Finding a job at your favourite fashion retailer

If you’re fascinated by fashion, working at a fashion retailer might be a great idea to get into the industry. If you manage to land a job at your favourite fashion retailer, you can combine a career that you desire with a flexible position - and the benefit of employee discounts often sounds lucrative!

However, to increase your chances of landing that dream job, you need to keep in mind a couple of recruitment tips and tricks - especially when it comes to writing your CV. Whether or not you’ve worked in retail before, consider these things when applying for your next job.

Make sure the employer knows you’re reliable
Reliability is a big thing in retail. Your manager will want to know that they can depend on you, and the person working in recruitment will definitely be on the lookout for keywords that signify exactly that in your CV. Take into consideration that work in retail can often be demanding, so be sure you’re comfortable with putting in the extra hours.

Soft skills, most importantly ones related to sales, can be a big benefit on your CV. However, don’t forget about skills that can’t be easily taught. If it’s going to be your first job in retail, you won’t be expected to know the intricacies of being a salesman - but they will want you to possess communication skills, such as the ability to be relatable to a customer.

Consider the position you’re applying for
Retail is a broad industry with many positions you might potentially apply for. While you might be applying for the most common position of a sales associate, you might just as well try to go into customer service, where you’ll be directly responsible for tackling your customers’ queries and issues.

As a cashier, you need to not only know how to operate a register, but also how to resolve returns of damaged or faulty goods. For more tips on how to tailor your CV to the specific position in retail you’re applying for, check out this article.

Make your CV appropriate for a job in retail
While you might be used to using just one CV for all of your applications, you’re actually significantly hurting your chances of being invited to an interview. You should try to tailor your CV to each job offer you’re applying for, as each one will most probably prioritise different values. The personal statement is often fundamental in landing a job, and it’s very important to try to impress the recruiter with how well you fit for this exact position.

Make sure you’re using a clean and easy-to-read CV layout - many CVs are thrown away before even being considered because they just don’t read well. Recruiters, on average, take between 6 and 13 seconds to look at each CV - not exactly enough time to dig in deep. If you want to land a job, you need to hook the recruiter during that brief time span.

All in all, how you structure and write your CV is one of the few things that are in your control when applying for a job. Make sure you go the extra mile when composing it and you’ll increase the chances of landing your dream job by a significant margin.