How to Hire Retail Workers who Lack Retail Experience

How to Hire Retail Workers who Lack Retail ExperienceHow to Hire Retail Workers who Lack Retail ExperienceHow to Hire Retail Workers who Lack Retail Experience ConlanIt can be a challenge to recruit retail workers particularly young employees with little workplace experience and none in the retail industry. But theres advantage in identifying inexperienced workers who have the potential to become great employees.The expert tips below will help you spot the characteristics of young workers who can help your company grow and succeed.Tap Recruits with IntegrityWhen looking to recruit novice hires, its important to hire for attitude and aptitude.For us, its all about how they connect and show their personality, says Roberta Perry, president of Scrubz Body Scrub. One college student that Perry hired for production welches asked to work the front of the store a few times, even though sales made her nervous.We said that she just needs to listen to the needs of the customer and answer with t he best solution, Perry said. She started relating her own experience with a particular product, and a sale was made. Her confidence soared.While anyone can be trained, says Perry, finding people with integrity allows you to cultivate inexperienced new hires and help them bloom.Look for a Desire to LearnMarkitors founder Brett Farmiloe had zero retail experience when he was hired as the first on-campus sales rep for a sorority sportswear company. Not only did I bedrngnis have retail experience, but I was also a freshman when I started the job.That experience showed him that dedication and a deep desire to learn can lead to success in retail. Now as an employer, he looks for candidates who want to stretch.These are the people who apply for jobs theyre not qualified for, but apply themselves beyond the people who know better. In retail especially, you have to be willing to take chances to be successful, just like you would in a job search.Farmiloe says he now makes a point to hire fre shmen and sophomores who express a deep desire to learn.Look for Signs of DedicationA lot of time and attention goes into finding and training new employees, says David Harouche, founder and CEO of Multimedia Plus, which works with retailers on talent development.Harouche recommends finding candidates who are goal-oriented and understand what they want after graduation.While these workers may lack a work history that proves their commitment to a job or an employer, they may instead show a commitment to a rigorous academic program or long-term studies out of the country.If the student can show me a project they worked on from start to finish, especially something that engaged others as volunteers or participants, I would look at that favorably, says retail management consultant Judy Crockett.Retail employees often have a variety of responsibilities, including greeting and assisting customers, stocking and straightening shelves, managing the cash register, making sales and keeping the store tidy, Crockett says.If a person can demonstrate initiative, I know I will not always have to tell them what to do in the store they will see it and do it on their own.Seek Out Soft SkillsYou can educate almost anyone about the products you carry, and you can teach new hires to sell, Crockett says. Because those skills are teachable, experience isnt always necessary.Instead, look for soft skills, she says. I look for individuals who have a happy, positive outlook, who are clean, neat, and show up dressed appropriately for the job. I look for a person who easily looks me in the eye and can make conversation.To help Millennials fill a soft skills gap, consider onboarding your new hire in the first few months. Schedule a biweekly meeting to check in about where they might need help.In fact, mentoring may be more important to Millennials than it was to any 20th century generation of white-collar workers.Pair new hires up with a good mentor, someone who has communications skills yo u want the Millennial to embody, recommends Matthew Randall, executive director of the Center for Professional Excellence at York College of Pennsylvania.

Strong Interest Inventory - All About This Career Assessment

Strong Interest Inventory - All About This Career AssessmentStrong Interest Inventory - All About This Career AssessmentThe Strong Interest Inventory is a career self assessment tool. Career development specialists administer it to clients as a way to measure their interests and ultimately help them choose a career or college major. It was developed by E.K. Strong, a psychologist, in the early twentieth century. A Brief History of E.K. Strongs Interest Inventory In 1927, E.K. Strong published the self assessment tool that would many years later become the Strong Interest Inventory. He called it the Strong Vocational Interest Blank. It was the very first tool that could measure peoples interests- their likes and dislikes. Why would we want to know what peoples interests are? To answer that, we must look back at what Strong and other psychologists learned about people several years earlier. After trying to figure out why some people were satisfied with their careers and some were n ot, they discovered that people employed in the same occupation had common interests. What a great way, they thought, to help people choose suitable careers. If there were only a way to assess peoples interests. They set out to do so, and that is how E.K. Strongs interest inventory came to be. There have been many revisions and name changes to it over the years. When David S. Campbell, E.K. Strongs successor, revised the inventory in 1974, he renamed it the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory. In 1997 the Strong Interest Inventory was published and that name has remained with the fruchtwein recent version published by CPP, Inc.in 2012. Taking The Strong Interest Inventory Choosing a career, especially if you have no idea what you want to do, may require the services of a career development specialist. This professional can help you learn about yourself and show you how to use that information to find a suitable occupation. He or she will choose the appropriate self assessment to ols to discover your interests, personality type, work-related values, and aptitudes. One of those instruments may be the Strong Interest Inventory, but only if he or she is Strong Certified by CPP, Inc. Career counselors, career coaches, guidance counselors, and college advisors may have this credential. The Strong Interest Inventory contains 291 items and will take between 35 to 40 minutes to complete. Expect to answer questions about your preferences regarding occupations, subject areas, work and leisure activities, people, and characteristics. Understanding Your Results Your Strong Interest Inventory results will come in the form of a report. The professional who administers the test should go over it with you to make sure you understand it. He or she should inform you that, even though the report contains a list of occupations that might be suitable for you based on your answers, it doesnt necessarily mean they are. Always thoroughly explore any career you are considering before moving forward. Your report will be presented in six sections General Occupational Themes (GOT) General Occupational Themes are six broad areas that represent the personality types that John Holland, a psychologist, identified. Holland believed that all people fall into one or more of six types based on their interests and approaches to life situations Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. He surmised that work environments could also be categorized into these six types. Your scores are compared to the average scores for your gender to determine your interest levels for each of the six themes. This section will also contain your Holland Code which indicates your highest three themes, along with information about the interests, work activities, potential skills, and values associated with each one. Basic Interest Scales (BIS) BIS Scales represent your top interests based on the work and leisure activities, projects, and coursework that you indicated are most motivating and rewarding. They are categorized under the General Occupational Themes as described in the previous section. Occupational Scales (OS) This section contains a list of occupations that match your interests. It is generated by comparing your interests to those of individuals who work in 122 careers and makes a match based on the theory that people who work in the same occupation share similar interests. Personal Styles Scales (PSS) Personal Styles Scales are your preferences regarding work style, learning environment, leadership style, risk-taking and team orientation. It is helpful to have this information as you begin to research occupations that you might want to pursue. Profile Summary In the Profile Summary, you will find a graphic representation of your results. Consult this as you move forward through the career planning process. Response Summary This section summarizes your responses by category. SourcesDonnay, David A. C. E. K. Strongs Legacy and Beyond 70 Years of the Strong Interest Inventory. Career Development Quarterly. September 1997.Kelly, Kevin R. Review of the Strong Interest Inventory Newly Revised. Mental Measurements Yearbook with Tests in Print. 2018.Strong Interest Inventory Sample Report. CPP.com.Zunker, Vernon G. and Norris, Debra S. Using Assessment Results for Career Development. Pacific Grove, CA Brooks/Cole Publishing Company. 1997.

Can Enlisting Put the Past Behind You

Can Enlisting Put the Past Behind YouCan Enlisting Put the Past Behind YouUsing the military to escape yur past and transform yourself is a long-fabled concept. The idea of losing yourself and forging a new identity in the profession of arms is best captured by the popular image of the French Foreign Legionnaire, who escapes a sordid past and assumes a new name far from the land of his birth. And the rags-to-ranks (-to-riches) story of the citizen-soldier, especially since the introduction of the Montgomery GI Bill in 1944, has been a part of countless American success stories. But does it work? Legal Troubles Lets skip the idea that you can escape a jail sentence by enlisting. Rod Powers, covers that topic very well in his article Join the Military or Go To Jail? For the purposes of this article, well discuss instead the idea of escaping ones personal history - bad neighborhoods, bad families, bad relationships, et cetera. Success Stories Without digging up statistics, there is a great deal of anecdotal evidence that people have used an enlistment (or a full career) in the US military to transcend their troubled backgrounds. Ive heard many contemporaries speak of visiting their hometown after years away in the service, only to find with each (often less frequent) visit that everything is the same - including the same dead-end folks from high school, now in their 20s and older, smoking dope in their parents basements. In the meantime, the professional soldier has seen and done mora than most at home can even digest. One of the most famous examples from US history is Ulysses S. Grant, a lackluster student, and an unsuccessful farmer. In spite of this, he found his calling as commander of all US forces during the Civil War, received Lees surrender at Appomattox, and later served as the 18th President of the United States (arguably notlage a very good one, but still.) Closer to home, I know that my late grandfather-in-law - a US kriegsmarine in World War I I who later retired as a Sergeant Major in the reserves - escaped a working-class background, an abusive father, and the slums of Depression-era Brooklyn to become a respected civil servant, scion of his community, and comfortable dual-pensioner of the armed forces and the US Postal Service. Even I used the military to escape some of my troubles. With a middle-class background, a strong mother, and an excellent education, I cant lay much claim to a troubled life. But for me, joining the Marines was how I learned to be a man after witnessing my parents divorce, spending my adolescence as a quiet and unpopular kid, and lacking strong male role models. Three months with the Drill Instructors at Parris Island and all of my subsequent experiences proved a solid foundation for my life today as a husband, student, and professional. Escaping Emotional Problems Not so fast, though. The fact is, our intangible problems - our emotions - arent so easy to run away from. In my case, growing u p in fast-forward through boot camp and beyond gave me a lot of tools, but it didnt resolve the burden of my parents divorce, which lay buried and unexamined in the meantime. As a result, Ive been through therapy, relationship issues, and even divorce at an early age. My experience as a Marine helped equip me to face those challenges, but it wasnt the cure. I knew this later in my career when I took on the role of Career Planner and encountered some young Marines hoping to escape to another job, another duty station, another life - all to run away from deep emotional grief with their families and partners. My advice for them These are problems that will follow you no matter where you go. They can be dealt with only by facing them head-on and seeking support. Ignore them at your (and your careers) peril. Financial Obligations Having discussed emotional issues, heres a brief footnote on escaping your financial obligations - because there isnt much to say. Divorced and paying suppo rt to a spouse or children? Trying to get out of debt? Its not going to work, plain and simple. In fact, joining the military puts you firmly on the grid as far as the government is concerned - a grid where they can yank your entire paycheck without your permission to cover debts like unpaid child support. (You really would have to join the French Foreign Legion if thats all youre after, though Im not so sure its that simple for them anymore, either.) A Note About Reservists It goes without saying that by joining the reserves - performing part-time duty right near your home - its not as easy to escape as for an active duty enlistee. However, you still receive the training, camaraderie, experiences, and benefits that can be your tools for success. Remember how I was talking about my own escape from troubles? For most of my ten years in the Marine Corps, I was a drilling reservist, living (between training and overseas deployments) right where I grew up. How about that?