I have been in the retail and management industry for 14 years. During that time I have gained many skills and qualities that have made me a successful manager. The first job I had while in High School was with Savemart Supermarkets where I started as a bagger. From there I was able to work my way up to the front end manager position. This gained me much experience in the day to day operations of a business and what it takes to be successful. After 7 years, I chose to move into other areas to gain more knowledge. I worked for Pepsi as a merchandiser and gained skills relating to merchandising and product display. I then returned to the customer service industry when I started working for Starbucks. I found great joy and accomplish while spending the next two years as a shift supervisor. I learned that going to work could be both fun and rewarding. I was able to help grow sales and build customer loyalty on a daily bases. I was then approached by a recruiter with Dollar General for a store manager position. This was the first time that I had the opportunity to be the person completely responsible for the daily operations of a business. During this job is where I gained much of my knowledge on human resources functions and inventory/merchandising. The first year I was a store manager I was able to maintain a average a 21% increase to sales for the year. This number also carried over to the next year as well. The biggest challenge I had to over come was staffing and training. I was responsible for making sure my store was fully staffed and the employees received the proper training and follow up coaching. After two years with the company I decided to leave to focus on finishing up my masters degree in business, which I completed in 2015.