Everyone starts out on the bottom…and it’s where you will do the MOST learning and growing. Working your way up in a company or even jumping to a different company (with a better job) will give you more learning opportunities and self-discipline than if you got your dream job right out of the gates.
No one likes to start out on the bottom but the hard truth is you have to. Starting out on the ground floor for a company is the best experience you will get and the best place to learn about the logistics of any company. My personal experience comes from working in the operations department for a luxury retailer where I saw all the new merchandise come into the store and witnessed the process of how it gets prepared for sale.
A lot goes into running and working in operations, it’s not just unpacking boxes of clothing. You are the ones dealing with all the shipping providers, missing merchandise, pulling clothes off the floor for any recalls, keeping the stock organized and tidy, and overall making sure the store runs smoothly. Let’s face it, without an operations department you can’t operate.
The hardest part about working in a position behind the scenes is nobody takes you seriously…people often think you’re not good enough for sales which the reality is you like working in operations because you have great self-discipline and work ethic. Sales is not for everyone, for myself working in sales was good experience but definitely not my cup of tea. I found working in sales was too slow for me and I wasn’t constantly working on something, I am a project oriented person. However, working in operations to start helped me not only land a job in sales but also gave me more confidence and knowledge than other sales representatives and the runnings of a store.
The learning and growing for your professional and personal development is incredible while working behind the scenes. You learn to have a good work ethic and to not need validation for it, and learning to be a good problem solver which is crucial for any job out there. The more you know about what goes into operating a company the more knowledge you will have when you want to get into sales or other departments of a brand. I met a lot of sales associates who had no experience on the logistics of the store and that caused problems and gave misleading information to customers. Furthermore, after doing your time working in operations (or if you find that’s where you want to stay), you will have more respect for those working behind the scenes not only in retail but for everybody. Everything is made to look easy and smooth, where in reality it takes a dozen people working crazy hours to pull off running a store or company.
Take advantage of all opportunities even if it’s a crappy, grunt work type job/internship to help get your career started, you never know where it could lead you. You will look back and be thankful for those jobs because that’s the work where you will learn perseverance and have the most self-development.
