Earn, learn and go places

Three years ago a group of New Zealand's leading retailers identified a shortage of quality staff in the retail industry. One of the problems was that many people saw the industry as a short-term filler before getting a `real' job. In reality, retail offers amazing job opportunities and career paths,  something that comes from being one of New Zealand's biggest industries and employers.

As a solution to the problem, the retail positioning programme was developed to promote careers in retail to schools, university students and the wider community.

The `career map' demonstrates that retail spans a wide variety of disciplines, including sales, marketing, human resources, finance and information technology, and across all sectors of the industry, from supermarkets to automotive, fashion to hardware. Not only are these retail businesses fast-paced and exciting, but the pay matches or exceeds that offered in other industries. At the top end of the spectrum, retailers can earn $180,000 plus per annum. Other roles within retail, like store manager positions, offer competitive salary packages and are often achievable after just a few years in the industry.

Retail isn't just a place for secondary school leavers to start their careers. University graduates are well-regarded and can progress through store-front roles quickly into a variety of career paths, often including head office.

As retail businesses strive to offer better training and more formalised career paths to people moving into their businesses, the retail positioning programme continues to promote the career opportunities available.