It's been a tough couple of months for retail. Wintry conditions in December dented seasonal profits and, as a result, many stores have been suffering.
Stores bosses cut the equivalent of more than 10,000 full-time jobs in December as they reduced staff working hours and neglected to offer overtime during the industry's busiest month of the year, according to the BRC-Bond Pearce Retail Employment Monitor - which measures changes and trends in retail sector employment over time.
However, it is not all doom and gloom in the sector. The country's biggest supermarkets pledged to create more than 30,000 jobs this year at the prime minister's job summit earlier this month. And they weren't the only large retailers there announcing big recruitment drive - Marks and Spencer predicted significant job opportunities and the John Lewis Partnership plans to create thousands of jobs in 2011.
It's a rather confusing picture, I suppose. With some stores boosting their staff numbers, but others shaving them, where should you be looking if you want a retail job? What sort of opportunities are available - and what skills and experience do you need to get them? And not forgetting there is no shortage of job seekers out there - so what is the competition for jobs like? Ask our experts in a live Q&A on 10 February at 1pm.
Our panel:
Jackie Hallums is Sainsbury's head of resourcing.
Carole Donaldson is a resourcing manager at John Lewis. She has been with the John Lewis Partnership since 1993.
Steven Madeley is centre director at St David's in Cardiff, which is a shopping destination with more than 150 stores.
Hayley Nixon works for the retail HR section at Argos as a retail resourcing adviser. Hayley is responsible for recruiting and sourcing talented retail managers into the business.
Lloyd Thomas is group Apprenticeship Academy manager at The Co-operative Group. Lloyd spent ten years in food retail, managing vocational qualifications and apprenticeship schemes with Safeway Stores and Morrisons. He joined The Co-operative Group in 2010 and is currently working on providing apprenticeship programmes in 12 different business areas.
Richard Dodd is head of media and campaigns at the British Retail Consortium (BRC), the trade association for the UK retail industry.
Katrina Mallory is manager at Hays Retail, a recruiting expert for the retail sector.
We'll also be joined by two representatives of Home Retail Group, which includes the Argos and Homebase brands. Richard Hutchinson is sourcing channel manager and Geeta Jones is a recruitment manager based in the company's head office.
