Specialist retailers can offer great career opportunities and are often keen to attract store managers with wide retail experience rather than expert know-how.
Do you love pets, or a bit of bling? Are you interested in health issues, or do you fancy owning as well as running your own store? While clothing retailers are trimming store numbers and supermarkets are slowing expansion, specialist retailers can offer unexpected opportunities for experienced managers.
Pharmacies, opticians, pet stores, jewellers and even bakeries all need qualified specialists, but many are also seeking expert retailers to manage and run their operations.
Experience in managing people and stock and customer service can really add value to specialist retailers, some of which continue to enjoy strong growth during the downturn.
Pets at Home people director Ryan Cheyne says: “There are more opportunities with us as we are expanding and doing well.”
The retailer is opening an average of 30 stores a year and needs more managers as staff are promoted or move on.
“A store manager needs to be a great leader who runs a highly engaged team and has a focus on service,” says Cheyne. “We don’t expect them to be an expert on pets but we do expect them to understand how important they are to people’s families, and that the advice we give is very serious.”
The retailer provides training in animal husbandry and nutrition and most store managers also train to be able to dispense over-the-counter pet medicines. They might also choose to learn specialist skills related to certain kinds of pet. A handful of managers have built up their knowledge to become ‘field pet managers’, overseeing standards of pet care across the group.
Much to learn
Pets at Home is not the only specialist retailer that offers a considerable amount of training that can help broaden expertise. Signet, which owns jewellers H Samuel and Ernest Jones, doesn’t expect its management recruits to have any specialist qualifications.
It gives people the knowledge they need about jewellery and watches through a two-year training programme created in partnership with industry bodies such as the British Horological Institute. Senior retail managers can also study for Masters-level postgraduate qualifications.
For those entering the industry, the National Skills Academy for Retail has just launched an apprenticeship scheme that matches people to their chosen specialist field. Some trade associations, such as the National Association of Goldsmiths, are also developing their own apprenticeship schemes to help people develop careers in their particular trade.
National Skills Academy for Retail head Jane Rexworthy says: “By learning on the job, people can rapidly advance their careers and work their way up to store or even area management.”
Successful trainees not only give their CV a boost, but are also well set for internal promotion, given their increased value to the company.
About 70% of Pets at Home’s store managers come from the shopfloor and 19 out of 22 area managers are internal promotions. However, the retailer is also keen to bring in outsiders.
“We give lots of support to new managers who come to us because they can bring new ideas and a fresh approach,” says Cheyne.
In another specialist field, more than half of high street chemist Boots’ stores are run by non-pharmacists, and 46% of its area managers don’t have a pharmacy background.
Other roles available to non-specialists include dispensing assistant, pharmacy technician or accuracy checking technician, as well as head office roles typical of any retailer. Boots provides training to give all managers a good understanding of the pharmacy business and, while pharmacy experience might count in a manager’s favour, it is not required.
Boots UK head of professional capability Marc Donovan says: “We recruit for store manager and area manager positions based on ability to perform the role. Leadership skills with the ability to inspire, engage and motivate people to deliver outstanding customer and patient care are crucial. We look for the ability to spot and nurture talent.”
Specsavers has a specific programme to recruit managers with blue-chip retail expertise because it recognises its clinicians may not have those skills. The optical retailer’s managers own a stake in their stores under a form of franchise agreement with the parent company. Many are co-owned by an optician and retail manager.
Specsavers director of professional recruitment Chris Howarth says more than 100 of its 650 stores now have a retail partner and it is looking for more.
In addition, the group directly employs 20 retail performance consultants and 10 senior retail development consultants who help store managers improve standards across the group. Both of those roles are usually filled by someone from a retail background.
“I wish more people would apply. We can offer something on hundreds of high streets that is not generally available in retail – the opportunity to run your own business,” says Howarth.
He looks for a strong retail management pedigree with proven experience in people and stock management and wastage control, as well as merchandising skills.
Specsavers picked up staff from retailers such as Woolworths and Comet when they closed stores. “There are really good people who through no fault of their own find themselves unemployed,” adds Howarth.
A different proposition
Those interested in running and co-owning a store are put through a nine-month training programme, during which they are paid a salary by Specsavers. They then team up with an optician in an appropriate store and will typically invest £25,000 to £30,000 of their own money in the business at that stage. It’s a different proposition to a salaried position, but can offer strong financial benefits as well as more responsibility.
Jonathan Baumber, retail director for Specsavers in Exeter and Honiton in Devon, has been with the retailer for 18 years after a career at department stores Liberty and Harvey Nichols.
He doesn’t regret the move and says: “There is enough room to put your own mark on the business and build that but within a successful formula.”
Baumber says he would encourage others to give specialist retail a try: “It’s interesting being a retailer with a bit of a twist.”
Climbing the specialist ladder
Karen Holmes’ career demonstrates the potential of working for specialist retailers.
She has been an area manager at Lloyds Pharmacy for three years after stints at Matalan, Vision Express and Burton Group.
Holmes was able to transfer her leadership skills built up over 12 years as an area manager with various retailers. She also benefited from “exceptionally good” training while working as a store manager for Vision Express. She says: “Initially I questioned whether I could manage pharmacies but service is service, it doesn’t matter what you sell.”
Lloyds’ area management team has a mix of pharmacists and non-specialists. That network and an in-depth training scheme has meant Holmes feels fully supported, she says.
The job has also given her the opportunity to learn new skills through liaising with Primary Care Trusts, care homes and hospitals. “There is potential to make a significant difference to the business,” she adds.
Working in a sector closely involved in people’s private lives has given her a new insight into customer service. “Pharmacy involves personal details and information sharing that mean a close relationship is necessary,” says Holmes. “You can push the boundaries of normal retail service and have a good relationship with customers without being improper.”
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