Many youngsters take up work in retail stores as part time sales executives during holidays. The job might look attractive but its not as glamorous as it appears to be. If you think a retail sales clerk’s job means hours of friendly conversations with customers in plush surroundings, you are mistaken. The job is not as light and comfortable as it appears to be. You’ve got to understand that the job can be very strenuous. In the present holiday season a large number of Americans are expected to work in retail outlets as sales or customer service executives. You’ll find them employed in stores like Target and Prada.

Earlier college and school students along with housewives would participate in these jobs. But now this year due to the bad economy, even bankers, mortgage brokers etc. who have lost their jobs have joined the usual lot. So you’ll find more workers than you ever did previously. But then, if you think you can make fast money with these part time jobs, you are mistaken because the wages are not that high and you’ve got to really work and keep working to continue with the job and get your wages.

That is just the tip of the iceberg! Delve further and you’ll find that the employers are real hard martinets. Firstly hiring is based on strict performance assessment based on psychometric testing. Next, the percentage of selected candidates is just about 3 percent. Third, your conversations with the customers are strictly timed and scripted. So wave goodbye to less professional on-job socializations! Also you are minutely observed. It seems you are also assessed against the time that you take for hanging a shirt! At the end of the day your baggage is checked. Well, I might feel hurt that employers don’t really trust their employees even after they’ve worked for them for sometime. But that is personal opinion. Business houses are driven by professionalism and not emotion! Well, if you ask the employers they say that they are compelled to be so much disciplined owing to high demand for top quality performance.

Usually every year the retailers would hire part time executives from September for the coming holidays. But this year things are so uncertain. As the retailers are not expecting a lot of customers to turn up, they haven’t started hiring people yet. They say that they’ve got to settle their budgets before they can think of hiring. If you still want to be noticed by employers don’t submit paper curriculum vitae to them. E-mail an electronic resume instead. Your application will be a part of a centralized database. With no human interaction for selection do you think your application stands a chance of being noticed at all ?

Think all this and many more before you opt for a part time job with a retailer. Don’t be too hopeful, but chances are you are going to land up with a good job. You never know!