Career Research & Interview Assignment: Customer Experience Manager

Matthew Lumas Urbano

Sacramento State College
Professor Tudor
December 1, 2015

Part I: Career Research

The first job I ever had was being part of Six Flags Discovery Kingdoms entertainment,
dancing in a costume as bugs bunny, and escorting people who would wear costumes when I was
not. I had fun for about a good one and a half years doing this, and I think it benefitted me in
improving my skills in interacting and communicating with people of all ages. I got the chance to
deal with happy and unhappy visitors, and I learned the proper ways of communicating with
them in a way that they could somehow get what they want, without receiving special treatment
over other visitors. I believe this job has helped me to move away from being shy, giving me
people interaction and speaking skills that can possibly help me in the future when finding my
career. Since I am still pretty young and halfway through college, I think that it would be a great
opportunity to build my resume and gain some experience by becoming a manager of a popular
brand store. I am mainly looking towards a Retail Sales Manager position. Their job is to be
responsible for daily operations in the retail store and to oversee salespeople, customer service
representatives and other employees. Retail Sales Managers are also the people in charge of
interviewing, hiring, and training new employees and on top of that, they prepare schedules and
assign duties for the current employees. It is also their job to personally handle customer
complaints if necessary. Lets find out what educational requirements are needed in order to
become a Retail Sales Manager. You will need a high school diploma or GED, which is the
standard for general employability, alongside being the base minimum requirement to become a
store manager. If compared to another individual who may be a degreed candidate, strong work
ethic, drive, and signs of strong leadership may work in your favor for consideration. (A
Bachelors degree, 2015). A Bachelors degree does show an individuals general willingness to
improve themselves, although it does not necessarily imply that a person contains greater
intelligence. Many college degrees offer an academic background that most companies cant

match with their own training, but store leaders view these people positively as inspiration, more
driven, and as examples for other employees. Some personal requirements there are for
becoming a Retail Sales Manager deals with training and experience. As we know, retail is sales
driven so the traits that are expected in a successful sales career is personality, motivation, and
never accepting defeat. (Black, P. 2015) These traits are implied by a college degree but often not
really taught. For example, this means that in a situation where you have a new college graduate
with limited experience at a fast food restaurant, and an individual with a high school degree but
has extensive sales experience and is currently a store manager, most likely the individual with
more experience would have the upper hand. Many retail employers do not ignore a persons
specialized training, and job experiences when they must make these decisions in hiring. (The
estimated salary range, 2015). The estimated salary range for a Retail Sales Managers is at a
National average of $54,000 dollars per year, at an hour rate ranging from $9.00-$15.00,
including companies such as AT&T, T-Mobile, Macys, Verizon, Heineken, Autozone, etc.
(TED:Economics Daily 2015 http://www.bls.gov) When the future comes, there will definitely
will be a spot for retail sales managers. The reason behind this is simply that along with the
evolution of technology and medias, so does the evolution of retail. As long as people are still
coming up with new brands, opening stores, going shopping, this job will surely be around.
Competition among entertainment industries and more experiences will be developed, and the
people who can create and bring out the best customer experience with their team will be the best
store managers, because store managers are as you can call it the future of retail.

Part II: Interview Information & Questions

Kimberly Santarina
Customer Experience Manager, Banana Republic
3

(209) 640-7765 | kimmysantarina@gmail.com

Interview on December 1, 2015. Face to face, using Microsoft Word on Macbook.
It was around 7:00 PM, we met at the Starbucks located on 65th Street.
1. Can you describe to me what your educational background is like?
2. So, as a Customer Experience Manager, what is your typical day or week like in
that position?
3. So before you attained your position, what did the former Customer Experience
Manager do that made their performance outstanding?
4. Since you are still young and hold a manager position, how do you deal with older
employees that may not like you because of your age?
5. Has there been any situations in which you had to take control of customer or
employee conflicts?
6. What skills do you believe that you lack right now and can improve in your
position?
7. Do you feel that the job pays enough?
8. Do you believe that there will be a strong demand for that career in the future?
Part III: Interview Summary & Reflection
For my interview assignment for Coms 100A, I interviewed my friend Kimberly
Santarina. I had asked her if she was able to answer a couple questions I have about her manager
position, because I am interested in being able to become a owner of my own business one day
and becoming a manager of a store could be a great start and helpful experience. We talked about
where we could meet somewhere near school and we decided to talk over some coffee at
Starbucks by 65th street a couple of blocks away from school since it was close to us both. The
interview happened at around seven in the evening, inside the coffee shop. We first talked about
our day before the interview and I explained to her the type of questions I was planning on
asking her. I brought my laptop so that I could just type her answers to my questions since I type
faster than I can write. The interview didnt take too long and in between questions sometimes

wed go off topic and elaborate or share similar experiences in our life. In around 20 minutes I
was able to ask her the questions I wanted and I got the answers I needed.
I asked her a total of eight questions, and one of them was about her educational
background. I was surprised because she is graduating as a criminal justice major, but her job
was totally unrelated to her major. This was interesting to me because this lets me know that
there is not an expected educational requirement other than a high school diploma and probably
having some retail experience to be able to become a manager in some stores (In this case
Banana Republic). I questioned her on what skills she believes she lacks at the moment and can
improve on, and her answer was relatable to my experiences in my past job at a theme park (Six
Flags). Kimmy explained how her ability to be strict and stern is sometimes hindered by her
friendly relationships with her employees. She tells me that sometimes its hard to have to boss
them around or set her employees straight when they arent doing what they are supposed to, and
instead she catches herself saying things like its okay, do better next time or try not to just
etc more than she should have to. After doing some research about becoming a Retail Sales
Manager, I feel that it is the perfect entry level job as a start for me. I already know that I wont
completely be satisfied or able to support myself better yet a family if becoming a Retail Sales
Manager was my only job. But to gain experience as well as build my resume by having a job
which doesnt require much from you sounds like an opportunity not everyone may have. I
believe that this is something I can accomplish and excel in and possibly move up the ranks to
someday owning my own successful business. After I graduate or even now while I am still
taking my education, I plan on getting a job working in retail. I currently applied to Michael
Kors, Macys, and Target. If hired, I will be able to build my relationships with my bosses and
learn the skills needed to become successful as a sales associate. What traits I learned you must

have is patience, ability to negotiate, good listening skills, being a great communicator, and
always having a leaders perspective. As I have grown people around me, such as my family and
friends, have told me of my sociable personality, and how well I seem to get along with people.
So I thought to myself, why follow a career which involves skills I have already shown. If I
make the right choices, talk to the right people, work as hard as really say I will, I believe that I
can definitely become a Sales Retail Manager without much trouble.
Part IV: References & Interview Notes
Black, P. (2015, November 2). How To Assemble an All-Star Sales Team. Sales & Marketing
Management

Lipscomb, D. (n.d.). Retail Store Manager's Education Requirements. Retrieved December 4, 2015, from
http://work.chron.com/retail-store-managers-education-requirements-25072.html

Median wage $18.06 per hour for retail sales people at automobile dealers : The Economics Daily: U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved December 4, 2015, from
http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2015/median-wage-18-point-06-per-hour-for-retail-salespeople-at-automobiledealers.htm

Salary: Retail Sales Manager. (n.d.). Retrieved December 4, 2015, from

https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/retail-sales-manager-salary-SRCH_KO0,20.htm

Store Manager Requirements and Job Description. (n.d.). Retrieved December 4, 2015, from
http://educationcareerarticles.com/career-information/job-descriptions/store-manager-requirements-andjob-description/

Tabuchi, H. (2015, November 26). Black Friday Retail Workers Try to Make the Most of a Shopping
Slump. The New York Times. Retrieved December 4, 2015, from
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/27/business/black-friday-retail-workers-try-to-make-the-most-of-ashopping-slump.html?ref=topics&_r=0

Me: 1.Can you describe to me what your educational background is like?

Kimmy: I have my high school diploma and I will be graduating this fall semester with a
bachelors degree in Criminal Justice.

M: 2. So, as a Customer Experience Manager, what is your typical day or week like in that
position?
K: I guess you can say I work 35 hours a week, on top of school. I mainly deal with customer
service and experience within the store. As the holidays are approaching, its been a whole
different experience because you get customers looking for specific things or things that they
dont really know if the store has or not, and I have to try to find something to their liking. The
store gets pretty messy and I have to do a lot of recovery before closing. Basically my position
includes interacting with customers a lot somewhat like a sales associate alongside my manager
duties.
7

M: 3. So before you attained your position, what did the former Customer Experience Manager
do that made their performance outstanding?
K: Well, the manager that was formerly in the position that I am in now wasnt exactly that great
with communication with employees. Although, with customers she was great with interaction
and making sure their needs were met in visiting Banana Republic. The way she did her job
helped shape the type qualities I wanted to be able to have now that I am in this position such as
having better relations and being better at communicating with my employees and having more
patience. I also learned to be more efficient and finding ways to keep busy.

M: 4. Since you are still young and hold a manager position, how do you deal with older
employees that may not like you because of your age?
K: When I first got promoted, I didnt really experience any type disrespect to my face but
another person I work with that is much older than me and other staff has been hinting about her
interest in other manager positions, if there are any. I have seen her roll her eyes sometimes when
I ask her to do some things for me, but thats all that I have experienced so far. Most of the staff
is somewhat new, so they usually do what they are expected and told to do.

M: 5.Has there been any situations in which you had to take control of customer or employee
conflicts?
K: Ive dealt with angry customers and its mainly because of misunderstandings with signs of
merchandise that are or are not on promotion and they did not read the signs properly. Also,
when I have done as much as I can as a manager in trying to help customers, there are some

things that are not within my power to do and they must bring the situation towards corporate. I
havent had any problems with employees because most of them I have built a good relationship
with during my time working there before I attained my position.

M: 6. What skills do you believe that you lack right now and can improve in your position?
K: Well because I have gained and built friendships with many of my employees I find it difficult
sometimes to stay and enforce my position as a manager and when they do not complete what is
asked of them they sometimes do not take it as serious as I believe they should. On my part, my
ability to be stern and lay down the rules to them is hindered sometimes because of this.

M: 7. Do you feel that the job pays enough?

K: I think that if you are single and you dont have any obligations to take care of people other
than yourself, this job pays enough as an entry level job.

M: 8. Do you believe that there will be a strong demand for that career in the future?
K: Yes of course as long as people continue to go shopping. I wouldnt exactly say that there
would be a strong demand, but the opportunity will be there. As an entry level job, it doesnt
typically require plenty of different skills so I believe many people will want this job as a place
to start and gain experience.