If you enjoy helping people or want a job with flexible hours, where no two days are the same, then working in retail may be for you.

The retail sector is one of the most varied areas in which you could choose to work. Careers in retail offer a number of opportunities, with many companies having fast track management schemes offering quick career progression.

There are many misconceptions about working in retail such as low pay or needing lots of experience, but this isn’t actually true. Retailers offer a wide range of salaries, but worker’s pay always meets the National Minimum Wage. As with any job previous experience is an advantage, but a positive attitude to work, the ability to communicate well with people and enthusiasm about what you do is also an important factor.

Retail recruitment is done in a number of different ways, often shops advertise their vacancies in their window or on their website, whereas other positions are advertised through recruitment agencies.

There are many advantages to working in the retail. There are excellent opportunities, you may start of as a member of staff on the shop floor, but retailers have a range of training options which offer different career choices. Working in retailed is varied, not all positions are in company stores, some positions are based in company offices.

The retail industry is flexible and many jobs do not require you to work the standard 9.00 until 5.00. If you do work in a store, you are more likely to do shifts which could start at the beginning, end or middle of the day.