deputy manager

sales supervisor

store manager

mobile assistant

sales manager

Clarks

Having no prior retail experience, I was incredibly lucky to be offered a job as a sales assistant. I credit all the skills I currently have due to my working here.

The management were, for the most part, fair with hours and helpful in every aspect of working. Colleagues were great and surprisingly most of the customers I dealt with were pleasant too. 

Typically, I worked between 5 and 7 hours per shift. I was originally drafted in as a Summer Temp to deal with the Back to School rush. However, I was lucky enough to stay on past Christmas and into the new year. I found that usually it was either empy or exceptionally busy, but if your are proactive and can occupy yourself with general cleaning and tidying that's no issue.

Other than the obvious role of serving customers, I often had to sort deliveries and put them away into the stockrooms. This was highly stressful in peak times as there are often far more shoes delivered than there was space for, and with a strict system of how they should be arranged, it was very difficult to efficiently complete this task. 

I personally enjoyed being on my feet for all the time at work, however it's something to bear in mind if you are used to a more desk orientated environment. Of course there is a knack to selling products, but a one-on-one selling environment allowed you to bond more with customers which I realy enjoyed as a people person. You get to meet a multitude of different people and it is incredibly rewarding when you make a sale with the knowledge that it was completed as a result of your own efforts. Despite the store running as a team environment, everyone is responsible for their own sales and this gives a competitive edge which I particularly liked.

Breaks were average, but my managers allowed for tea breaks more or less whenever you fancied (within reason) which was great.

I do have some issues.

Although I outlasted the position of Summer Temp, and became more permanent I wasn't always treated as an equal employee despite working more than some of the full time staff due to holidays, covering etc. No matter what sacrifices I made to benefit the company, I never really got anything in return. However, as a multi-national business, what can one expect? 

On that note, some of the KPIs you are expected to meet are ridiculous.It is expected that you sell a certain number of shoecare, handbags and complete multisales as well as sell shoes. The system employed is incredibly unfair as these sales are registered as percentages of overall sales. Ie You could sell £300 of shoes in one day and one cheap handbag and your bag sales look terrible, whereas if you have an awful day of selling shoes but sell one expensive bag, your percentages are fantastic. The rewards scheme in my particular branch was heavily weighted in favour of the latter sales (mostly achieved by weekend staff) and so despite having exceptional overall sales, I was often penalysed due to my percentages not being up to scratch which was incredibly disheartening.

One minor issue I only came to realise when I left was that £6.10 per hour for someone my age (19) was rather low. Nevertheless, the wage suited me just fine while I was working there.

On the whole I really enjoyed working at Clarks due to the high quality products and the excellent people I was surrounded with. I would reccommend the company to anyone as a job or as a shoe shop. I own several pairs of Clarks shoes that I would never have bought had it not been for my time working there. You may go into the job not liking shoes, but after working there, you will find yourself constantly browsing shoes, and looking at peoples feet to see if they are wearing the Clarks Brand!

I walked into this role with an open mind, I had previously been a supervisor before but not to this sort of scale. Initially I enjoyed learning about Clarks ways and getting to know the team and was given lots of training resources and lots of guidance. My team in store were great! we bonded really quickly and we worked really well together!

A typical day would be as you expect it to be - opening the store, setting daily/weekly targets, filling up stock on the shop floor, serving customers, hourly reports on sales figures, deliveries, completing weekly tasks, cleaning the store, banking cash, closing the store and sending daily reports to management. Some days you would have to stay for nearly an hour or more after your shift/store closure to get jobs done. (We were understaffed so this backlashed onto management - no thank you's for staying most of the time)

However I quickly started to feel overwhelmed with how much I was being expected to learn in a very short space of time as some of the areas that have to be covered are complex and require months to perfect (IMO) and all staff are expected to learn it in just 4 weeks as well as master sales and customer service. I witnessed and heard a few things from higher management that immediately had alarm bells ringing in my head. I quickly learnt that if your face didn't fit the frame - you were forced out and it would be left to store management to dismiss staff even if you had tried to reason with higher management to let staff members stay. (when you love your team - this is horrendous to have to do!) 

The job isn't flexible for full time members of staff. I had no Work-life balance.. working here took over my life completely and made me miserable. I didn't like the constant pressure from higher management - they would visit once or several times every week (this is very unusual in the company)  and it had a knock on effect with my team members too - they started to become very unhappy at work and were leaving the company soon after starting. 

The worst job I've ever had in my opinion - so unless you like to feel pressured by higher management, have no work - life balance, like being understaffed and don't mind having a very high staff turn over then I wouldn't recommend working in this particular franchise. 

(I've heard that retail clarks is a lot nicer to work for..)

Job itself is not too bad and your team in the store can make it be a better experience. But the organisation as a whole is a mess.
Firstly if you work in store you will be blamed for company/store underperformance. List of your faults will be rather long:
People come to browse and not to buy? - Your fault
Conversion and footfall low? - Your fault
Same old shoes with the higher prices, which is not selling due to lack of innovation? - Your fault
Understaffed? - Your fault
Customer didn’t leave the review? - Your fault

I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Every bad decision made in HQ is pushed back on store workers.
Targets are unrealistic, HQ wants one thing and area manager the other.
Overall all AM are slick to get into Regional Managers back pocket and stay in the good book, which is not a surprise as she’s not very nice person. As a result you and your poor staff will be getting random figures, which aren’t achievable due to current retail landscape. But for Clarks “Covid is not an excuse” again it’s your fault, simply not good enough at your job. Be prepared to spend loads of time dealing with outdated business approach, spending years on pointless paperwork, which gets thrown without anyone looking at it. But you have to do it because it’s a proof for AM that you doing something? Anything? - Instead of tackling reality you will be writing down your conversion figures on piece of paper, which are click away on the pc.

Stores aren’t equal - if you working in the smaller city or town you won’t matter as everything is about Top 60. This approach is visible in hours allowance, stock availability and conference calls. No matter how successful your own shop is, if you’re not one of the favourites.

And the best way to summarise the state of this company is current proposed transition. Company says to press one thing, does the other.
Everything is rushed and I don’t believe for one minute it was planned as they claiming. No one has a clear answer to anything, they’re changing their mind at least once per two weeks and playing with people’s livelihoods and mental health. It’s two weeks to go, everything should be coming to an end. It’s our future you’re messing with.

Values and principles are remained on paper, lipped by HQ.
I don’t see the future for Clarks, not until Somerset will start taking accountability for their actions and decisions.



My message for anyone applying or thinking to do in the exmouth branch is don't do it when i was working there 2 people left why was this??? (the Manager?)

I was taken on as a Sales Assistant training to become a Assistant to the Manager.I was very pleased to get the job and got interview by the area Manager in Honiton.

I was working in my local store in Exmouth Branch working along side my Manager after working there for a week i began to realise why the Area Manager told me " you will either hate ????? or your like her that wasn't very professional as i already worked in retail i didn't think highly of the management skills.

So after a week i decided to call a meeting to be arranged with my Area Manager where i discuss how difficult my Manager was to work with.After discussing the problems he then went on to say this isn't the FIRST time. Which made me think this is happening all the time with the Manager maybe someone should looking into this!!

Week before i left clarks i had a meeting with my Area Manager and my Manager we discussed the problems and my Area Manager told me " you got two choices one is to tell me to p?? o?? or is to stay.... i decided to stay even though i didn't think very highly of the management skills.What a way to talk to a Employee i never in my 5 years working in retail ever been spoken to in this manger wanted to hold on until they got rid of me in the end,


this is a list of all the cons too many 
shorts breaks i once worked 9-6 i only got half hour break 
no air conditioning the store only has fans
no hot water or cold water the taps didn't work
the lockers were all being used or locked 
the windows in the stock room were not opening 
stockroom looked messy
nothing was clearly displayed or put away 
the kitchen and staff room was horrible only one chair and a table small boxed in like a animal in a cage
you would have to wait until 3 months until you get staff discount to buy the clarks shoes

I worked as a summer temp and found the mangers and team leaders demanded too much off us especially as most of us are coming into our first jobs or are not as experienced in retail. The company is very target driven and we were expected to sell shoe care and extra shoes dispite bring them out with each costumer and recommending, when we didnt meet target we we look down upon.

I found the way the team leaders and management communicated about  staff was unprofessional and rude. Where one of my colleagues were putting the costumers need first they were scrutinised for their choices to make a more successful sale, as he was told to do something a certain way which would have made it more difficult for the costumer and person selling. They would openly communicate though earpieces loudly completely disregard the staffs training and freshness to the job. We were taught how to fit shoes not sell them.

Dispite this i found my days were busy which was expected but most time we were just standing due to no costumers and i liked how the team leaders always gave us something to do. I Cleaned shelf's and merchandising, Put stock away in the stockroom, sweep floors, filled bins alongside selling hoes. We were made to complete test on the our world which didnt talk a lot of time how ever there were a lot of them and they are not optional. We got given a free pair of shoes to keep, I'd go for the most expensive in the black colour because they last longer and you do not need to buy the protection as you can get it cheaper and it isnt necessary. 

I found most of the senior staff i worked with were very helpful and helped me choosing the right shoes for the costumer and till work, however most of the staff could be quite rude and dismissive. The pay was good £8.21 per hour id recommend a 12 hour contract as they put you on 4 hour shifts to avoid giving you breaks

Probably the worst place I've ever worked and ever will work. Far too complex and full on for a part-time job, they expect too much of their employees from the get-go, conducting assessments and reviews before you've gotten to grips with everything. Individual targets are excessively high and virtually unachievable, causing the shop floor to be a free for all in terms of Sales Assistants trying to force sales through out of desperation to not be moaned at by an uninspiring management team. You're forced to harass every single customer that comes through the door, a stupid and overbearing approach that shouldn't be employed. If you failed to meet an individual target during a period where it wasn't very busy, you were told it was YOUR fault, with the phrase "it's not very busy" being literally banned from being used in the workplace - a completely idiotic idea. 

The management were the worst part, I worked there for 3 months and at no point did I receive a modicum of positive reinforcement nor a single complement for anything good I would achieve. But as soon as you do something wrong, they were straight on your case, berating you and absolutely ruining your confidence and morale. Canterbury store managers Millie and Bethany were a joke of a management team, with no people skills whatsoever especially when it came to motivating their employees. The rest of the team were lovely, except those two who seemingly set out to ruin your day by criticising everything you got wrong.

Do not work here unless you are very experienced in retail, and also somehow enjoy being insulted by your superior regularly.

I am currently doing a summer 2-month contract with Clarks and I must stress this, do not apply if you are not experienced/confident enough to work in a retail environment. This is not a chill or relaxed environment, everyone who works for Clarks takes sales targets/goals very seriously (in my store anyway). Which in some way isn't a bad thing, but someone who is on their second shift and still doesn't know how to 'expertly' measure/size some kid's smelly feet, can't navigate the stockroom or use the till then, quite frankly Clarks, the summer temp does not give a toss about multi-sales and how it is important each team member meets them. A note to people who work there, everyone absorbs/intakes information differently, some are slower on how to learn to use the till or the gage compared to those who've been there for 2/3+ years. 

Overall, this is an overwhelming and pressuring job for a sales team member who is temporary. If meeting targets, a fast-paced environment with screaming babies who won't stop moving when measuring their feet sounds like fun then I'm sure you will fit in. 



PROS:
- Decent salary for a summer part-time temp, 
-No embarrassing uniform, your own clothes
- Good Management (so far)
- Sometimes busy
-the most enjoyable part is when you finish
- Friendly sales team, (some take the job very seriously despite them being a student and a part-time sales assistant)

CONS:
-Not a lot of hours
-Too pressuring, people expect you to 'get it' on first four shifts
-Monthly payment (strange for a temp job, usually weekly)
-Bit much with all the weekly questionnaires and noting down each size of shoe you just measured for a short temporary role.
-Actually increases my anxiety

A typical day at clarks. I would arrive to work half an hour early unpaid to help set up the daily paper work that was needed, do a floor walk of my department to make sure everything was correctly placed, we would have the doors open at 9:30 and we would greet every customer that enters. On a Sunday it was slightly different as it would be myself but id brief the team, tell them what id like to see and what targets id like them to reach then the rest of the day we would have had a laugh, a chat and most importantly would have made sure every customer was seen to. 
In the kids team leader role i learned that different people have different strengths and weaknesses and i played to those, i learned how to be time efficient and how to better a job i was doing there was a lot of planning involved and that helped me progress not just myself but also my team. 
My role was part of management, there was to team leaders, one assistant manager and one manager, in late 2014 main management all changed around and we had to develop new skills, and adapt what we already knew to the standards of the new manager.
My co workers were amazing, we could all have a laugh, a joke and we all knew if there was a problem that it would be sorted out. 
The hardest part of my job was dealing with the complaints on a Sunday on my own however i did grow from that and was able to handle the negatives a lot better.
The most enjoyable part was just showing up, seeing everyone pumped ready for the day, also training the new staff that id have on kids floor, teaching them how to correctly fit, how to engage with the costumer and how to give them an experience they wouldn't forget.

In my position as Sales Team Member for Clarks, I undertook many responsibilities such as serving customers and building rapport, keeping the general condition of the store tidy, mangaing the children's section alone when on an early morning shift and advising customers on the latest products and ranges of shoes and shoe care.

While Sales Team Member for (employer), I was responsible for carrying out the regular procedure when serving customers which involved introducing myself in a friendly and polite way so that both the parent/ guardian (s) and child/ children were happy and relaxed while I measured their feet. I then was able to speak to the cusomer (s) about their preferred choice of shoe (s), and if they were not in stock I was able to provide alternatives. My next responsibility was to carry out the 'top box selling' technique for example, during half term this involved providing the customer (s) with their first choice, second choice, a pair of trainers and wellies and/ or plimsoles. It was then my job to create rapport with the customer (s) and encourage a multisale. Although I was given the task of selling six pairs of shoes an hour during busy periods, this did not interfere with customer satisfaction and I was able to meet my target (s).Finally, I encouraged the customer (s) to leave feedback for the store in the hope that they would be able to win a prize.

When I started Clark’s I was looking forward to working for a well known company. I was offered the position by the manageress who was really nice as well as my fellow colleagues. 
However when I started more training going from adults to children, the pressure increased and the trainer was not very professional or approachable, considering I had only been at the work place for four days. She tried to put a lot on us, and when it came to the next day I had to learn a lot of information on my own including till training which I was told I would have been taught, and when it came to the point when I tried to learn these things they decided to test me on the spot while I was trying to teach myself which is what they should have done in the first place and when I did the test I made a couple of mistakes due to the fact I was training myself and once that was over I was fired.  

At the time I had recently left secondary school I have had two previous jobs and their training was extremely better than Clark’s because they taught me what I needed to know and took their time to make sure I knew what to do in a day of work. But the lady at Clark’s had no patience with me and forgetting the age I am and the lack of experience I had in this specific work place.


I wouldn’t recommend to work for this company if you have recently left secondary school or started college. 
The reason for this is because the lack of professionalism and training with no one to teach you the skills or any other requirements needed for this job.

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