Ryerson University Retail Management Student Clears Up Misconceptions About Retail Jobs

Ryerson University retail management student Shanon Virdi was on hand at the retail career fair in February 2010 to help organize the event, so Lauren put her on the spot to find a bit more information about pursuing an education and a career in retail management.

Hands-on experience is important in the retail industry

Virdi says she started out as a business student at another university, but she thought the program was too general and Ryerson’s retail management program appealed to her because it’s specifically geared toward a specific niche, such as customer relationship marketing, which teaches you to figure out what your customer wants and how to give it to them.

The program also offers an internship which she thinks will better equip her to start a successful career when she graduates. As we already know, internships can be invaluable tools in getting you experience you may not be able to have in an entry-level job and can even lead to amazing first jobs if you make a good impression.

Go from customer to employee with the same brands

She wants to pursue a career in retail because she’ll have the opportunity to work with products she’s grown up buying and enjoying, such as growing up with Barbie and then working for Mattel, for example.

After all, who better to be a part of those companies than loyal customers like you? Every brand you could possibly think of has an entire army of retail professionals working behind it.

It’s not just about becoming a retail store manager—there are many more options.

One of the biggest misconceptions about going to school for retail management, Virdi says, is that people think you’re training to become a retail store manager. While many people do choose to become store managers, there are many other options.

A program like retail management allows you to understand how the entire organization operates and how departments such as human resources, IT and marketing, among others, work together toward a common objective.

This article was written by Rebecca Cave

Rebecca Cave produced more than 100 videos during her video production internship with TalentEgg in early 2010, completed as part of Niagara College's broadcasting program.