By Sarah Newton – @sarahnewton
These are some tips I recently wrote for the retail sector and thought they would be useful to share.
Sterotype One -Teens are Lazy
Tip – resume - Ensure it looks professional and is all formatted and spelt correctly. Any gaps in your previous experience (like a gap year, for example), ensure you mention them and what you did and what the experience taught you. Include all and any hobbies, even baby-sitting that you may have done and link the hobby to the job, for example playing World of Warcraft teaching you a valuable skill of building a social team to support you.
Interview - Dress correctly, smart and professionally (you may think smart jeans are OK but most adults think that means you don’t care). Look people in the eye and smile, show them that you like people and are able to be engaging.
Sterotype Two -Teens feel entitled
Tip – resume – Ensure you write in your resume what you learnt from any previous experience or jobs you have done and how thankful you were for the experience.
Interview - Research the company on the internet; make sure you know their vision and values and how you can support them to achieve their aims. Thank them for taking the time to see them and on leaving shake their hands, thank them and let them know you hope they find the right person for the job.
Sterotype Three- Teens are really bad at face-to-face communication due to technology.
Resume – Make sure you write in your resume the things you have done face to face, like participating in debates, speaking, communicating with customers in a part time job. If you go to a social group in a face-to-face setting make sure you mention that.
Interview – Look people in the eye and smile and make sure your phone is switched off. Let them know how important you feel face-to-face interaction is to the customer experience and what that adds to the retail experience.
Sterotype Four-Teens are selfish and only care about themselves.
Resume – Include any volunteering work you have done, even volunteering to look after your little sister or brother so your parents can go out shows you care. State in your resume what you loved about working with the other companies you have worked in or how you loved learning about other cultures on your gap year, or maybe you were involved in something at school that helped others like an organising committee. Even helping another win a quest in an online game or showing your parents how to Facebook counts for something.
Interview – Research the company and let them know what you like about them and what you are so interested in working for them. Thank them for their time and let them now how much you appreciate them seeing you.
