Merchandise Manager At A Big Box Store
Career review from a person working in the job
How I Got The Job
My Education: BA, Political Science
My Prior Experience: 1. I worked at Rent-a-Center as a store manager.
2. I worked at Jiffy Lube as a customer service manager.
3. I worked at a local restaurant as a short-order cook.
My Job Profile
My Company: Wholesale Club
Job/Career Overview: My responsibilities involve making sure our merchandise is available for purchase at all times. That mainly entails working with a "zero sales" report to find items that are out-of-stock and new ones that haven't made it to the floor and to identify inventory issues. I am also responsible for liquidating old items to make way for the new and for marking down particular items to ensure they sell. I also supervise the overnight stock crew and forklift drivers and provide forklift training and certification as set forth by company and OSHA standards. I am responsible for seasonal resets: switching merchandise in certain aisles whose appeal is strictly seasonal, but there are other resets too and company mandated displays that I have to make sure we install. Like any other manager in the building, I am responsible for helping customers and taking on duties the store manager assigns me.
More Insights: If I could change anything about my career I would go back to my high school years and start over with a culinary background at a vocational school. Now, being where I am in my life, I don't feel comfortable starting over.
Love It? Hate It?
I rate this career 5 out of 10.
What I Love or Hate
The best part of the job is that each day is different. It is not often that I come in and have to do the same job two days in a row. I also enjoy the people I work with and the other managers on our staff. My hours are very family friendly and flexible, allowing me to be home with my children when I need to be.
The worst part of the job is having to answer to several people from the store manager on up, when they aren't always on the same page. It makes for extra work and a level of frustration, but nothing unexpected.
My Career Tips
The best advice I can give is to be patient. In the store where I work, there are approximately 250 employees doing around 100 million dollars worth of business a year. We are also located 20 miles from the corporate office and have a lot of eyes on us. That makes for a lot of personalities and a lot of pressure and a little patience goes a long way. I would also try to learn as many jobs as possible no matter what area of retail you are in. The more areas you know, the better prepared you will be if an opportunity ever presents itself to be a store manager or regional manager having worked in the trenches. I would also be prepared for anything. Don't come in with tunnel vision on one task or with too many set goals because in retail you can get pulled in 10 different directions before ever accomplishing what you set out to do.
