a stack of fur coats get stolen because someone had a great idea to put them at the entrance (the lengths people go to when stealing something is also fascinating).

Following my stint in TK Maxx, I found a job working for Persil Service, again in retail but this time also developing photographs, cutting keys and processing dry cleaning. Persil were incredibly proud of the level of customer service they provided, but inevitably things would go wrong. Again, it was a brilliant learning experience and I loved learning how everything worked. I was at Persil Service for over a year, training new team members and managers of nearby stores, thanks to the knowledge I'd gained over my time with the company. I regularly got top marks on mystery shopper reports, learned how to handle some incredibly difficult situations/customers and built relationships with friendly regulars. (This was also when I learned that 5p coins are quite possibly the worst coin ever designed... they're impossible to count quickly, especially when you're in a rush to catch a bus!).

Fast forward to the end of university (and a few temp jobs later), I ended up working in Waterstones. I grew up in a bookshop (my mum was a manager of an independent bookshop throughout my childhood) but as an employee I saw a whole other side of running a store. I had budget for my areas and needed to keep on top of stock levels, sales reps from different publishers would visit on a regular basis promoting their latest releases and merchandising became a huge drain on my time when I wasn't with customers. As we were based in a university, we also had to work with the different departments to ensure we had the right reading lists and quantities on order. There was always a lot going on, and a lot of heavy boxes to lift and carry. Not only was it emotionally and mentally hard work, but it was also physically demanding.

So what are the key soft skills that retail can teach you?

1. Adaptability & an ability to think on your feet As a result of the unpredictability of retail (whether it's the weather, unforeseen issues with orders, or difficult customers), retail teaches you to think on your feet and just take things as they come. You quickly learn all you can do is your best and that things often don't go to plan. You need to be able to drop something and pick it up again in the quieter time of the day.

2. Confidence Speaking to people all day, making small talk while at the payment is processing slowly and challenging people appropriately when they are looking a bit 'shifty' requires brilliant social skills. Even if you're incredibly shy, as a minimum you quickly learn to make small talk.

3. Discipline & Resilience The hours are HARD. Your feet WILL hurt and sometimes you will need to keep smiling, even when someone is being incredibly rude or unreasonable. The customer isn't always right, but you do need an incredible amount of patience and tolerance to keep calm and polite when they're wrong.

4. Perspective Seeing how much theft happens was really an eye opener for me, particularly in the run up to Christmas. Speaking to people from different backgrounds also became second nature. Understanding someone else's reality and learning to recommend something appropriate for their needs teaches you a great amount of empathy.

5. And lastly.... Sales You also learn how to upsell, cross sell and finalise a sale quickly and easily. My favourite sales experiences were in fragrance when I first joined Boots. I learned the top sellers, key features and the scents that mattered, but ultimately the decision came down to emotion. A few people would come in multiple times to try out the scent before making the purchase, others wanted the latest trends or something they'd been recommended, whereas some just wanted a trusted classic. The world of fragrance really was fascinating and it could also be fun to support people through the decision making process.

If you can't already tell, I've got some very fond memories of working in stores. I met and worked with brilliant people. These days, I don't get the opportunity to work in store that often, but it really is something I would encourage everyone to do at some stage in their career. It's hard work, but with the right team and mindset it can also be incredibly rewarding.