What Does a Retail Management Trainee Do?

The duties of a retail management trainee often focus on learning tasks and skills needed to become a successful manager and providing assistance to the trainer. These positions are often available at retail locations where a trainee learns through on-the-job training, working under a manager on a daily basis. Observation and learning is one of the most important parts of the job, as a retail management trainee is expected to learn to delegate tasks and work as a leader. As an employee, however, the trainee may also need to support the work performed by his or her manager and ensure that projects are completed successfully.

A retail management trainee is typically responsible for performing the work of both a student and an employee. Learning is one of the most important elements of this position, as the trainee is expected to gain knowledge and be able to perform the tasks necessary for a manager. As a retail management trainee, someone may be tasked with acting in the stead of a manager, ensuring that tasks are completed properly. This can entail a great deal of responsibility, but is an important part in developing the knowledge and skill needed to lead a project and ensure commercial success of a store.

Day to day tasks for a retail management trainee can vary quite a bit, depending on the needs of the store he or she is located at. In general, however, a trainee can expect to learn about the operational and managerial tasks necessary to maintain the retail location. This can include higher level cash handling, such as overseeing or making deposits to banks, and learning to balance employee scheduling with the needs of the store. A retail management trainee is also likely to learn about company policies expected of managers, especially with regard to employee relations and dealing with conflict in the workplace.

Many of the duties of a retail management trainee, however, are based on the needs of the store. This means that a trainee may be expected to work on and complete projects that could be dealt with by other employees. Many of these assignments at a retail store can be based on the needs of a business, as well as higher level duties needed for a store that cannot be handled by basic employees. A retail management trainee should expect to perform a combination of manager and employee-level tasks in order to ensure ongoing operation at a store.