you are expected to squeeze from them their best on a daily basis’, as said by Richard Templar in the rules of management.

Retail is the easier part, at its most basic form you open the doors, turn on the lights, take money, turn the lights of and go home. I can hear the horrified screams of all the dedicated retailers who like myself see successful retailing as an art form, a delicate balance between, under/over buying, buying the right range a

Strange thing management isn’t it; it’s not a career path we choose as a child, alongside the fireman, policeman, brain surgeon & astronaut. But one that a great deal more of us find ourselves slipping into, and yes I mean slip into, we never choose it, it kind of snuck up on us. At school your career guidance teacher takes you hand and sings the praises of a good university education, forgetting to mention that most arts degrees serve little purpose and hold no stock with most employers, i.e. psychology, philosophy, history and the list goes on, what job has this prepared you for, none, you find yourself with 4 years less experience in the workplace, ?15,000 in debt and any grandiose ideas of your career are quickly replaced with a desperation for a job, any job, as long as it pays the bills and allows you to start to enjoy life. Then 3 years later you are still in a call centre with the unsociable hours if you are really unlucky, hoping that in another year you can move up a grade and earn another ?500 a year, whoop-de-doop, I think not.

My case is like a lot of people, I done archaeology at university, and from then I just wanted a job, got my first trainee managers role and it's taken me on a path since then, that path a lot of people can relate to.

Where did I learn the skills to manage people, at what point did I become a manager, where was my passing out parade and the final exam that qualifies you as a manager, nowhere -- that’s where? Management is so well suited because no formal qualifications are required, prior experience is not a prerequisite as training will be provided, or so the advert said, 6 weeks on the job training and there you are fully qualified to ‘handle a group of people who you most likely don’t like, most likely don’t like you, you never picked them and you are expected to squeeze from them their best on a daily basis’, as said by Richard Templar in the rules of management.

Retail is the easier part, at its most basic form you open the doors, turn on the lights, take money, turn the lights of and go home. I can hear the horrified screams of all the dedicated retailers who like myself see successful retailing as an art form, a delicate balance between, under/over buying, buying the right range a

and hold no stock with most employers, i.e. psychology, philosophy, history and the list goes on, what job has this prepared you for, none, you find yourself with 4 years less experience in the workplace, ?15,000 in debt and any grandiose ideas of your career are quickly replaced with a desperation for a job, any job, as long as it pays the bills and allows you to start to enjoy life. Then 3 years later you are still in a call centre with the unsociable hours if you are really unlucky, hoping that in another year you can move up a grade and earn another ?500 a year, whoop-de-doop, I think not.

My case is like a lot of people, I done archaeology at university, and from then I just wanted a job, got my first trainee managers role and it's taken me on a path since then, that path a lot of people can relate to.

Where did I learn the skills to manage people, at what point did I become a manager, where was my passing out parade and the final exam that qualifies you as a manager, nowhere -- that’s where? Management is so well suited because no formal qualifications are required, prior experience is not a prerequisite as training will be provided, or so the advert said, 6 weeks on the job training and there you are fully qualified to ‘handle a group of people who you most likely don’t like, most likely don’t like you, you never picked them and you are expected to squeeze from them their best on a daily basis’, as said by Richard Templar in the rules of management.

Retail is the easier part, at its most basic form you open the doors, turn on the lights, take money, turn the lights of and go home. I can hear the horrified screams of all the dedicated retailers who like myself see successful retailing as an art form, a delicate balance between, under/over buying, buying the right range a

e hours if you are really unlucky, hoping that in another year you can move up a grade and earn another ?500 a year, whoop-de-doop, I think not.

My case is like a lot of people, I done archaeology at university, and from then I just wanted a job, got my first trainee managers role and it's taken me on a path since then, that path a lot of people can relate to.

Where did I learn the skills to manage people, at what point did I become a manager, where was my passing out parade and the final exam that qualifies you as a manager, nowhere -- that’s where? Management is so well suited because no formal qualifications are required, prior experience is not a prerequisite as training will be provided, or so the advert said, 6 weeks on the job training and there you are fully qualified to ‘handle a group of people who you most likely don’t like, most likely don’t like you, you never picked them and you are expected to squeeze from them their best on a daily basis’, as said by Richard Templar in the rules of management.

Retail is the easier part, at its most basic form you open the doors, turn on the lights, take money, turn the lights of and go home. I can hear the horrified screams of all the dedicated retailers who like myself see successful retailing as an art form, a delicate balance between, under/over buying, buying the right range a

r, where was my passing out parade and the final exam that qualifies you as a manager, nowhere -- that’s where? Management is so well suited because no formal qualifications are required, prior experience is not a prerequisite as training will be provided, or so the advert said, 6 weeks on the job training and there you are fully qualified to ‘handle a group of people who you most likely don’t like, most likely don’t like you, you never picked them and you are expected to squeeze from them their best on a daily basis’, as said by Richard Templar in the rules of management.

Retail is the easier part, at its most basic form you open the doors, turn on the lights, take money, turn the lights of and go home. I can hear the horrified screams of all the dedicated retailers who like myself see successful retailing as an art form, a delicate balance between, under/over buying, buying the right range a

you are expected to squeeze from them their best on a daily basis’, as said by Richard Templar in the rules of management.

Retail is the easier part, at its most basic form you open the doors, turn on the lights, take money, turn the lights of and go home. I can hear the horrified screams of all the dedicated retailers who like myself see successful retailing as an art form, a delicate balance between, under/over buying, buying the right range and steering clear of the items only ever destined for the sale rail, but you have missed my point, the hard part is managing the people that make retail such a vibrant, fun, challenging & ultimately worthwhile place to work.

You are landed with the above team, who if you are lucky enough might get to like you eventually, who makes up the team, here are a couple of typical characters; Colin who can be a great worker when cornered like a rat, Karen who works well when not surfing the internet for QVC bargains, Cathie who works diligently but gets easily distracted by Karen showing her a lovely range of cubic zirconium, John who is a extremely capable security guard but has a paranoia that his age is going to get him sacked so constantly needs to be taken and reassured that he’s not next for grave yard, Dawn who has sick kids so always need away with only 5 minutes notice, Angie who thinks you are a lazy sod cause she reckons she does all your work for you and finally your school leaver who gets their mum to phone in sick for them after a night on the drink or when a they catch a cold.

You are responsible for this teams emotional and physical well being, their development, their career path, their problems, fears, foibles, inadequacies and to top it all you need to do your job as well.

You need to be many things, a motivator, leader, shoulder to cry on, politician, protector, saviour, fair judge, innovator & creative dynamo. Can you remain calm in any situation, deal with the fights (there are always fights wherever people get together), handle the irate screaming customer who was told this morning the out of stock item was definitely in stock, take in the container delivery yourself and preserve the customer shopping experience with 3 people off sick, queue manage when the tills a