Writing a CV?

I spoke to the recruiters at ELLE and H&M and they agreed that the first thing they look for is previous employment. If that's bad, they don't bother with it. Just thought this may be helpful.

oh i've always wanted to work at h&m. do they only want people with retail experience?

Well, this was for the Head Office jobs, I suppose, since it was quite senior people. For shop floor jobs, I presume they'd still need experience though...if you can't find a job, volunteer in a charity shop; they're very grateful and give you good references, in my experience. Let me know what happens! Have you got any work experience at all?

ohh i see. yeah i've worked in a hairdressers, community mental health centre and a pre-school. but they don't really relate to the same experience do i don't think they would care

ohh i see. yeah i've worked in a hairdressers, community mental health centre and a pre-school. but they don't really relate to the same experience do i don't think they would care

It's still experience, and the hairdresser's is customer service. So it's not totally irrelevant. However, I do think that if someone with retail experience competed against you, they would get the job. Volunteer in a charity shop for a few weeks, even, it helps immensely!

Don't think about the whole job and its setting, thing about the specific skills. One of the key skills for retail is good customer service, breaking that down and thinking about it specifically it means listening carefully to customers and responding quickly and accurately to their requests, planning, preparing and anticipating their needs and wants etc. Did you have to do any of that in the hairdressers, the community mental health centre of in a pre-school - the answer must be yes, in spades!

Good luck, Mandy!! Keep us posted!

Good luck, Mandy!! Keep us posted!