My First Day as a Leader

This is how my first day as a leader went…I don't know if you could even call it leadership at that point. In fact, I'm not really sure I was even qualified to be a manager.

But, here I was, fresh?out of college. I got a degree in fashion merchandising, and yes, that is a degree. In that industry, in order to get a job as a buyer, you have to do a certain amount of retail management.

So, after college I looked around and had a brief stint at Belk. If you're in the Southeast, you may remember that store. My experience was absolutely horrible, I lasted maybe three months. I later?got a job at a?clothing store called Gadzooks. You may remember this store?f you were around during the 90s.

Even though my first?experience was less than ideal, I still learned a lot. And at the very?least,?it was interesting. I showed up on?my first day, and I'm not even sure?my regional manager was there. I think she?might have been there for an hour or so, told me how the day was going to go, and then basically said "okay, here you go!" before leaving shortly after. A real?thrown to the wolves’?type of situation.

At the time, I had already?worked in retail, so I knew how to work a register and?do some merchandising. While I knew how to do some things, I had no experience managing people.?I somehow figured out how to create a schedule, and thankfully?I had one assistant manager who helped me out with things.

It Gets Crazier

In the first month, I ended up having to fire everyone, except that one assistant manager mentioned above, because employees?were?stealing from the store! At a very young age, I had to quickly figure out how to step up to the plate and?manage people. And this included navigating?how to fire and?hire team members.

What I'm thankful for in all of this is that it taught me how?not to be.?And I think leadership and management experiences for a lot of us have provided these lessons?over the years. I learned how to, and how not to, do things. And even though that experience was chaos, like I said before,?it was interesting. Retail has some ups and downs, as does every industry, but I definitely learned a lot that I've been able to take forward.

I could never thank that one assistant manager enough for helping me, but?it's pretty bad if the?assistant manager has to train the manager. I do think the regional manager at the time was incredibly overwhelmed, but this shows how you have to be focused on the people you've got. You have to give them the attention in training and growth that they need.

That was definitely a big lesson, but we muddled through, and overall, it was an important?learning?experience. I learned a lot about recruiting in this time as well, and?I look forward to sharing those stories?in the near?future.

Have you had any crazy management experiences? I'd love to hear them. Comment below and let me know how your first day on the job went, and how you survived!