11 years ago, my first job right out of college was being a sales associate at Nordstrom. It was 2013 and only a lucky few of my friends landed the type of dream jobs we all were hoping for right out of college. The high paying salary jobs that college makes you believe you will get hired for.
The summer before I graduated I found myself frustrated that the only internships available were unpaid. How was I suppose to make any money? I came across the Nordstrom Internship, and out of 100s of applicants I was hired. The internship was an accelerator to being a department manager; they provided incredible leadership training.
I fell in love with the culture, how they invested in growing their employees and promoting within and instilling the Nordstrom Way into my blood stream. Customers are the heart of Nordstrom and I fell in love with the customers, their stories, and how I could create moments of magic by helping them shop.
I learned the Nordstrom way:
🧹If you have time to lean than you have time to clean
✨Leave it better than you found it
💖Always under promise and over deliver
💁🏼♀️Use my best judgement
📈Stack them high, watch them fly
💲You don’t sell anything from the backstock
👋Greet a customer within 60 seconds of them walking on your floor
🔄A return is an opportunity
🛍️Always walk a customer’s shopping bag around the cash wrap to hand it to the them.
✅ The customer is always right
As a manager you operated your department like it was your name on the building. I would check our sales number every hour on the hour, so we could “make the day”, if we were down total $ sales we would work as a team to get it back up. Your floor was yours, from merchandising down to cleaning the dust bunnies and making sure your department passed the white glove test.
I had a team that I helped to grow and train, I would would always work along side them, because that is what my mentors did with their floors. We were taught to never ask one of your employees to do something that you wouldn’t do, you were in the trenches with them. Everyone who works at Nordstrom starts as a sales associate, because working with customers so closely gives you the ability to really lead.
Even back then I so badly wanted a job in marketing. Companies just didn’t see the value in social media yet. But I wouldn’t trade those first 3 years of my career with Nordstrom for anything. It wasn’t the sparkly and shiney job that some of fellow peers came out of college having, but I have carried the work ethic I learned there with me every step. The experience created an intregal foundation for me that has allowed me to become the leader that I am. #Nordstrom has positively impacted me forever.
Once a Nordy Girl always a #NordyGirl 😉
Store Manager at SWAROVSKI
3moPhillip Spindler check this out