Career Profile: Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend

Working with people all day, organizing your inventory and store, setting goals and meeting them – if you’re one who thrives in a store environment and loves interacting with others, then maybe a career in retail is just for you!

The retail industry is very broad and jobs differ depending on the merchandise being sold. From electronics to clothes to home decor, retail stores are everywhere. Youthink had a chance to catch up with Sasha Plamenac, a manager for the high-end jewelry store, Birks, located in Richmond, BC, and learn a little bit more about her role in this dynamic industry.

YT: Tell us specifically what you do as the store manager at Birks.
SP: Birks is basically a luxury jewelry store and as a manager, I’m responsible for overseeing the whole operational aspect of running the Birks store.

YT: What’s your favourite part of the job?
SP: Training my teams, making sure we succeed in the job and selecting merchandise that is going to be displayed to the buyers. I also love achieving the goals that I’ve set to accomplish.

YT: Why did you choose this specific field?
SP: Jewelry has always been my passion, and design is also a part of something that I like, and being in a luxury environment is really quite interesting. If you like dealing with expensive items such as ours, then the job is perfect.

YT: What training is necessary?
SP: The company provides the training when it comes to developing staff in that field, starting maybe as a student working as a sales professional. Later you would be trained for administrative positions or store management and also there are lots of opportunities to educate yourself if you’d like to succeed within the company.

YT: How long is the training program and what is the cost?
SP: There’s no cost since the training is with the company and training can take years and years with studies or just a few months. Even when you get the job, you’re constantly learning, especially with customer service. Learning from your customers happens every day.

YT: Would you mind providing me with a brief rundown of how you got the position?
SP: Management was something that was involved in my business profile, so I had that, which was needed. Also, my interest in the field was something that I wanted to pursue. I went and applied to different retailers that carry luxury items and Birks was the first one that hired me.

YT: What kinds of opportunities can this job lead to?
SP: You start off as a sales professional and if you’d like to remain in the industry, there are endless opportunities to improve your skills and stay with the company longer.

YT: What is the salary range?
SP: It varies, really. For my particular store management position, it depends. Salaries can range from store to store depending on the size of the store and can be from $50,000 per year to even over $100,000, depending, like I said, on the size of the store.

YT: What are the working hours?
SP: The hours are very long; it’s one of the things that I find quite difficult. If you want to get into retail, you should be prepared to know that you’ll work long hours, and when the holiday season starts, you can be working 13 or 14 hours, six days a week.

YT: How competitive is this career?
SP: It’s very competitive and very tough. You have to always be on par with colleagues from other stores and the better you do, the expectations are higher for you every year.

YT: Besides schooling, how can a 17-year-old prepare for a career in this field?
SP: They can certainly get some experience in retail prior to this job and gather background information.