CAREERFAIR DRAWS JEWELRY JOB HOPEFULS
The jewelry industry may have been in the doldrums for the past few years, but there’s no shortage of people seeking jobs in it. About 800 people showed up for the fourth annual CareerFair, held Oct. 15 at the Gemological Institute of America in Santa Monica, Cal. They had a chance to participate in panel discussions by industry leaders, one-on-one counseling sessions and meetings with recruiters from more than two dozen retail and manufacturing firms.
CareerFair is sponsored by JCK and JC Penney and hosted by GIA and The Jewelers 24-Karat Club of Southern California. More than 150 retailers, manufacturers and trade association executives representing all aspects of the industry served as speakers and counselors. About a third of them came from outside of southern California.
All 12 seminars drew standing-room-only crowds. The topics (each presented twice) were “Planning Your Career,” “Making Money in Sales,” “Selling and Trading Diamonds, Colored Stones and Pearls,” “What You Need to Know About Appraising,” “Careers in Manufacturing” and “So You Want to Be a Designer.”
Tables set up in GIA’s second-floor lounge provided space for about 60 industry leaders to conduct one-on-one counseling sessions. Barbara Mooty, who coordinated this segment of the program, said each counselor averaged six or seven sessions. Advice on resumé preparation and reviewing was offered for the first time.
Attendance was about the same as last year, says Kathryn Kimmel, who chairs the program. “The comments from everyone – those attending and those speaking and counseling – have been very positive,” she says. “I think people in the industry are energized by the enthusiasm of the young people who attend CareerFair.” However, not all are youngsters. One-third of those attending already have jobs but are seeking a career change, says Kimmel.
GIA REVISES COURSE ON JEWELRY DISPLAY
The latest revision of the Gemological Institute of America’s distance education course in Jewelry Display now covers such topics as computer technology appropriate to displays and signs.
The course starts with the basics of what makes a good display. The revision adds personal stories and advice from display professionals such as Bill Baron of Cartier, Roger Jones of Saks Fifth Ave. and Brian Cambridge of Van Cleef & Arpels.
“We strove to make the course more timely, exciting and visually appealing,” says Janice Mack Talcott, GIA’s director of education. “What we did not change was our most important precept: that displays are there to create sales.”
GIA Education Services, Dept. PR41J, P.O. Box 2110, Santa Monica, Cal. 90407-2110; (800) 421-7250 or (310) 829-2991, ext. 292; fax (310) 453-7674.
RETAIL CONSULTANT OFFERS VIDEO SERIES
A series of videotapes is now available from retail consultant Robbie Brown. The videos are designed to teach retailers to improve their sales, management procedures and profits.
The videos are titled “How to Make More Sales with Less Inventory,” “How to Select Computer Software for Retailers,” “Negotiating Computer Systems Contracts and Systems Implementation,” “How to Successfully Compete with Mass Merchants,” “How to Really Pump Up Sales,” “Sales Promotions That Really Work,” “Salesmanship: The Art of Making Sales,” “Fundamentals of Being a Successful Buyer,” “Open-to-Buy Systems: The Gateway to Greater Profits,” “The High Cost of Excess Inventory,” “How to Control Internal and External Theft” and “All About Advertising, Promotion and Co-op Funds.”
Videos are $249 each, or $199 each if you order three or more. R.L. Brown Associates, P.O. Box 2563, East Peoria, Ill. 61611; (708) 808-0605.
OKLAHOMA JEWELERS PRESENT SCHOLARSHIP
The Oklahoma Jewelers Association presented a $500 scholarship to Mark Richman, a first-year student at the Texas Institute of Jewelry Technology at Paris Junior College, Paris, Tex.