OXFORD
OxfordGuideToCareers2017
OxfordGuideToCareers2017
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RETAIL + SALES<br />
RETAIL + SALES<br />
Carla Peters<br />
Associate Vendor Manager,<br />
Amazon<br />
St Catherine’s College,<br />
Biological Sciences, 2014<br />
WHAT: As an Associate Vendor Manager<br />
you are responsible for a group of<br />
products or brands that we sell on site.<br />
This involves looking after the entire<br />
process from negotiating terms to creating<br />
a growth plan to drive sales. You are<br />
given responsibility from day one, and can<br />
directly see the impact of your work on the<br />
Amazon website.<br />
GETTING IN: I applied for the Amazon<br />
Graduate Scheme directly through their<br />
website. The process was much easier and<br />
quicker than other applications, since the<br />
first stage is just a CV upload. If successful,<br />
you have a phone interview, online test<br />
and an assessment day. The best thing<br />
about the interviews for graduates is<br />
that you aren’t expected to have prior<br />
business experience, as long as you can<br />
demonstrate that you have potential and<br />
relevant skills for the role.<br />
HOW MY <strong>OXFORD</strong> EXPERIENCE HELPED:<br />
When interviewing for the graduate<br />
scheme all of my examples came from<br />
things I had been involved in at Oxford.<br />
There are so many opportunities to hold<br />
positions of responsibility, and these are<br />
definitely worth doing as they are<br />
relevant in the business world, even if<br />
they don’t seem it at the time. If you<br />
have had a role in a society, think<br />
about what lessons it taught you and<br />
skills you used, since they can be<br />
applicable for your future career.<br />
TOP TIPS: Don’t worry if you are<br />
unsure about what career path you<br />
want to follow. Apply for whatever<br />
is of interest, and if you are asked<br />
to interview for a company it means<br />
that they believe your skillset fits their<br />
position. It could surprise you!<br />
Get involved with a society or<br />
group while at Oxford so that you<br />
have experience in a position of<br />
responsibility and working closely<br />
with others.<br />
As a graduate, companies don’t<br />
expect you to have years of business<br />
experience. Instead use the skills<br />
that you have demonstrated at<br />
university to explain how you have<br />
the potential to be a perfect fit for<br />
the role.<br />
Tom Flintoff<br />
Site Optimisation Manager,<br />
Marks & Spencer<br />
Hertford College,<br />
BA Economics &<br />
Management, 2010<br />
WHAT: As one of the UK’s biggest<br />
retailers, millions of customers visit<br />
M&S’s website daily.<br />
My role is to convert as many of these<br />
customer visits into sales. Key to this is<br />
understanding how our customers are<br />
behaving online and then working across<br />
teams to develop strategies to improve<br />
performance. This could be anything<br />
from online range extension, to delivery<br />
proposition enhancements or page redesigns<br />
working with our UX and web<br />
development team.<br />
WHY: Online retailing is a fascinating<br />
world. With technology changing at an<br />
ever increasing pace and barriers to<br />
entry lower than ever with the evolution<br />
of mobile apps and marketplaces, you<br />
have to be ahead of the curve to satisfy<br />
customer expectations and win in this<br />
market. This provides a great challenge<br />
and the main reason I enjoy my job.<br />
The best part about my current role is<br />
using data and insight to make quick<br />
changes to the website and measuring<br />
how customers respond to that change.<br />
In the online world everything is<br />
trackable so I can see exactly which<br />
parts of the shop are working and which<br />
are not in real time, making it possible to<br />
take quicker, data driven decisions<br />
to improve the experience for<br />
customers.<br />
EARLY CAREER: On the M&S Digital<br />
Graduate Scheme I was exposed to<br />
a wide range of projects from day 1. I<br />
was given high levels of responsibility<br />
straight away, whether launching<br />
M&S’s first Android App or managing<br />
a multi-million pound paid search<br />
budget.<br />
TIPS: It’s important to be selfmotivating<br />
and to enjoy a challenge<br />
– with these skills you’ll fit right in<br />
with the team and succeed.<br />
It’s also really important to get<br />
some experience and a good<br />
understanding of how an ecommerce<br />
business is run. You don’t need to<br />
have run a department at a flagship<br />
store on Oxford Street: running<br />
an eBay store or understanding<br />
the supply chain will help you to<br />
understand the importance of putting<br />
the customer first and demonstrate<br />
how online shopping has evolved.<br />
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