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When we talk about retail jobs, we’re talking about any gig in which you’re selling goods or merchandise in any capacity, whether you’re manning a cell phone kiosk at the mall food court or you’re educating customers about bathroom fixtures at a home improvement superstore.
Obviously, retail is a huge category of jobs comprising positions of all shapes, sizes, hours and funny-looking uniforms. In fact, retail is the second largest industry in the country, employing more than 20 million Americans. Because of this vast job diversity, there are dozens and dozens of reasons why a retail job could be just right for you. We picked out the three best reasons below:
1. Flexible Hours
Are you a college student who can’t realistically work during the day? Or are you looking for a second job – but have a first job with really strange hours? Do you just hate the nine-to-five daily grind? Well, good news. Retail jobs boast hours that can suit the early bird, the night owl and everyone in between. In fact, more and more retail stores – from grocery chains to drug stores – are open 24 hours. So quit trying to squeeze your life into your job when you can have it the other way around with a retail job.
2. Cool perks and benefits
We’re stating the obvious, but it makes sense to work somewhere that matches your talents and interests. If you’re an audiophile, a music store is a good match. If you aced arts & crafts as a kid, Home Depot jobs might be a good idea. Many retail employers offer employee discounts as a special inventive. Sometimes these discounts come with certain restrictions, so be sure to find them out up front, especially if these perks play a role in whether or not you take a job. For example, your 15 percent employee discount may not kick in until you’ve been on the job for three months. But if you’re just working a temporary summer gig, you’ll never get to take advantage.
3. Boredom busters
Not only is there an incredible amount of diversity within the retail job industry, but there’s also a lot of variety within individual companies themselves. Look at two of America’s top retail employers: Target and Wal-Mart. Just think about how many different jobs exist within these two giant employers – and digging a little deeper – how many tasks and duties make up these individual Wal-Mart and Target jobs. The point is this: it’s highly unlikely you’ll be watching the clock slowly tick by at your typical retail gig. Time flies when you’re having fun. It flies even faster when you’re productive and engaged at the workplace.
It’s hard to talk specifically about the retail job industry because the field is just so diverse. And that diversity is its strength. From grocery store checkout clerks to shoe salesmen, odds are the retail industry has a job matching your talents and interests.
About the Author
Mike Ward is the Senior Online Editor for SnagAJob.com, one of the nation’s largest job search websites, with more than 117 million
annual searches. Headquartered in Richmond, Va., SnagAJob.com was started in 1999 to connect teens and college students with
great summer jobs. For more information, or to begin your job search visit
SnagAJob.com to view jobs in your area.
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