"Work Sheena"

If you know me, you know I spend a lot of my life at work. I guess I'm just at that stage- some of my friends are married with children- I am not. I work Monday-Friday and most evenings come home to do nothing until the next day of work. I love my job and am focused on my career right now- so yes it is by choice that I live this way and I wouldn't change it. The weekends are my "fun Sheena" time and generate the bulk of my blog posts...which got me to thinking... maybe I should explain more about what I do (especially since most of my work posts involve MOA trips and other "fun" activities- not the day to day norm)...

As an assistant buyer- I work 1 on 1 with the buyer (currently the dress buyer) to select product and assure it's produced and to the customer in a timely manner to our quality standards. That's the basic description, here's some things you might not know:

• We're given a "concept" to buy within- basically our store has a certain direction (color, print, theme) for an upcoming date- we select product that fits within this direction and is appropriate for our customers
• My job involves numbers- a lot- we must analyze business as well as plan for the future. We get told how much to buy based on historical data and current trends often we spend time looking at moving units up or pushing them out to fit this plan
• I work with many different vendors and have numerous sales reps to deal with- often they call with bad news (problems in production, delay in shipping, etc- see previous bullet)
• We DON'T pick things out of a catalog- we go to market to visit vendors and see samples (like when I went to LA), we then spend a week back in Duluth looking at samples and seeing what our best assortment of product is for each particular "concept"
• Daily I look at "approvals"- fabric, buttons, colors, etc.
• We have a "fit model" who tries on the clothes so we can make the product fit how we want it to
• Purchase orders need to be entered- and adjustments are necessary so I spend a lot of time just keeping them up to date

My job is very challenging and each day is different- but I love that... in keeping with a NaBloPoMo theme that is emerging in the blog world... comment me a question- did this post leave you wondering anything more about "work Sheena," even if it's just where I go for my daily coffee... Let me know :)