New-York tribune., 1911-11-26

Your Daughters Vocation
In Department Store One OF the Best Paio
Positions Open to Women May Await Her.
BY Mary Marshall.

, partment store await the woman who can
make sales The woman who understands
| the needs and tastes of her customers
who studies her stock. who takes advan-
tage OF the occasional lectures given by
employers on stocks and methods of sell
! ing soon rises either to better paying
! position behind some other counter or
| stin higher position at the head of some
department.
4 good saleswoman i'm the glove. lace
/ iewelry. suit or millinery department gets
a weekly salary OF from $40 to $50, accord
! ing TO the value OF the sales she makes,
! and she stands fair chance, IL she is Will
! ing to work hard and make the best OF her
/ opportunities OF becoming the head OF her
department at from 5000 to 5000 year.
/ II she Is willing TO work for still more
difficult position. and has the necessary
ability. she can rise TO one OF the best pay
! ing positions open to women anywhere out
side the field Of theatre or opera. For she
can become the buyer Of the department
she has Learned to know in her apprentice
ship OF selling and supervising.
Buyers always receive big salaries. The
buyer in the glove department OF one ZIG
store receives $1,000 a year a woman
jewelry buyer in big New York store re-
ceives perhaps the biggest salary paid to
any woman buyer-sl5,Ooo a year.
To be sure, these positions mean hard
work and sometimes lorg apprenticeship.
on the other hand. they mean from one TO
three trips to Europe each year in the in
terests of the firm an ever widening ac-
quaintance and knowledge of the world.
and the assurance OF an equally we'll paid
position so long az one is able 10 work.
The art Of salesmanship. which n woman
/ must master 10 hold one OF these positions.
| is one of the hardest things to analyze and
one of the hardest things TO teach. 1t
takes more than anything else, applica,
! tion, for the woman with eyes that wander
( listlessly from her customer, the woman
| who carries on a converse ton with a fell
! low employe never becomes a good sales
woman The good saleswoman must also
| have a keen understanding of human nat
ure. must know at n glance just how 10
approach her customers-just how much
and how little enthusiasm and persuasion
! she must use to make a sale. She must
also understand thoroughly the line OF
| goods she has to sell. whether It be granite
kitchen ware or real laces.
! One young woman who began as a mes.
senger girl in her teens and who now. still
/ In her thirties holds position OF buyer in
/ one of the country's most famous stores,
| with a salary of about $1,000 a year, gives
! the following advice TO young women in
! department stores who want TO succeed IN
! their work:
What you must do is to take an interest
In whatever you have TO do. II you only
have 70 tie bundles YOU want 70 do II as IL
your heart were in It, You want to cult
vate the habit of being interested. II you
are selling q spool OF cotton, no less than
$50 suit. You want 10 act as II that particu-
lar spool OF cotton or that particular suit
were the most important thing in the world
al the moment You want TO know all YOU
can about the thing you are selling, AMI
YOU want 10 put yourself in the place OF
the person who is buying It.
There are a good many people" went
on this successful buyer. who imagine
that favoritism plays part in advancement
In department stores But In all the years
I have worked in stores I never once saw
n case where the girl who made the most
sales and showed the greatest knowledge
Of her line Of goods didn't climb to the top
eventually. no matter whether she was a
friend of the manager or not"
Copyright, 1911, by Mary Marshall.