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New organization provides career insight, opportunities in retail

If you’re in the market for a new club to join, you’re in luck!

A new campus organization is providing opportunities within the retail field, one of America’s largest job markets.

The National Retail Federation Student Association (NRFSA) is opening a chapter at Bradley this semester. Supported by the National Retail Federation, NRFSA aims to provide students with retail career insight.

According to the National Retail Federation website, early one in four American jobs is in retail. In the state of Illinois, retail encompasses nearly 1.7 million jobs.

This is the reason why Bradley marketing professor Sibylle LaHood said she thought bringing NRFSA to campus would be beneficial for Bradley students.

“So many jobs [and] careers are impacted by retailing,” LaHood said. “There is the talk of supply chain, a lot of job opportunities and a huge driver for the economy. But the supply chain is in place because retail is in place. The supply chain is what drives retail … there are so many career opportunities in retail.”

NRFSA is a well-known organization within the retail community, and students who have been newly-appointed to the executive board are already experiencing the advantages of being a part of the group.

“A benefit would definitely be having a national organization on your resume and that if you do join, you do have access to interviews from other retailers on [the NRF website] and access to everything on their website, [including] scholarship opportunities … and retail articles that you wouldn’t have access to if you weren’t apart of it,” Anna Gavalick, a junior retail merchandising major and founding member of Bradley’s NRFSA, said.

LaHood said the national organization is well-known to employers and provides many opportunities for students.

“One of our executive board members was at the career fair on Thursday, and we had our executive board meeting that evening, and Mindy [Schanzle] came in that evening and goes, ‘I can’t believe it. I went by Von Maur and was talking to them and … the minute I said NRF, they knew what it was,’” LaHood said. “NRF is the largest trade organization in the field, they do a lot to support students. There are scholarships opportunities, there are opportunities to go to the big trade show, which I think is a really great experience.”

Gavalick said NRFSA has many more opportunities to provide to students than what people might think or expect.

“I think there are a lot of opportunities out there … I think [when people think of retail] they think straight to fashion,” Gavalick said. “It goes way on beyond that. There are a lot of business aspects to it whether it be being a buyer for someone, developing their products, working with customers one-on-one or working with companies one-on-one.”

Schanzle, a senior social media marketing major and founding member of NRFSA at Bradley, said the organization offers students a variety of benefits.

“NRFSA can provide many benefits to its members,” Schanzle said. “For instance, our Bradley chapter has already made connections with retailers in the region, and we plan on hosting networking events for the NRFSA members. This will allow students to network with the employers and learn more about the various careers in the industry. In addition, the NRF website provides many resources as well. They have a job board, scholarships, and virtual job fairs that are all accessible for Bradley NRFSA members.”

LaHood said her goal for the organization is to provide students with experience in the field, networking with retail professionals and insight into one of America’s largest career fields.

“We are going to try darn hard to get a group of the students to the trade show in January,” LaHood said.

Executive board members shared their goals for the organization and their aspirations throughout the semester.

“As a chapter for the first semester, are goals are to have 20 Bradley NRFSA members, host 2 meetings and plan at least one fundraising event. We really look forwarded to spreading the word about NRFSA and showing the students how this organization can benefit its members,” Schanzle said. “Individually, my goal is to leave a solid foundation for the NRFSA Bradley chapter when I graduate in May. As one of the first members and Executive Board Members, I hope our chapter reaches our goals, and I hope to gain leadership experience that will transfer over to my career.”

According to LaHood, the organization plans to host speakers on campus as well as local representatives in the field of retail within the Peoria community and on the national level. The organization already has dates for many events lined up including a membership informational meeting on Oct. 20 and a retailer meet and greet event on Nov. 10.

“We just want to bring in speakers to let people know how [the retailers] got their business started and how it is working as a retailer,” Gavalick said.

Membership to Bradley’s chapter has no fee and is open to students of all majors. Further information can be found on the Bradley NRFSA website at nrfsa.bradley.edu.

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