In a typical RSR “Selling Technology Value to Retailers ” (STV) session, we can have 25 technology sales representatives in a room, ready to get an infusion of inside information that will help them to understand “what makes retailers tick “. We’ll start the session with round-the-table introductions, and two questions we ask the participants are, “have you ever worked for a retailer? ” and “why did you leave? “

As you might expect, the vast majority of all the participants in STV sessions since 2005 have had at least some experience in retail as a part-time or summer/seasonal job, before going on to “get a real job ” (as it is often described) in something that uses the skills they learned in school. But very few (my guess, 10%) have spent any significant time in the industry or worked above a purely store-clerical level. Those 10% who did stay became store managers, merchants, or occasionally office support staff in Finance and IT. But stating the obvious, 100% of them left retail sooner or later to work in the technology industry. For all of them, retail was not a career – it was just a job.

For all the partners at RSR, it was different. Each of us got “bitten by the retail bug “. After all, the industry is very here-and-now, and feedback is nearly instantaneous from consumers whether you’ve got it right or wrong. And, retail is all about helping people; people don’t buy what they don’t want, and so meeting their needs can be very satisfying.

So a question is, why don’t more people make careers in retail?

The Revolving Door

The NRF currently has a campaign called “Retail Means Jobs ” that offers some big statistics: retail supports 1 in 4 American jobs and is directly or indirectly responsible for 18% of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP). The website about.com puts the number even higher: “an estimated two-thirds of the U.S. GDP comes from retail consumption ” (that number includes food service and automotive). According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, 2011 saw an overall 8% increase in retail revenues over 2010. But according to the agency, although retail employment has increased at a steady pace since the beginning of 2010, it’s still below the level it was a decade ago.

But when is a job a career? For most people, retail is a stopover until something better comes along… and that seems to be a perception fostered by the industry itself. For example, when I was a retail executive, I was part of the selection team for a new VP of HR. One candidate told us frankly that her personnel philosophy was “<company-name> and toss “. She went on to explain that her objective was to turn over the employee base frequently to avoid having to give raises or train people. It was breathtaking to hear someone say it, but afterwards as I thought about her current employer, I realized that she was only tellin’ it like is was (she didn’t get the job with us).

Facts back up the assertion. For example, recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for the Grocery sub-vertical highlights the reality:

Source: U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, Career Guide to Industries, 2010-11 Edition

According to the government statistics, the store team is made up of a relatively small group of experienced operators in an otherwise mostly unskilled labor pool. And not surprisingly, FMCG/GMA companies often have employee turnover averages of 100 percent or more.

On the other hand, for Fashion retailers, providing a brand-centric experience is the key to success. That is why high employee turnover is a key concern to these retailers; “on-boarding ” new employees to become good brand ambassadors is a time consuming task, but it’s worth the effort. The U.S. Department of Labor Statistics highlights that point of view. On a percentage-of-total basis, there are twice as many management people in Fashion as in Grocery, and 20 times more customer facing sales employees.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, Career Guide to Industries, 2010-11 Edition

Since the retail industry average for turnover is reported to be 59 percent, it’s a reasonable conclusion that specialty and apparel retailers tend to keep their employees longer.

But the question remains, when does a job in retail turn into a career? Even considering the government statistics above, 58.2% of grocery and 35.8% of fashion retail employees are not in “sales and related ” occupations. So that’s where all the supply chain & logistics, merchandising, accounting and finance, IT, and other “support ” staffs are to be found, and that’s where the industry needs an educated workforce that view retail as a good place to practice their skills.

The Value of an Education

Perhaps there’s an assumption about retail that a higher education isn’t as important as experience. But as one blogger put it, “it depends on how high you want to go up. If you want to be a manager, most of the stores will require you to have at least an associate if not a bachelor’s degree. A head manager such as a store manager will have to have a bachelor’s degree. Then if you want to work on the corporate level, usually you’ll need a relevant degree plus experience. “

So next question: given that retail is where so many people end up working, should corporations actively support stronger educational standards and programs in the communities that they serve? At a macro level, the answer seems to be “yes “. At the JDA Focus event in Las Vegas last week, and again at the San Francisco Bay Area Council meeting later in the week, former U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice exhorted the audiences to support more commitment to higher education and a higher standard of learning in K12 to counter her concern that the state of America’s educational system “is maybe our greatest national security threat. ” At the Bay Area Council meeting, professional social website LinkekIn.com CEO Jeff Weiner appealed to the assembled business leaders to support more vocational training.

Indeed, there are efforts at the retail corporate level and from industry trade groups to support the education of tomorrow’s industry leaders. For example, the NRF’s Shop.org supports the Ray M. Greenly Scholarship Fund. Money is awarded to universities who apply, who then award scholarships to students receiving retail degrees. RILA (Retail Industry Leaders Association) offers scholarships for students whose college studies focus on the retail supply chain. That program is underwritten by Walmart, Canadian Tire, and others.

Retailers Target and Walgreens are among BusinessWeek’s “top companies to launch are career ” list, partly because of their support of scholarship programs. In the case of Walgreens, the company offers educational assistance programs for pharmacy students. Target’s programs are non-specific to any particular skill, but instead focus on helping students who have a strong community service orientation.

Hi-Tech Skills Needed

RSR’s vision is that technology must play a strategic role in enabling the future retail enterprise and business model, and that Information assets are at least as important as physical assets. So that puts the IT professional squarely at the center of retailers’ future success. And this is where a macro concern kicks back in. At the JDA event, Dr. Rice bemoaned the state of math and the sciences education. There is strong evidence to suggest that the concern is more than justified. Last October, financial network CNBC reported that there are 3.2 million unfilled jobs in the U.S., many of them hi-tech tech in nature. That is one indicator of the dearth of available trained-and-ready candidates. But that’s not just a problem for technology firms – retail is affected too. In a recent San Francisco Chronicle article, Macys.com was mentioned as a company that is pushing its hiring engines “to the max ” to find qualified technical talent to meet the demands of the growing business. The SF Chronicle went on to say that, “at the same time, with the advent of cloud computing, mobile apps and other advances not imagined in the late 1990s, new sets of skills are required. ‚ÄòNow the IT market has regenerated, and we’re saying where are all the people? We’re beating the bushes real hard,’ Lucchesi (Jeff Lucchesi, executive vice president at Taos, a high-tech recruiting and consulting firm) said. “

IT skills development is not something that retail in general has focused much energy or attention on. Indeed, many companies still argue that IT is a cost center, and a troublesome one at that. But if you agree with RSR’s vision of the importance of information in the future of retail, that’s a dangerous position to take. Even if you don’t agree, watch out! Walmart does. The University of Arkansas Walton College Information Technology Research Institute was funded in part by a donation from Walton Family Charitable Trust.

What to Do?

CNBC said it best: “Corporate America needs to spend to train the workers it needs. ” While governments can and should invest in the infrastructure to promote educational programs that will increase the country’s competitiveness in the global economy, that’s a generational “thing “. In the meantime, the world of retail is changing rapidly. While the industry may be responsible for 25% of the jobs in the U.S., the real issue is that most of those aren’t the careers that will fuel innovation and growth for tomorrow’s businesses. That will take investments in career development programs with all the requisite higher education included.