Jane Valentine (sitting) and Suzanna Redford, personal style advisers at Jarrold in Norwich.

Personal Style Adviser

Answers supplied by Jane Valentine and
Suzanna Redford, personal style advisers at Jarrold in Norwich. Jarrold & Sons Ltd is a leading regional retailer with 10 stores covering 200,000sq ft of sales area. The Norwich department store has been expanded and refurbished over the past four years and last year was named Independent Department Store of the Year.

What does the job entail?
The job involves booking in clients for a personal one-to-one consultation to assess their fashion needs. Once we understand their requirements, we obtain a selection of appropriate outfits together with the accessories for them to try on. We can also arrange for our clients to visit their favourite make-up house for a makeover and also with our in-store hair salon to complete their overall look. In addition we attend external and in-store events where we get invited to give talks. We are also currently trying to encourage more men to take advantage of our service.

What skills and qualifications are needed?
While no formal qualifications are required, it is advantageous to have experience in a fashion environment or a large department store so you are aware of recent trends and the fashion collections that are available. It is essential to have a good knowledge of all stock lines throughout the store. Our consultations frequently end up being far more than a style advisory service — we have been known to recommend the odd coffee-making machine along the way! A daily tour of our store ensures we are familiar with any new product lines that may have arrived.

What type of person will fit in?
The type of person to do this job will have a “good eye”, patience, tact, objectivity, confidence, honesty, diplomacy and product knowledge. This is a very personal service, so discretion is also required — close relationships are built with our clients and to an extent they put their complete trust in us. You must also be a generally fit person because there is a lot of carrying of clothes, shoes, etc and back and forth between different floors.

What are the pluses and minuses of the job?
It is difficult to think of any minuses. On very rare occasions we can fill our personal fitting room with fashions to find that the client is not happy with any of them. However, this very rarely happens and we persuade our clients to try things that they would not normally try and more often than not, they end up selecting that particular item. A real plus is meeting clients and developing a relationship of trust, which is very rewarding. The hours can be irregular because we book clients as and when it is convenient for them, but that is really not a problem for us.

What opportunities exist for career progression?
Retail is an exciting environment with lots of career possibilities, including accountancy, marketing, graphic design, chefs, human resource management, buyers, credit controllers, stockroom controllers, IT and training, to name but a few. Jarrold encourages staff development and it is not uncommon for a person to move from one area to a completely new challenge.

What can I expect to earn?
Starting salaries are at about £11,000 per annum and can rise to £16,000 per annum. Salaries will depend very much on the size of the business, but there is a real opportunity to demonstrate your skills through building up a client list and ultimately an opportunity to increase your earning potential.

Any hints on getting a job in this area?
The best advice we can offer is to go around all the department stores and speak to the human resources managers. Most stores offer a personal shopper service, so it is just a matter of knocking on a few doors and asking — that is what we did.