As a student, it’s never too early to start thinking about your career. While seasonal breaks such as time off over the summer provide the perfect opportunity for placements and extended work experience, right now many of you will be looking for, or may have already secured, a part time job.
Although you might not have a burning passion for your current role (great if you do!) and may simply view it as a means of bringing a little extra money in, don’t underestimate the value a part time role can add to your CV.
Over this series of posts we will bring you a summary of the 5 most common student jobs and their transferable skills. Today, we will be talking about:
Customer service (shops)
Whether you’re selling shoes or cosmetics, homeware or food, a job in customer service will help you to develop a number of transferable skills such as listening, communication, persuasion, conflict resolution, problem solving and initiative taking.
Depending on the size of the shop you work in and how long you’re in the position for, you may be able to take part in charitable or product launch events and even engage in a little event planning, allowing you to grow and demonstrate your project management skills. If you’ve been in the position for a while, it may become your responsibility to train new colleagues on processes or systems, in which case you can describe your methods for facilitating learning and disseminating information to others.
Let’s not forget responsibility. With most shop work comes a need to work on the tills, and the fact that you may be handling large sums of money on a daily basis is testament to your responsible, conscientious nature. Again, depending on how long you stay in a position and the chances there are for progression, you may be entrusted with completing banking procedures and reconciling tills at the beginning and end of the day.
Although far from being an exhaustive list, we hope this post has given you some ideas on the transferable skills that a job in customer service could help you to develop.
The University’s Careers and Employability Service has a wealth of resources available to help you search and apply for various jobs and work experience. Check our their homepage and jobs board on MyCareer and identify your skills today.
