Salesfloor Assistant Review

I started at M&S in 2017 as a salesfloor assistant and I am still working here. My daily tasks are to provide support and help to customers in any area of the shop - Clothing, food and other areas. This is generally the same everyday and I try to be as helpful as I can in order to make myself look good and to give M&S a good image.

Social skills - I have learnt A TON of social skills from this, there have been points where i've stayed with customers for over 5 minutes as we've chatted and i've been their personal helper almost, this is especially true with the elderly customers that usually require more help and i'm always happy to do this.

A lot, i'm not controlled a lot, i'm simply told to be helpful and honest with customers, so it allows flexibility for me and I can offer help and be on my feet a lot. I make sure that i'm organised and don't stick myself in people's faces, only offering it it looks obvious

Not very, nothing against the company but i'm not presented as an important asset and I understand that, however I feel like my role is especially important in providing customer satisfaction, which can correlate to retention rates increasing. Nonetheless I appreciate where I am but I wish that I was acknowledged a bit more.

Very structured, we all know our roles and what we have to do, the timetable system is very clear and if there are any doubts then we can call our supervisors. Lunch breaks and other breaks are fairly small, only 15 minutes so this doesn't offer much but it's enough I suppose in the grand scheme of things.

Not a ton, aside from first week of training, I did not have much support. That was fine, I used my own intuitive to service any problems that I had, which is fine and has been fine for me! Perhaps if I had problems then my training provider would help me now, but for the time being i've not had much support.

Again, not a lot, however we can email or call our managers to discuss personal and public issues within our jobs, so we definitely have access to help which I appreciate. It is not widely talked about though in the business and so it may be a bit more "taboo" to straight up ask for support, you're expected to know your role and job.

Absolutely fine, I am happy with what I get however I do pay tram fares to get to the store, so perhaps a travel cost subsidy would be brilliant as I basically have to subtract a fair percentage from what I get paid to cover costs. This demoralises me a tad bit as I feel that i'm earning less than I work for.

The money earned gave me a chance to have a nice social life and go out with friends. This made me a bit more aware of outside, as usually I don't travel much, however using the metro link so much made me see the town a lot more as i've gone out a bit more with friends and family outside of work.

No

It is tough and depends on your personality, if you're not charismatic and you cannot keep a happy face at all times, it may be difficult to deal with customers if you're upset and or if they are angry at you. Ultimately it's about having a "Poker" face but at the same time asking for help if needs be too.

Be prepared for phone calls, be prepared for interviews, dress up and give a good first impression to your potential employers. Don't be nervous, they want you to get the job! Show what you can do and show why you want to have the job, they will willingly give you the job if you show that you have the skills.