I'm writing this post with the idea that it will be the first of several, to chronicle my journey as I look to transition away from a career in retail management.

In addition to chronicling my journey, I will most likely be asking for feedback and advice along the way from you, the good people of Texags.

Career background: Upon graduating from A&M, I started working for my current company in a management role, and worked my way up to the store manager position, which I have been for the past several years. Total time at my current company (in these various positions) is approximately 15 years, all in the Houston area. I don't plan to name the company or industry publicly, so no need to ask in the thread. If it's super relevant to a thought you have, you can always pm me.

As we all know, with any job there are positives and negatives. The really big positives that stick out is I love getting to know people. My retail is not "big box" so there is a lot of opportunity to get to know customers and vendors, not to mention interacting with employees. It's a lot of fun to train and coach employees, and watch them become better at their job. Also, as the head man at my location, I set the tone, which is nice. Additionally the pay's not bad, and with tenure comes more vacation time. There are more positives but these are the main ones.

The negatives: It's retail, there are negatives. I won't rehash them all except to say there are negatives in every job, and the day to day negatives of retail don't really bother me all that much. I'm a pretty positive person day in and day out so that helps, as it would in really any situation or role. Really the main negative, and the primary reason I'm looking to transition out of retail, is that the environment in my industry is changing, and over the long term it doesn't bode well for my company. There are near-term symptoms as well, which make now an attractive time to pursue a career change. I won't get into specifics.


Thoughts on what I am/am not looking for: This is where I would appreciate feedback on my thoughts, and advice.

• I'm pretty sure I don't want to teach. It would be a pay cut, which I'm not opposed to initially, but the problem with teacher pay is that it doesn't get better over time, or is extremely slow to improve (please correct me if I am wrong). Also if I were to teach I would want to teach high school level, which would probably mean I would have to go back to school myself in order to meet the certifications, etc.
• I am hesitant, at least at the start of this career change, to go the self-employed route.
• Travel: an interesting factor. I think this would have to be on a case by case basis. In general, due to family concerns, I would shy away from a, get on a plane every week and come back on the weekends, type of job. Anything else, I wouldn't rule it out without proper consideration.
• Relocation: At this time I need to stay in the Houston area.
• Management vs. IC: My thought is that I would like to transition to a new career, develop new skills, excel, and then potentially, if the right opportunity presents itself down the road, draw back upon my management skills at that point. Any feedback or thoughts around this would be appreciated.
• Compensation: I would like to not have to sell my house and move into an apartment due to this career change. I'm not opposed to coming in at a lower pay and position in order to learn an industry, but would like for there to be plenty of room for compensation growth.
• Work life balance: It would be good to have a good work life balance. I'm sure this is very company-specific.

Career avenues off the top of my head I've considered (thoughts in parenthesis):

• Sales (might be suited for outside sales or B2B)
• Finance (Have the brain for it, just not the schooling or certs, depending on the specific area)
• Project Management
• Corporate Trainer
• Management in a completely unrelated area from retail (would have to be the right opportunity, and see thoughts above)
• Teaching (considered, but see above - it's been considered and dismissed)
• HR (no experience)
• Technical writing (no experience)
• Oil and gas industry (super broad, and I don't know where to start as far as in what way my skill set could benefit an employer)
• Health care industry - potentially in sales or support
• Lots of other things (I believe I can do anything I put my mind to, but probably lack experience.)

Next Steps:

1. Figure out which direction I want to take my career.
2. Update my resume and target it towards my career goals
3. Apply/Interview
4. Transition to new job/career
...and go from there.

Really, this post is my first step. I hope to gain some perspective from any replies. Thanks in advance.

Off the top of my head...it sounds like you have a lot of experience and knowledge that you be of great benefit to one of your vendors. Pick the one you like best and see what they have. My dad worked in plants for years, retired, and went to work for his main vendor as a subject matter expert.

NCNJ1217 said:

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Good morning. Great post. Clearly you've given this career change/transition great thought.

I hope my suggestions, below, help you in your mission.

These caught my eye:

I would like to transition to a new career...
Update my resume and target it towards my career goals...
Career avenues off the top of my head I've considered..

First you must choose the primary career goal, for your resume must present language that positions you as a qualified candidate for a particular opportunity/profession/trade. This won't be a simple "update" but, instead and likely, a complete "revision " of your existing resume. A "Jack of all trades, master of none" approach won't well serve your interests. My recommendation would be first examine those opportunities in which you most are interested paying careful attention to the requisite candidate requirements and qualifications... then examining your existing resume and asking yourself, "Do the tasks and functions (T&F) I've performed for the last 15 years align with this new opportunity?".

There may be some T&F you performed that, at first glance, may not align with your desired pursuit(s). This is where the "careful examination" comes in. When considering the new opportunity candidate requirements you next ask yourself, "Did under any circumstances I perform those T&F?". You'll need to brainstorm and write down those instances and conditions under which they were performed. If you're diligent in this approach you'll recognize those opportunities for which your experience doesn't reconcile.

After examining a few opportunity requisite candidate requirements and qualifications more quickly you'll be able to identify for what you're qualified, and for what you're not... and cull down that list.

When you have exhausted the examination you begin authoring the bullet points language to align with the particular opportunity and employing that language in a manner which leave the recipient (the person considering you for their opportunity) zero reason to NOT qualify you for their opportunity.

Best wishes on the career change!

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Thanks. Yes, this is one of the avenues I've considered.

Thanks Jim. I may be contacting you at some point as well.

Have you considered a Purchasing/Supply Management type role?

I was in retail management (also a smaller box store) for 7 years and left for a buyer position with a municipal government. The transition was pretty easy. I got to work with both the project manager, and the vendors/contractors bidding on the jobs/commodities. I was able to network with departments throughout the City, as well as vendors from all over the state.

I recently moved into a Data Analyst role with a City department, but having the experience from the purchasing role helped to have a good background of the financial side of things.

Local government might not interest you, but there are all kinds of purchasing/supply chain positions in private industry.

I wish you luck with your endeavors, I just wanted to mention another option for you to look into.

What does your manager do? You're likely qualified. Do you interact with any teammates from "corporate"? Any of their roles appear appealing?

May look for those type of roles at a similar company to yours in an industry that doesn't have the same headwinds you're alluding to.