In the shoes of a promoter

THERE are three kinds of teenagers most commonly found during the long school holidays – those who work, those who laze at home, and those who get to go on holidays.

I am proud to say that I fall into the first category. For five months after my SPM examinations last year, I made full use of my holidays by taking up a part-time job.

In my home state, the choices for school-leavers looking for temporary job opportunities are limited. You either become a sales promoter, a teaching assistant or a music teacher if you are qualified to do so.

I chose to work at a local gift shop situated in one of the busiest streets in Melaka, a Unesco World Heritage site – so you can imagine how overwhelming my workload could get during peak hours.

My work started at 9am. For half an hour, my task was to tidy and clean the shop before it was open for business. If there wasn’t any customer, my job was to check, label and arrange new and existing stock.

At other times, I would stand by the corridor, greeting potential customers and welcoming those who were interested into the shop.

As a sales promoter, it was then my duty to recommend products and convince customers to make a purchase, thus putting my persuasive skills to the test.

This is certainly the most challenging aspect of the job – you have to understand your products well, from the origins of the ingredients to the locations of the expiry dates on the wrapping papers.

If you come across detailoriented customers, they will even ask you the meaning of certain chemicals used in the products.

Having initially been caught unawares, I made it a point to familiarise myself with all the products and the ingredient labels.

One thing I learned about winning the hearts of customers is that you need to know your products inside out. Sometimes, that means going the extra mile to find out the benefits of each product as these may not be stated clearly on the packaging.

At the gift shop, we often received visits from tour groups. It was manageable when they came in groups of five and six, but when they were ferried in by tour buses, it could get really hectic for us.

Imagine three or four sales promoters dealing with more than 20 tourists bustling with questions and requests!

Out of all the tour groups, those from the South African continent made the most impression on me. I was constantly tickled by how tiny I looked standing next to those tourists with heights averaging at 1.8m.

While holding down the job, I gained a number of insights. For one, I never knew that so many tourists drop by Melaka specifically for the Peranakan sauces used for cooking. A lot of my customers returned just for the sauces, and trust me when I say they bought those in cartons!

I also learnt that in the sales line, you need to be articulate and eloquent. In Malaysia, you have the upper hand if you are well-versed in more than two languages.

I speak three languages, other than a smattering of Chinese dialects, so I did relatively well when communicating with tourists from across the globe.

If all you have ever done is to stay at home or hang out with friends during the school holidays, I highly recommend that you take up the challenge of holding a part-time job.

Find one that not only challenges your boundaries, but puts your soft skills to use. It will be an experience you will be grateful for in future.

This article was published in the Newspaper in Education (NIE) pullout by The Star Newspaper dated 25 July 2018