On Tuesday, April 16th, the CWS invited Susan Wojewoda ’96 and Samantha Ernst ’07, who both have extensive experience working in the retail industry, to speak with students about their work and life experiences. Topics ranged from industry-related advice, to speaking about specific companies and positions. In case you missed this event, here are some key takeaways.
- The retail industry cares about experience more than anything, so that first retail company name on your resume can take you a long way.
- Breaking into the retail industry is hard, so when presented with an opportunity, although it may not be your ideal job, take it, with goals of learning more about the industry and transferring horizontally in the firm.
- Networking, networking, networking!
- Each retail brand has it own culture, so use visual cues when interviewing, and speak with individuals one-on-one, to try and deduce whether or not you would fit in well there.
- Early in your career, any retail experience can be spun the right way, and there is little risk of pigeon-holing yourself; only later do you need to start to identify with a specific sector and role in retail.
-Barbara Jiang ’13