Career Viewpoint Report: Analyzing Retail Industry Trends and Skills

This report, prepared as part of the MG410 Career Viewpoint module, offers a detailed analysis of the retail industry and the essential skills required for a marketing activities planner role. The report begins with an introduction outlining the importance of career development and the student's interest in the retail sector. It then delves into current trends within the industry, specifically addressing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent job market dynamics. The analysis includes an examination of a job advertisement from Marks and Spencer, highlighting the required skills such as communication, leadership, critical thinking, technological proficiency, and the ability to work under pressure. The report further evaluates the student's existing skills and experience, identifying areas for improvement, particularly in technological skills. The conclusion emphasizes the significance of career development and the role of marketing in influencing business environments. The report also references relevant academic sources to support its findings.

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Career View Point

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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................4
Analysis and Application................................................................................................................................4
Current Trends.............................................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION...............................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................................9

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INTRODUCTION
Every person need to think about their career so they can do something to make their career
bright and successful. For career development it is essential to take academic degree so that
individual can learn sufficient skills and knowledge as per their interested course. There are various
courses are available in the university that can help to provide lots of knowledge related to the
specific field but as per my observation I analyzed that I am more interested in marketing field and
I have plan to work on retail industry in which I will show my talent and abilities properly. Under
this study, I will analysis the general trends related to the retail industry and as per the job role
which I want to play, I will discuss the skills, knowledge and also experience required for that
particular job.
Analysis and Application
Current Trends
According to the current scenario, it is analyzed that there are various factors which are provide
the direct impact on the latest market situation of each and every industry. I am interested to work
in retail industry so I analyzed each and every fact that influences the marketing of the industry.
Due to covid 19 pandemic, most of the companies experienced high ups and downs that provide
negative impact on the marketing of the companies (Bernardin, et. al., 2018). In lockdown period,
most of the organization terminated many workers and employees so that now the current scenario
is that people want to do work and search jobs so that they can get good employment. After
successful completion my MBA program in the specialization in marketing, I am also looking
forward to get good job opportunities in the well recognized company. I have also one year
experience in small firms but now I I wanted to switch my job and seeking the best job opportunity
so that I can make my career bright. Covid 19 affect the whole business so that now it is quite
difficult to get the job but I am constantly searching job in every job portal like indeed, naukri.com
and also professional sites like LinkedIn. I want to do job in marketing field so that I can
demonstrate my existing skills and also learn new one as per the curry trends. For continuous
search I saw the job advertisement on indeed related to the marketing activities planner in Marks
and Spencer that is considered as the most popular company of UK (Csehné Papp, et. al., 2018). I
feel good to see that job opportunity because I have a plan to join the big organization so that I can

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secure my career. I gathered some information in relate to this company and I found that this
company want to hire well qualified marketing activities planner that can help to boost the
performance of the company because due to uncertainty of corona virus pandemic, company
experienced many losses so that now company looking forward to make their marketing more
strong so that company can cover the losses of this pandemic. I generalized from the job
advertisement of Marks and Spencer that company want that employee who have good knowledge
about marketing strategies and operations and also know the usage of technology so that marketing
activities planner can manage the online marketing and campaign effectively. Company provides
chance to the fresher’s and also those who have 2 to 3 years in marketing field. I also take
information through the secondary resources like magazines and government census report and I
have observed that from last year’s, the marketing performance of this company is not that much
effective because of the competition level (Guo, Wang and Wang, 2019). There is huge
competition in this industry so that now company wants to focus on their marketing operations so
that company wants to appoint the talented marketing activities planner who can help to improve
the sale. To know more about this company , I also talked to their existing employees so that they
can provide me the real situation inside the company and I analyzed that company want dedicated
employee who are loyal toward their job role (Hattori, 2019).

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Skills, Knowledge and experience required
There are many skills and knowledge which are mandatory to play a role of marketing
activities planner in the well established company. I have some skills which will help me in job
but as per the job advertisement of the Marks and Spencer, I saw that company want that person
who has effective communication skills, leadership quality, critical thinking skills, technology
skills and that candidate who are comfortable to work under pressure. It is also good if a person
have experience in marketing field so that company will choose that one. The description of
these skills which are essential to get the job in Marks and Spencer are discussed below -
 Communication and negotiation skills - in order to get job in marketing field it is
important to have the effective communication skills and negotiation skills which can help
me to deal with the people and create good relationship with them. M&S Company
required fluent communication skills in the marketing activities planner (Mockler, 2018).
 Leadership quality - To create a good coordination with the customers it is important to
have the good leadership skills so that they can influence their team members so that they
can work systematically. M& S looking forward to those employees who have this skill.
 Critical thinking and problem solving skills- To get a job in the marketing field so it is
prominent to understand the facts and whole marketing scenario so that they can operate
each and every marketing activity in an effective way. As an marketing planner need to
analyze the facts with my critical thinking so that I can easily solve the critical problems.
 Technological skills - This skill is play a most important role and also helps to people
easily access of the online and digital marketing operations. With the help of technological
knowledge I can easily manage the all the online campaign and operation effectively.
 Ability to face work pressure - Marketing activities planner need to handle stress stressful
situations so that they can easily handle every situation with a positive attitude. And also
balance good coordination with their team members. M&S required that employees that
have ability to work under pressure (Rahim, 2017).
Evaluation
I have completed my MBA in marketing and also contain good experience in the marketing
field but in small businesses firms. But now I want to work in huge organization and then I got

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information about the job opportunity in the M& S then I feel excited and that opportunity will
shape my career and help me in my career development. The job roles and responsibilities clearly
depict that company need knowledge person who knows marketing activities and strategies. The
main reason to work on this company is that the market value of this company is more and it will
help me in my career growth (Schulstok and Wikstrand, 2020). I completed my degree in
marketing because I like to interact with people that why to take experience in marketing field I
worked on some organization related to marketing operations. I evaluated all the job roles and
responsibilities and now I am trying hard to improve my skills so that I will get select in interview.
I analyzed that I am not good enough in technological skills so I decided that take some classes and
lessons so that I can perform well in this job. Company wants to explore some more technological
advancement so that company can easily take more competitive advantages. M& S is very reputed
organization so I do not want to lose this massive opportunity to work on this company. Retail
industry need to overcome their losses and balance their market so that company can earn more
profitability. Marketing is considered the one of the most effective department which influences the
external business environment directly so that company analysis all the current treads with the help
of marketing business activities Vapiwala, N., et. al., 2019). With the help of this opportunity I will
improve my professional development and also work globally so that I can get more career
advancement in future. I also recommend this job profile to my juniors and graduates because this
job is very dynamic and there are many things that anyone can learn from this job.

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CONCLUSION
As per this report it can be said that career development is essential for everyone and
there is a need to think about the career and create a strong career view point which can help to
gain success and provide big growth. This report discussed about the current trends about the
market and also analyzed that covid 19 provided the adverse impact on the business of each and
every industry. Retail industry is also one of them which also experienced big loss. This report
helps to understand the importance of skills, knowledge and experience for a particular job role.

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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bernardin, M.P., et. al., 2018. The Career of Paul P. Whalen at Los Alamos National
Laboratory (No. LA-UR-18-31640). Los Alamos National Lab.(LANL), Los Alamos,
NM (United States).
Csehné Papp, I., et. al., 2018. The Career concepts of women in Hungary. Trendy v
podnikání, 8(1), pp.64-72.
Guo, W., Wang, L. and Wang, N., 2019. Research on the impact of career management fit on
career success. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources.
Hattori, F., 2019. Supporting the Balance between Work and Treatment for Cancer Patients by
Career Consultants Aiming for Reconstruction of Work Life. Gan to kagaku ryoho.
Cancer & chemotherapy, 46(10), pp.1482-1485.
Mockler, N., 2018. Early career teachers in Australia: A critical policy historiography. Journal of
Education Policy, 33(2), pp.262-278.
Rahim, N.B., 2017. Leveraging the psychological well-being among Malaysian engineers: The
role of protean career orientation and career strategy implementation. Jurnal Pengurusan
(UKM Journal of Management), 49.
Schulstok, T. and Wikstrand, F., 2020. Gender Equality and Career Guidance in a Nordic
Context. In Career and career guidance in the Nordic countries (pp. 51-64). Brill Sense.
Vapiwala, N., et. al., 2019. Enhancing Career Paths for Tomorrow's Radiation
Oncologists. International Journal of Radiation Oncology• Biology• Physics, 105(1),
pp.52-63.

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APPENDIX

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