9781422276709

Y oung people who choose a career path in retail, sales, or finance often do so because they’ve got a nose for business or the hustle required for turn- ing entrepreneurial spirit into a paycheck, or maybe even, someday, a business of their own. Whether it’s a financial clerk making sure that all the employees get paid on time or a customer service agent addressing the concerns of a valued customer, workers in the fields of retail, sales, and finance take great satisfaction in being a part of a thriving career world that offers endless possibilities for growth and advancement. The business careers covered in this volume account for one of the largest vo- cational fields in the United States. About 4.8 million are held in retail sales careers, while just under 4 million belong to the business support careers of secretary and administrative assistant, according to 2016 figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. For high school graduates, the fields of retail, sales, and finance can be a great resource for self-education and the development of business skills. In many cases, you can learn the required skills on the job. For more complex jobs, such as a dispatcher or certain financial positions, you may need to enroll in a specialized training program or achieve a certain level of certification in order to do your job. But unlike a degree pro- gram, the training for these positions can often be completed in just a few months, or even weeks. Plus, once you start working in specialized positions within these careers, many employers will pay for additional training, providing a deeper knowledge base in the pursuit of your goals. Increasingly, businesses are trying to separate themselves from their compet- itors by the quality of service they provide. That service could be on the sales floor as a retail associate, in the realm of customer care as a customer service representa- tive, or as a shipping and receiving clerk. There are also the professions in the field of sales, retail, and finance that are a bit more behind-the-scenes, including finan- cial clerks, secretaries, administrative assistants, and receptionists. Key to all of the careers we’ll detail in this volume is the skill of managing information—mastery of this skill plays a crucial role in ensuring the smooth operation of businesses big and small. Whether it’s the retail field of production and shipping, the work of a cus- tomer service representative, or a job as a telemarketing professional, many professions that were once straightforward in their job description now rely

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