1. Retail work experience
Why people do it, why they don’t do it, and why it can be hard to find in the first place
Dr. Charlie Ball
Higher Education Careers Services Unit

2. The Mission….
Asked by Skillsmart (the retail Sector Skills Development Agency) and the South East England Development Agency
To investigate the barriers to FE and HE work experience in the retail sector in the south east
...in three months

3. The Sector
Labour Force Survey data suggests that about 10 to 12 per cent of the working population in the UK is employed in retail – over 3 million people
Total sales in 2004: £259bn
425,000 people in the south east work in the sector

4. The Problem
Only 15% of the retail workforce have NVQ4+ - nationally, just under 30% of the UK workforce are educated to this level
Only 10% of employees under 24 have NVQ4+
17% have NVQ3. NVQ2 is the most commonly held qualification

5. The Future
At present, 22% of retail managers have NVQ4, compared to 42% for the whole population
Working Futures 2006 suggests that, by 2014, the sector will need 298,000 new managers as a result of expansion or replacement demand
In 2005, 15,905 graduates were working in retail six months on
BUT over 60% were in non-graduate shop floor roles. Most leave the retail sector entirely, not to return, when a graduate role presents itself.
The retail sector faces a huge skills challenge

6. The methodology Telephone interviews with a sample of
University tutors
FE teachers
Employers in retailing
Students of retail
...in three months

7. The interviews
Semi-structured interviews conducted by telephone to an interview schedule tailored to each group of respondents
It became clear from the start that one of the key barriers was simply gaining access to appropriate people – if they even existed
The research team experienced difficulty in gaining direct access to students. Compiling an interview sample proved the greatest challenge of the research project. The timing of the data collection coincided with very busy periods in universities and FE colleges. Universities were more able to respond to research team requests for interviews than FE colleges.
Both FE and HE institutions are large organisations and the difficulties the research team encountered are likely to be similar to those faced by employers wishing to offer work experience opportunities for students.
It also proved difficult to secure interviews with employers, for a range of reasons. Many declined to take part in the survey, citing a lack of time, or that they did not take part in work experience, or that they felt the research to be of no benefit to them. As in institutions, it was sometimes difficult to identify the most appropriate person to speak to about work experience - this seems to be true both for the research team and for staff within the (particularly large) employer organisations. Many employers made commitments to contribute to a telephone interview that they did not then fulfil.
As mentioned above, these practical challenges are likely to be encountered by students or institutions wishing to engage with employers about work experience or other aspects of education-industry liaison.

8. The Employers
“It is felt that employers pay lip service to community engagement, but don't really practise it” – FE interviewee
“A pain. An extra pair of hands with no skills” – employer interviewee
“[Company] are very active on campus, and do skills training with students, which keeps them at the front of student perceptions.” - HE interviewee
Some employers appear to underestimate the skills, work ethic and enthusiasm of the students they could attract and see placements in terms of issues rather than opportunities. Some institution interviewees noted that some employers could be put off by, sometimes isolated, bad experiences and that preparing students before they start work placement can help to ensure that an employer is not asked to accommodate a student who is not ready for work experience.
Several institutional interviewees mentioned a reluctance amongst employers to visit campus – all the more galling, because on-campus activity is often extremely effective

9. The institutions
“Academic buy-in is not great. Employability is what happens to students when they leave.” – HE interviewee
“Much (work placement) is not as good, and it is organised by individual tutors, some of whom are not as committed to arranging work placements as others” – FE interviewee
“Institutions are keen on getting placements….but then not enough support during the placement. They need to come in and support the student” – Employer interviewee
Generally, there was much less criticism of institutions, but still there is room for improvement, particularly with individuals. Employers complained of being swamped with applicants, many of good quality.
"Staff need to be more like the employers that they target and hence able to communicate with employers in their own language and to understand the issues and concerns of employers." (FE interviewee)

10. The students
“Some students could be better prepared….they don’t know the company, dress badly, chew gum and so on.” – employer interviewee
“Half my humanities students want to be fashion buyers!” – HE interviewee
“I love it. I don’t do the same thing every day. We work ahead of things…it changes every day” – student interviewee
But students were very put off by issues of low pay and status, percieved working conditions and what was believed to issues surrounding the career prospects in retail

11. The benefits
"Doing work experience means that students can almost guarantee a job later on, and they know that they can get a reference for students." - HE interviewee
"They [sandwich students] are ambassadors for the brand when they go back to university or anywhere else if they have a good experience. Word of mouth marketing is very strong." - employer interviewee
“They say in retail ‘you will never be rich, but you can make a good living’, and that is true.” – employer interviewee

12. The barriers
“People don’t go to bed dreaming of being supermarket managers” – employer interviewee
"The image of retail is bad, people think of it as boring, and that you don't need brains. It's a stereotypical view. When you say what you are studying or where you are working, people try to belittle retail." - student interviewee
"Many of them already work or have worked…..as shelf-fillers, and equate retail jobs with that.” – HE interviewee

13. The conclusion
“The retail sector is extremely good at marketing its products, and very poor at marketing itself.”