moochi

So I have always been interested in fashion, well, the business side of fashion. My dream is to work and live in NYC and work with a company that is involved with fashion. I am a Finance major, so I am interested in working in a Corporate office.

I just got an internship with Saks 5th Avenue. (Sadly the New York location was not an option for this summer, so am staying in my home town where they have a store). The internship is called "Manager in Training". I tried really hard to find a finance or accounting internship with the company, but they did not have on available for this summer so I got accepted into the managerial internship program. While I am super happy about this, I have heard from some other people who did these type of manager internships (Like Macy's, Target, etc.) that once you accept a manager job with a store, you generally stay at the store and cannot move into corporate. Is this true?

If I do well, I really want to accept this job. I am scared to tell them I want to work in corporate for fear they may not hire me since they will figure out I was not interested in the Manager position. I know people say do not accept internships if you do not like the position, but out of 30 jobs I applied for they are the only one who accepted me and I generally do love the company, just not the position.

Does anyone have any advice or know anything about the retail industry? Is it possible for me to move up in retail companies (like from manager to a position in corporate).

I do not know much about the subject and have a hard time finding info about it.

AmicaMom

I was a management trainee, and later an operations manager for a large retail chain. I had an MBA in marketing and HR. I moved into the corporate office in the training department, then HR, and finallywas the head of management training. For those sorts of jobs, they like people with field experience.

With accounting, finance jobs they definitely prefer experience in a retail company, not necessarily in the field.

moochi

Thanks so much! I feel better now. I guess I should not apply what some people have experienced in those jobs to the whole field. I will totally go for it.

Cobra392

I know a girl that was a store manager for GAP for several years, and now works in their corporate offices. Companies often love to promote people who they see can be successful.

Fashion/retail is a very competitive business to be in, in the sense that tons of people want to work in that industry. Saks is a great name, and though your first few years might be hard working your way up, it's a great company to work for.