Negotiating with vendors. Tracking inventory. Planning back-to-school promotions. Sounds like any normal retailer, right? Except there’s one major difference – these duties are performed by high school students, who not only work in, but manage all aspects of their high school store.
School stores are part of Career and Technical Education (CTE), and DECA’s School-based Enterprise Program. The NRF Foundation is a member of DECA’s National Advisory Board, and at their annual meeting last week, I had the opportunity to speak on a panel about workforce preparedness. Alongside me were students from Stone Bridge High School’s DECA co-op and School-based Enterprise Program, their adviser (and CTE Department Chair) Donna Celio, and Tracy Aguilar, Manager of Field Staffing-Marmaxx, from The TJX Companies, Inc.
Tracy Aguilar, TJX Companies, speaks about recruiting workers for retail,
at DECA’s NAB meeting, at the Capital Visitors Center in Washington, DC
On this panel, we discussed the importance of preparing students for the transition from school to work, and how to provide meaningful work experiences that build skills employers value. Listening to the students talk about running their school store, it is clear it is a powerful teaching tool. Students inevitably learn management and leadership skills – all the while learning about the retail business. I shared how the NRF Foundation’s training and certification programs play a role in CTE by integrating industry-developed standards in curriculum and giving students the chance to earn a professional certification that showcases their knowledge and skills. TJX explained how they use their partnership with DECA to recruit these well-trained students for jobs in their stores. TJX recognizes that CTE students will come to work more prepared and productive from day one.
Many students’ first exposure to retail is in high school. If step one is training them for their first job in retail, I think we’re well on our way. Now, for the next step – recognizing and rewarding high-performers, and keeping them excited about working in retail. While we’ve started down this path, we still have a little further to go.
This blog post first appeared in Retail’s BIG Blog.
