Changing Career

[chuck'em]

I'm looking at a change of direction in my career and looking for some advice. 

I started working in a supermarket when I left school and just kind of stuck with it as I was pretty successful at it. I decided to go traveling after 7 years in my first job, the last 5 of which were spent in management roles in various departments.

After coming back after a couple of years I looked to find something a bit different as I didn't want to get back into retail but it didn't work out. After getting pretty desperate to get a job had to go with what I knew and went back into retail with a different company. Now after 3 years I've found myself pushing for a promotion I'm not sure I even want anymore. 

I'm sick of working every weekend and not having time with friends and family. 

The problem is I earn decent money, about £26k, in my current position and with a mortgage cannot afford much of a drop in pay to start something new. 

Has anyone been in a similar situation, or have any advice on where to go from Retail management?

[VLC86]

I feel your pain mate. I was in retail management for about 7 years and after a year or so I was ready to move on but it never really materialised.

 

I got a lucky break about 8 months ago to get out of it but the business I worked for was diverse enough to offer me a different way out. The one piece of advice I would give is not to under estimate the skills and experience you would have developed from that role and other organisations would snap your hand off for someone with management experience.

[Izzy]

54 minutes ago, chuck'em said:

I'm looking at a change of direction in my career and looking for some advice. 

I started working in a supermarket when I left school and just kind of stuck with it as I was pretty successful at it. I decided to go traveling after 7 years in my first job, the last 5 of which were spent in management roles in various departments.

After coming back after a couple of years I looked to find something a bit different as I didn't want to get back into retail but it didn't work out. After getting pretty desperate to get a job had to go with what I knew and went back into retail with a different company. Now after 3 years I've found myself pushing for a promotion I'm not sure I even want anymore. 

I'm sick of working every weekend and not having time with friends and family. 

The problem is I earn decent money, about £26k, in my current position and with a mortgage cannot afford much of a drop in pay to start something new. 

Has anyone been in a similar situation, or have any advice on where to go from Retail management?

I started in retail aged 16 and left at 33. Managed to work my way up from a YTS to Regional Director in the same company but eventually burn out with stress 

 

@Costock_Fox is dead right. Retail is a brilliant training ground and if you can do retail you can do anything. Your skills are transferable and highly desirable so the world is your oyster really. 

 

I know what you mean about long hours and weekends and not seeing family and friends. The main reason I wanted a regional job so much was so I could get out of store management and have weekends off.

 

You can still earn decent money 9-5 and without the stress of retail. You just need to decide what market/sector you fancy working in and get your CV out there.

 

I'll tell you one thing though. Having been out of it for 12 years I do still miss the buzz and camaraderie sometimes. When things are going well and you're hitting target it's a fun place to be.

 

Best of luck chap 

[Smudge]

@chuck'em As @Costock_Fox said, you have a skill set that not everyone posseses. Good management and people skills are in demand and can be transferred to service industries such as health, transportation even banking. Selling a product doesn't need to be to be retail, sales are required in all industries,.

Good Luck with your search

[Guest]

Transferable skills. 

 

Decide what you want to do. Make a list of the transferables that are relevant. Apply.

 

Just don't choose teaching.

[Christoph]

Can you not look into careers in retail which don't involve being on the shop floor etc? Like marketing or being a buyer etc? 

[rachhere]

Have you tried using some of the key responsibilities you have in your role and putting them into a search on Indeed? It doesn't just search for job titles, it also searches within the role and people descriptors for the keywords. It might take a bit of sifting through the results which come up, but it could be a good source of inspiration for how you could apply your skills elsewhere. 

[Saxondale]

If one of your key reasons for wanting to change is to move into a more 9-5ish type work pattern, consider working in sales management or operations management in a B2B environment, like a trade supplier or similar. Motor parts, construction materials, specialist manufacturers - stuff like that.

[Unabomber]

4 hours ago, Saxondale said:

If one of your key reasons for wanting to change is to move into a more 9-5ish type work pattern, consider working in sales management or operations management in a B2B environment, like a trade supplier or similar. Motor parts, construction materials, specialist manufacturers - stuff like that.

Good shout I work in construction sales management and although I work hard and lot of hours in the week there is no weekend work. 

[Captain...]

23 hours ago, chuck'em said:

I'm looking at a change of direction in my career and looking for some advice. 

I started working in a supermarket when I left school and just kind of stuck with it as I was pretty successful at it. I decided to go traveling after 7 years in my first job, the last 5 of which were spent in management roles in various departments.

After coming back after a couple of years I looked to find something a bit different as I didn't want to get back into retail but it didn't work out. After getting pretty desperate to get a job had to go with what I knew and went back into retail with a different company. Now after 3 years I've found myself pushing for a promotion I'm not sure I even want anymore. 

I'm sick of working every weekend and not having time with friends and family. 

The problem is I earn decent money, about £26k, in my current position and with a mortgage cannot afford much of a drop in pay to start something new. 

Has anyone been in a similar situation, or have any advice on where to go from Retail management?

Do any vacancies for head office stuff come up?

 

I have a few friends who have moved to London to join head office from retail management positions. There might be options for secondments to move to head office temporarily to see if you like it.

 

Most of them have had no real experience in head office stuff but have been trained up on buying, e-commerce, loyalty schemes, intranet management, HR, etc.

 

 

[chuck'em]

Cheers for all the responses, there's some good stuff there for me to look into. 

1 hour ago, Captain... said:

Do any vacancies for head office stuff come up?

 

I have a few friends who have moved to London to join head office from retail management positions. There might be options for secondments to move to head office temporarily to see if you like it.

 

Most of them have had no real experience in head office stuff but have been trained up on buying, e-commerce, loyalty schemes, intranet management, HR, etc.

 

 

I wouldn't be able to do this with my current company as the local head office doesn't deal with any any of the corporate side of things, and I'm unable to relocate. 

 

6 hours ago, Saxondale said:

If one of your key reasons for wanting to change is to move into a more 9-5ish type work pattern, consider working in sales management or operations management in a B2B environment, like a trade supplier or similar. Motor parts, construction materials, specialist manufacturers - stuff like that.

I'll have to have a look into this, cheers. 

 

8 hours ago, Christoph said:

Can you not look into careers in retail which don't involve being on the shop floor etc? Like marketing or being a buyer etc? 

I'd be happy to go in this direction but was under the impression a degree would be necessary, is this not the case? 

 

I'd been thinking of looking into warehouse management as a way into a business that I could then maybe progress into a more office based role. I live just outside Manchester so there's lots of businesses around that would open up my options. 

[Trav Le Bleu]

I hear there are vacancies in both the Labour and Conservative parties.

[Captain...]

18 hours ago, chuck'em said:

I wouldn't be able to do this with my current company as the local head office doesn't deal with any any of the corporate side of things, and I'm unable to relocate. 

Can’t or won’t? Relocating could be just the boost your career needs, obviously there are some reasons that make it impossible. Family friends commitments can all be managed with relocation. Especially if it is a secondment then you are only away for a fixed period and you will know if you can manage it or not.

 

The other option is look for retail jobs in companies with a head office nearby then you can talk about progression in the interview and it gives you a path and a plan.

[Grebfromgrebland]

I would also say that it's worth sitting down for good chat with a good recruitment consultant instead of looking online all the time.

 

They're not all arse holes and they will be able to discuss your skill set and match them up to roles you might not have ever considered. They'll even book the interviews for you and coach you on how to get the job. After all they want to get paid and they need you to stick at your new job.

 

 

[chuck'em]

18 hours ago, Captain... said:

Can’t or won’t? Relocating could be just the boost your career needs, obviously there are some reasons that make it impossible. Family friends commitments can all be managed with relocation. Especially if it is a secondment then you are only away for a fixed period and you will know if you can manage it or not.

 

The other option is look for retail jobs in companies with a head office nearby then you can talk about progression in the interview and it gives you a path and a plan.

Can't due to some commitments I have here.

I have a friend who works in recruitment so we're trying to work out a time to meet up for a chat. He works in IT so it's not really the direction I'm looking at heading in but I'm sure he will be able to give me some solid advice and maybe some contacts.