Retail work experience

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Retail work experience Why people do it, why
they dont do it, and why it can be hard to find
in the first place Dr. Charlie Ball Higher
Education Careers Services Unit
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• The Mission.
• Asked by Skillsmart (the retail Sector Skills
  Development Agency) and the South East England
  Development Agency
• To investigate the barriers to FE and HE work
  experience in the retail sector in the south east
• ...in three months

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The Sector Labour Force Survey data suggests
that about 10 to 12 per cent of the working
population in the UK is employed in retail over
3 million people Total sales in 2004 259bn
425,000 people in the south east work in the
sector
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The Problem Only 15 of the retail workforce
have NVQ4 - nationally, just under 30 of the UK
workforce are educated to this level Only 10 of
employees under 24 have NVQ4 17 have NVQ3.
NVQ2 is the most commonly held qualification
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The Future At present, 22 of retail managers
have NVQ4, compared to 42 for the whole
population Working Futures 2006 suggests that,
by 2014, the sector will need 298,000 new
managers as a result of expansion or replacement
demand In 2005, 15,905 graduates were working in
retail six months on BUT over 60 were in
non-graduate shop floor roles. Most leave the
retail sector entirely, not to return, when a
graduate role presents itself. The retail sector
faces a huge skills challenge
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• The methodology
• Telephone interviews with a sample of
• University tutors
• FE teachers
• Employers in retailing
• Students of retail
• ...in three months

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The interviews Semi-structured interviews
conducted by telephone to an interview schedule
tailored to each group of respondents It became
clear from the start that one of the key barriers
was simply gaining access to appropriate people
if they even existed
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The Employers It is felt that employers pay lip
service to community engagement, but don't really
practise it FE interviewee A pain. An extra
pair of hands with no skills employer
interviewee Company are very active on
campus, and do skills training with students,
which keeps them at the front of student
perceptions. - HE interviewee
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The institutions Academic buy-in is not great.
Employability is what happens to students when
they leave. HE interviewee Much (work
placement) is not as good, and it is organised by
individual tutors, some of whom are not as
committed to arranging work placements as others
FE interviewee Institutions are keen on
getting placements.but then not enough support
during the placement. They need to come in and
support the student Employer interviewee
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The students Some students could be better
prepared.they dont know the company, dress
badly, chew gum and so on. employer
interviewee Half my humanities students want to
be fashion buyers! HE interviewee I love it.
I dont do the same thing every day. We work
ahead of thingsit changes every day student
interviewee
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The benefits "Doing work experience means that
students can almost guarantee a job later on, and
they know that they can get a reference for
students." - HE interviewee "They sandwich
students are ambassadors for the brand when they
go back to university or anywhere else if they
have a good experience. Word of mouth marketing
is very strong." - employer interviewee They
say in retail you will never be rich, but you
can make a good living, and that is true.
employer interviewee
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The barriers People dont go to bed dreaming of
being supermarket managers employer
interviewee "The image of retail is bad, people
think of it as boring, and that you don't need
brains. It's a stereotypical view. When you say
what you are studying or where you are working,
people try to belittle retail." - student
interviewee "Many of them already work or have
worked..as shelf-fillers, and equate retail jobs
with that. HE interviewee
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The conclusion The retail sector is extremely
good at marketing its products, and very poor at
marketing itself.