Your Name and Website (optional)
John Schulte, President and Chairman
Your Retail Connection (Experience, Qualifications)
A 30-year veteran of advertising, marketing, publicity, promotions and sales, expert mail order, direct mail, cataloging and overall direct marketing, certified by a United States Federal Court as a Direct Marketing and Catalog expert.
Describe Your Own Susbstitute for Education (optional)
I learned what it took to become successful at retailing from the street, so to speak, first selling flowers on corners in my teens. I then managed a retail jewelry store and was very successful. The owner hired me directly, she could recognize my knowledge and ability from talking to me.
What's More Important Than Retail Education?
After the jewelry store I went on to manage the advertising and marketing of another retail store in the apparel industry. Eventually I concentrated fully on mail order and direct marketing. Now I counsel all types of multi-channel retailers across the globe. Never did get that degree!
Just because you don't go get a degree does not mean you can be ignorant on your subject matter, it only means you're not paying the university/college to tell you to read books on the subject.
If you're in a small retail shop working with the owner, go out of your way to do more than you're paid for.
Why You Think Advanced Retail Education Isn't Important
If you're being hired by a HR department of a retail store, I would say a degree is going to be required to get an interview and hired.
If you're going to be in the retail business yourself, it's not needed.
People with raw talent, personality and ambition can do anything a person with a degree can, sometimes more. Look at all the successful entrepreneurs that dropped out of college. Give me one of those any day!
HR departments are blinded to many talented people because they are of the mind set that you must have a degree to be worthwhile. That's their first weeding stage. They had to go to college to be an HR person, so by god they are only going to interview others with a college degree.
Advice
- Make sure you have a true passion for what area you're going to be working in, and then self-educate yourself in this area you want to be in.
- Everyone should be working some angle on the web, on the side. If you're working retail fashion, sell fashion items on the web.
- If you are going to be in sales, study sales tactics, become the best sales person the store has.
- If you're going to be in display, study retail display. etc.
- Participate in suggestion boxes, if your store does not have one, suggest to upper management to put one up.
- Suggest new ideas, after you have clearly thought them out.
Barbara Farfan, Retail Industry Guide, says:
John's career illustrates that a retail career path without a degree may not be a straight path, but it can still be an upward path. In his 30 years, John got plenty of retail knowledge without getting a retail degree and all that informal learning seems to have paid off for him nicely.- Do you agree with John? Share your story
- Do you disagree with John? Give your opinion about why retail education is important.
- List of schools with advanced retail education and degrees
