Recruitment of
Retail Operations Manager
February 2014
/ Job DescriptionRetail Operations Manager
Job Title:Retail Operations Manager
Responsible To:Director of Operations
Salary:£27,000 - £35,000
Application Deadline: 21 March, 2014Interview Date: Week Beginning 31st March, 2014
Summary of Post
To lead on and manage the day-to-day operations and strategic development of The Guild retail offer. Deliver quality and value for money for service users, whilst effectively managing costs and generating income against specified targets.
Duties
Retail
Ensure high standards are set and maintained in all areas particularly customer service, marketing and promotions and stock management in all retail outlets.
Drive strategy and devise plans to develop the business and individuals of The Guild, using specific activities, such as mystery shopper, to consistently benchmark the progress of the commercial activities of the organisation.
Develop innovative strategies for space planning, margin/sales mixes and prices to drive profitability.
Manage stock takes and monitor sales to ensure efficient stock holding and maximise sales potential.
Work with marketing staff to provide visibility and forward planning of retail promotional activity and key messages to enable appropriate marketing and advertising
Lead on the continued development of the Guilds e-commerce offer in consultation with the Marketing Manager to ensure that information and images, etc remain current and up-to-date.
Ensure that The Guild complies with the requirements of the purchasing agreements and seek out new retail opportunities.
Use available electronic ordering and auto replenishment systems, as well as EPOS, purchase orders and processing of invoicing to maintain an accurate record of performance and requirements.
Compliance
Through regular spot checks and effective management of staff ensure that all compliance obligations are met and where necessary report any incidents as required.
Liaise with the Environmental Health Officer and other external agencies as required and ensure that all legal (including Health and Safety) obligations are met.
Departmental and Staff Management
Manage the recruitment, training, supervision and development of the work of retail staff, using appropriate performance and management strategies.
As required act as duty manager and licensee opening and securing premises, locking up and alarming as necessary. Where appropriate supervise security staff to assist in keeping good order within The Guild.
Financial
Display a proactive approach to financial planning, forecasting and prediction, taking necessary action where opportunities/risks arise. Report on progress of units through monthly management accounts and participate in annual budgets and planning process, as well as immediately reporting relevant information as required to the Chief Executive/Director of Operations.
Comply with all procedures within the LGoS finance manual and work within set budgetary constraints to deliver commercial success.
Liaise with the finance department on the payment of invoices and salaries.
General duties of all staff
Deliver and develop targets outlined in The Guild’s strategic plan.
Undertake any other duties that may from time to time be reasonably requested.
Assist in key events throughout the year, including Welcome Week and elections, if necessary.
Notes
The job description is current at 15 January 2014 and should be reviewed annually. It outlines the main duties of the position and is designed for the benefit of both the post holder and Liverpool Guild of Students in understanding the prime functions of the post. It should not be regarded as exclusive or exhaustive. In particular, given the grading and nature of the post, the responsibilities of the post holder may well change from time to time. The post holder may, from time to time, be required to be based at and/or work from any University site.
Management has the right to vary the duties and responsibilities after consultation with you.
Signed: ………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Name …………………………………………………………………………………………………
Date …………………………………………………………………………………………………
Person Specification
Post Title:Retail Operations Manager
Criteria / Essential / DesirableExperience
At least 3 years line management experience in a high volume food retail outlet / *
Financial Planning / *
Promotions and Marketing / *
Working in a Student led environment / *
Managing a team to effectively deliver the retail offer / *
Stock control systems and how to utilise the information provided / *
Knowledge
Legal/Health & Safety aspects of operating a retail outlet / *
Operating a busy food/ general retail environment / *
Student Unions / *
E-Commerce / *
Electronic Point of Sales Systems / *
Skills/Abilities
Ability to work as part of a team / *
Ability to work under pressure and to tight deadlines / *
Good organisational ability / *
Good IT skills / *
Line Management Experience / *
Qualifications
Educated to degree level or evidence of operating to a similar standard / *
An additional qualification in a related discipline / *
Other
Committed to the Core values of The Guild / *
Possess a clean driving licence and have use of a car / *
Ability to work outside normal office hours and at weekends on a regular basis / *
Welcome
LGoS is not a business, but it does have business concerns that is, ways of making money. Therefore we need to hire staff. And like any other business, we aim to provide a certain standard of service to our customers. Where we differ from those businesses is in our motives for doing so.
A business has a single ultimate aim: to increase profit. Of course, many managers and employees undertake their work in order to provide a decent service, to fulfil a need, or to return home at the end of the day with a feeling of self-satisfaction. But the organisation as a whole exists solely to make money.
At LGoS, money is a means to an end. Our mission, out reason for existing, is to bring about positive change for students, and to support their non-academic lives, which includes funding volunteering, societies, media and campaigning, providing personal development opportunities, supporting students with an academic advice service, and so on. To do this we receive a sum of money from the University, but it is not enough by far. Therefore we increase our income by running shops, bars, clubs, and cafes.
Therein stands the difference - a business aims to make money so it has more money so it can make more money, and LGoS, a charitable organisation, aims to make money to further its charitable objective. They make a profit, we increase our surplus.
A high level of customer service is therefore very important for LGoS because without satisfied customers we will make less money. If we make less money we will require less staff, be able to fund less activity, and therefore begin to fall short of our overall objectives.
So remember, offering this customer service not only impacts on whether or not you have a job, it has an effect on everything we do. You are on the frontline of an organisation that exists to improve the lives of University of Liverpool students, which means that you're much more than one small part of a money making operation - you are integral to us being able to do what we want to do.
Therefore, we all need to go the extra distance, to make that little extra effort. If you don’t have the information at your fingertips, don’t let the conversation end there; you might be able to find it on our or the University’s website. If a product isn’t available, suggest an alternative. If a certain member of staff isn’t available, find out what you can do to help.
We need to follow all the rules that have made private businesses so successful, and more. If we are to continue the improvements that we have begun with such success then we have to accept the fact that funding is imperative, and how we deliver our services impacts directly on the amount of income they generate.
The message to students is that by investing in their students’ union – using the shops, bars and clubs – they are ensuring that in the future we will be able to provide them with academic and social support. Our challenge is to demonstrate how much we care about our organisation, and how far we are willing to go to help and support them, whether they’re having trouble with their studies or relaxing in the bar.
What is LGoS?
LGoS is a lobbying organisation that brings people together and
works with them to bring about positive change.
Liverpool Guild of Students exists as both an organisation in its own right and as an integral facet of the University of Liverpool, helping to recruit students by offering them extra-curricular opportunities, retain students by supporting their academic and non-academic lives, and encourage students to return as postgraduates or alumni by fostering a sense of community.
Primarily our role is to lobby the University to the benefit of students, but we also offer advice and information, facilitate a democratic governance structure, work in partnership with the University, support student activity, provide a safe social environment, and enable personal development. However, these services are necessary but not sufficient to describe to what end we exist.
The influence we have, and seek to have, extends far beyond the University precinct. The students of Liverpool constitute one tenth of the City’s population, and their impact upon it has been significant both economically and socially. They have much to offer as students, but also as citizens, employees, volunteers and voters.
On a national scale, our members help to make up the 2.5 million higher education students in the UK. When the 5 million further education students - that share with them a national representative body and many of the same challenges – are added, it is clear that we are members of a large family that seeks to both promote the interests of students and, by demonstrating the positive effects of education, benefit the country as a whole.
We also believe that students have a legitimate place in discussing and influencing world affairs. The National Union of Students was founded in 1922 in order that students from the UK could be formally represented at conferences of the ‘Confederation Internationale des Etudiants’, described at the time as “an intellectual brotherhood among the students of the world, from whom will naturally be drawn the rulers of another generation, and which will contribute greatly towards the peace of the world”. This is an ideal to which we still subscribe: that if citizens of the nations of the world can meet and understand each other, through their efforts perhaps conflict can be avoided and a better world realised.
Governance Structure
LGoS is a democratic organisation; that is, our members – the students of the University of Liverpool – elect students as decision makers.
Eight Student Trustees are elected to sit on the Trustee Board alongside four non-student external trustees. Four of the Student Trustees also take on the full time role of Student Representative Officer and are known as the President, Deputy President, and the two Vice Presidents.
The Trustee Board has overall responsibility for the management and administration of LGoS, fulfilling this by setting the overall strategic direction and directly managing the Chief Executive. Management and administration on a day-to-day basis is therefore delegated to the Chief Executive and staff team.
The role of the Student Representative Officers is to gather feedback from students and lobby the University and other external bodies, be it the local council, police, NHS, transport providers or businesses in order to bring about positive change for students. To help them do this, our governance structure is designed to gather information from students in a number of ways.
16 students are elected to sit on the Student Council, the principle purpose of which is to advise the Trustee Board on the strategic direction LGoS should be taking, based on the opinions and views of students.
The 16 student councilors are elected from the body of students present at the first student forums of each academic year.
The forums are divided into four groups Guild Life, University Life, Societies Life and Liverpool Life, each meet four times a year. Students and Student Representative Officers are encouraged to submit agenda items for each forum. The agenda items can range from discussion items on issues that the national student movement is debating to positions that students feel the Guild should take, to finally policy suggestions. All Guild policy has to have the approval of a forum, if a forum passes a policy it sends it to the Student Council who debate the merits and if that body passes the policy it is sent to the Board of Trustees who analyze the policy and check that it is in keeping with the charitable objectives of the organization.
We also have committees that consider matters of a strategic nature, such as finance and recruitment. We ensure that the committees have democratic credibility by ensuring that at least one student representative officer and student trustee are present, each committee also has an external trustee who has voting rights. Senior staff with duties that fall within the scope of the committee such as the Director of Finance will attend the Resource Committee are encouraged to attend and usually present to the committee but they do not have voting rights and committee and Board decisions bind the Chief Executive.
In addition we gather information from students involved in activity groups and from student representatives, each course has its own representative. But we are always thinking about and looking for new ways to determine student opinion. This has led us to find new ways to ask students their opinions via social media; the organisation is committed to a program that expands the use of digital communication so that we create a constant two-way dialogue.
/ Follow on Facebook —/LiverpoolGuildofStudents /
Follow on Twitter —
@LGoS / LGoS, 160 Mount Pleasant
Liverpool, L3 5TR
Phone 0151 794 6868
Our democratic governance structure
Liverpool Guild of Students
Strategic Plan
(2010-2015)
LGoS Values
The pursuit of our mission will be shaped through the following values:
Responsible
We will employ sustainable methods for achieving our mission and vision by providing services that are financially sound, improve our environmental impact and raise awareness and involvement in sustainability projects.
Partnership Driven
We will strengthen and develop key collaborative partnerships that will enhance the ability of LGoS to fulfil our mission and offer greater value to our members.
Inclusive
We will strive to provide a wide range of services, opportunities and products that meet the needs of our diverse membership and pro-actively encourage participation.
Innovative
We will use information and data from our members to lead our decision making and development whilst benchmarking appropriately to ensure that we remain fit for purpose.
Involving
We will continue to develop a culture where members can comment on what is good and what is not and influence how we can progress.
/ Follow on Facebook —/LiverpoolGuildofStudents /
Follow on Twitter —
@LGoS / LGoS, 160 Mount Pleasant
Liverpool, L3 5TR
Phone 0151 794 6868
LGOS ORGANISATIONAL CHART – OCTOBER 2013
/ Follow on Facebook —/LiverpoolGuildofStudents /
Follow on Twitter —
@LGoS / LGoS, 160 Mount Pleasant
Liverpool, L3 5TR
Phone 0151 794 6868
Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form
In accordance with its policy on equality and diversity Liverpool Guild of Students (LGoS) will provide equal opportunities to any employee or job applicant and will not discriminate either directly or indirectly because of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status, age, disability, or pregnancy and maternity.
In order to assess how successful this policy is we have set up a system of monitoring all job applications. We would therefore be grateful if you would complete the questions on this form. You are, however, of course, under no obligation to do so and if you would prefer not to answer some or all of the questions please return the form indicating that this is your choice. We have asked for your name to enable us to monitor applications at shortlisting and appointment as well as application stage.
All information will be treated in confidence and will not be seen by staff directly involved in the appointment. The questionnaire will be detached from your application form, stored separately and used only to provide statistics for monitoring purposes. Thank you for your assistance.
Post Applied for:Full name:
1.Gender
Male / Female
2. Age
3.Marital Status
Married / Single / Other
4.Do you have responsibility for dependants? (Dependants relates to children, or elderly or other persons for whom you are the main carer).
Yes / No
5. How would you describe your religion or belief
My belief or religion is:
I have no belief or religion:
6.Do you have any disabilities?
Yes / No
7.Ethnic Origin
(Relates to a sense of identity/belonging on the basis of race/culture). I would describe myself as (choose ONE section from A to E, and then tick the appropriate box to indicate your cultural background):
A White:
British
English
Scottish
Welsh
Irish
Other, please specify:
B Mixed:
White and Black Caribbean
White and Black African
White and Asian
Other, please specify:
C Asian, Asian British, Asian English, Asian Scottish or Asian Welsh:
Indian
Pakistani
Bangladeshi
Other, please specify:
D Black, Black British, Black English, Black Scottish, or Black Welsh:
Caribbean
African
Other, please specify:
E Chinese, Chinese British, Chinese English, Chinese Scottish, Chinese Welsh, or other ethnic group:
Chinese
Other, please specify:
8. Where did you see this post advertised?
.
Data protection: Information from this application may be processed for purposes registered by the Employer under the Data Protection Act 1998. Individuals have, on written request and on payment of a fee, the right of access to personal data held about them.