So, what will I actually be doing?

Whether you want to work in the biggest store in town or a tiny local shop, your role as the assistant manager will always be the same; to provide support for the manager, cover for them when they arent there, and look after the staff. All these things work together to keep a happy store ticking over and running smoothly. No two days are ever the same when the public are involved, but on a day-to-day basis as a retail assistant manager youll be looking after the following...

Making sure the shop floor runs smoothly Meet the store's monthly targets and handle budgets Recruit and train staff Deal with any enquiries and complaints and monitor customer service Serve customers as needed Put together the rotas and shifts Check that the products you sell are well displayed Managing deliveries

The good points...

This job has loads of variety and plenty of responsibility. If you have a good team behind you then it can also be a lot of fun working together! A great job for career progression, most companies now offer on-going training throughout your career, plus youll always be improving your management skills on the job. This will make it easier for you to enter more senior management roles in the future.

...and the bad

Any good at juggling? Retail assistant managers need to keep an eye on everything from customer service to deliveries. If it all comes crashing down, youll be first in the firing line! And yes... The customer IS always right!

Is there study involved?

Qualifications arent the most important thing in the world when it comes to any retail job, and a basic education is enough for this role (grades A-C), but maths and IT tend to be looked for the most. Want to really stand out? A Levels, a foundation degree in retail management, business or marketing and National Diplomas are starting to be increasingly looked for as well. Many of these qualifications include a work placement to give you a more practical experience. If youre already working in the retail industry, while these extra qualifications are helpful to have on the CV, your experience and passion for retail is likely to impress employers more, especially if youre looking for promotion within your existing company.

To learn the relevant skills for the job, many of the larger stores will offer trainee manager positions in a training scheme (also available for graduates) so you can learn the ropes first in a less pressurized way. If youre looking to join retail for the first time (whether you have qualifications or not), its always good to start as a sales assistant or join as an apprentice and work your way up to any management role. This way you get a clear feel for the environment before you start bossing people around within it. Need additional qualifications? Find a course at our Learning Zone

What next?
From a job as a retail assistant manager it's just a hop, skip and a jump to a regional manager job or even senior management right at the top of the career ladder.
Stress interviews Do you consider standing in a line as stressed work? Define stress and when do you get stressed out? Are you able to work under stress? Please give us an example about you work with a team that faced stress from your experience? Why do you think it will conduce stress? What is the worst thing when you faced with stress? Which transaction is not good for your colleagues whom also faced the stress at the same time?

Technology in retail management

1. Front-End
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Point-of-sale (POS) terminals are a main component in retail store technology. This includes computer terminals and accessories (scanners, wands) for managing sale transactions. Payment processing equipment, including card machines are also important at the POS. Other store-centered technology includes inventory scanners used to update stock and adjust in-store pricing and security systems including cameras, monitors, closed-circuit TV, EAS tags and the like. Timekeeping systems are also used.

Back-End
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Back-end retail technology includes those items used behind-the-scenes for store operation. These are more relevant for chains as opposed to single-store operation. Inventory management solutions are connected with stores to manage inventory orders and replenishment. Warehouse or storage technology is used for shipping and receiving and order tracking.

Enterprise-wide
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Enterprise-wide technology solutions have become more universal, thanks to the evolution of customer relationship management (CRM) and supply chain management (SCM). These are broad-based programs that relate to optimization of the customer experience and efficiency in partnerships. CRM technology includes POS data collection software that flows to databases held by the retailer or a third-party host. CRM solutions are used to operate customer loyalty or frequency programs. SCM solutions, which can often be integrated with CRM, are used to connect retailers to suppliers and partners to expedite inventory replenishment and other business transactions.

Evaluation Questions
Course Orientation Was the "User's guide to this course" useful? Did the brief introduction to xxx give you a good idea of the course's intellectual framework? 2. Expectations, Goals and Objectives Clarity of course expectations and assignments; course structure. Course content was consistent with the course objectives. The adequacy of the outlined direction of the course. Relevance of subject matter to students' educational goals. What were your expectations for this class and how effectively have they been met? What topics were you expecting/would have liked to address that we didn't? How would you rate your previous experience with xxx concepts before taking this course? 3. Instructor Evaluation Instructors knowledge of subject matter. The instructor returned examinations and papers in a timely fashion. The instructor provided feedback regarding completed course assignments. How was the feedback you received? Considering the size of the class, the instructor's responsiveness to student questions and use of class participation was xxx. The instructor's presentations positively impacted on my understanding of material. The instructor's ability to communicate the subject to the student was xxx. Ability of instructors to relate to students' interests and needs. Availability of instructors (office hours, e-mail and telephone calls). The instructor's enthusiasm in talking about course material. The instructor's interest in teaching. The instructor's use of examples or personal experience to help get points across. The instructor's ability to relate the course concepts in a systematic manner. 4. Time Commitment What was the (average) amount of time you spent on this course per week outside of class? How many hours per week did you spend doing actual class work?

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How many hours per week did you spend online doing related activities that were a direct result of taking the course? Office Hours Did you use the Office Hours chatrooms? How many times did you visit the chat rooms? When you visited the Office Hours chatroom, were your questions satifactorily answered? If you visited the Office Hours chatrooms more than three times the whole semester you were the exception. How could the chatroom be improved? If you did not visit the Office Hours chatrooms more than once the whole semester....why not? Office Hours chatrooms were not extensively used by students. Would it be better to have students e-mail questions to the instructor and for the instructor to post these questions and his answers in the "Read All About It!" folder? Course lectures (content, delivery style, pace) The appropriateness of the amount of material the the course attempted to cover. The appropriateness of the pace at which course material was covered. The content is arranged in a clear, logical and orderly manner. The content covers most of the topics you expected to find. The content explains the knowledge and concepts well. The content is of appropriate difficulty. The examples shown are good. The module has made me feel more confident in the subject. These topics were adequately covered? Was there anything more you wanted to learn about any of these topics? What part of the module did you find most useful/interesting? Is the course unfolding in a clear and understandable direction? Your comments about the course unfolding in a clear and understandable direction. Course materials (textbooks, handouts) How effective was the textbook in supplementing online lesson material? What additional or alternative material would you like to have seen in the course? Course readings were well selected and relevant. The materials in this module have helped me to better understand many key concepts and/or terms in this module. The materials in this module have helped me learn how to analyze real-life situations using the theories and/or concepts presented in this module. The assignments are relevant to the module and test your knowledge. What was your favorite assigned reading? What was your least favorite assigned reading? Did you find the coursepack useful for the class? Did you prefer the sections which were presented with complete sentences or those sections which were more abbreviated? Why? Rating Course Components Utilization of links to external web sites. The various activities I did in this module helped me gain a good understanding of the subject. Use of case studies (e.g., intensive analysis of an individual situation stressing contributing factors in relation to environment).

Sample
Date: __________________ Title and location of training: _____________________________________________________________________________ Trainer: __________________________________________________ Instructions: Please indicate your level of agreeith the statements listed below i ment wStronglyAgree e training 1. The objectives of th were clearly defined. n and interaction were 2. Participatio encouraged. topics covered were relevant 3. The to me. 4. The content was organized and easy to follow. . Agree Neutral Disagree n #111. Strongly Disagee

5. The materials distributed were helpfulng experience will be useful 6. This traini in my work. 7. The trainer was knowledgeable about the training topics. 8. The trainer was well prepared. 9. The training objectives were met. e allotted for the training was 10. The tim sufficient. acilities were 11. The meeting room and fadequate and comfortable.

12. What did you like most about this training? 13. What aspects of the training could be improved? 14. How do you hope to change your practice as a result of this training?