Buying, Selling and Related Work

"Cash can buy, but it takes enthusiasm to sell.” (Anonymous)

This career area includes:

• buying, retail and sales work


• call centre work


• work in consumer services, including trading standards.

Buying, selling and related work is one of the biggest employers in Scotland. In retail alone there are 245,638 workers in Scotland, about 10.5% of the workforce. The most recent UK figures show that just over 60% of retail workers are women, and about 50% of employees work part time. Perhaps not surprisingly, most part time workers are women.

Despite the current economic downturn, job numbers in retailing are likely to grow by around 6% between 2007 and 2017.

Some types of retailers are weathering the storm better than others. Large food retailers like the big supermarket chains are doing well, as is online retailing. However, many small local shops are struggling to survive.

Around 15,000 new retail jobs are expected to be created in Scotland, and another 98,000 jobs will need to be filled due to people leaving the sector.

There are almost 300 call centres in Scotland, employing around 56,000 people, 2.3% of the Scottish workforce. The sector is still growing, despite competition from overseas. Almost 86% of jobs are in the Central Belt. Just under a quarter of all centres recruit employees with at least one foreign language.

If you want to be part of this career area, you should be a ‘people person’. You need to get on well with other people, from all backgrounds. You should be friendly and a good listener. You should be willing to answer questions, to deal with complaints and be able to work calmly, even when it is busy.

There are lots of ways into these jobs. You can start some straight from school with few or no qualifications. If you do this you might be able to work your way up to a more responsible job – perhaps from retail assistant to retail manager. If you go in with no qualifications you can take Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQs) while you are working.

For other jobs you need a Higher National Certificate (HNC), Higher National Diploma (HND) or a degree before you start.

You might be able to get into some jobs through Modern Apprenticeships, Skillseekers or New Deal. The Scottish Government announced that they will provide the funding for an extra 2,000 Modern Apprenticeships in retailing between 2009 and 2010. Some of the employers involved include: New Look, Tesco, Asda, Superdrug and Sainsbury's.

The jobs in this career area are split into 4 sectors:

• Buying


• Call centres


• Consumer services


• Retail and sales.

Sources

Skillsmart Retail National Background Brief - Scotland (2008)

Skillsmart Retail Analysis - Future and Current Trends (2008/2009)

Skillsmart Retail is the Sector Skills Council for Retail (http://www.skillsmartretail.com/)

Scottish Retail Consortium - Scottish Retailing: Key Facts 2009/2010 (http://www.brc.org.uk/)