Own Your Strengths

Hi – my name is Tami, and I’m a…a…retailer. 

Yes, I’ve known this for quite some time.  Why haven’t I told you before?  Oh, I don’t know.  It’s one of those things that sometimes just doesn’t sound as good as I’d like it too.

Being a retailer is not an easy career path, and it’s one that I chose to pursue when I was in graduate school.  Retailing has everything: strategy, products, logistics, finance, communications, marketing and sales.  It’s old fashioned, with brick and mortar stores, yet so twenty-first-century with ecommerce and mobile apps.

My favorite part is that it’s fast-paced and constantly changing.  We had a saying at my first retail job out of school: you’re only as good as yesterday’s sales.  It’s a constant tug between “how did we do” and “what is our next big thing”, always striving to be better.  To be a good retailer, you need to be able to move between creative and analytical in a heartbeat.  It’s stressful even in slow periods.  And holidays – or should I say “what holidays”?  They are super busy when everyone else has time off.

And I love it!

For some reason I understand the business model, I like the frenetic pace, I enjoy mixing creativity, strategy and analytics, and above all, I enjoy seeing the results.

So why am I telling you this? 

After the layoff I was afraid to tell people I was a retailer.  Not because I was ashamed but because I wanted to cast a wide net in the job search and didn’t want to be exclusively defined by this title.  Frankly, I was afraid of being viewed as a “one-trick pony” when I knew I had much more to offer.

So what did I do?  I came up with some snazzy words to convey the type of work I did to avoid pigeon-holing myself into one industry.   I played down my past employment and spoke in general terms about my experience.

The result? In doing so I ignored my biggest strength:  I am a retailer and I thrive in that type of environment.

My advice to anyone looking for work is to be truthful about who you are in the work force and what type of work makes you tick.  Own your strengths and be truthful with yourself.

Otherwise you’ll end up miscast in a job that’s not right for you.  The last thing you want is to be a square peg pushed into a round hole.

This doesn’t mean you have to stay in your current industry.  As I discovered, my retail skills were transferrable to other industries and other disciplines.  The important thing is to determine what you excel at and apply those strengths to new opportunities.

The lesson here? It’s OK to be who you are. In fact, you need to own it. Your next employer wants it that way.