Ron

Talent Development Manager at UNIQLO Australia
Bachelor of Business, Graduated from RMIT

My name is Ronald and I joined UNIQLO in March 2023 through UMC Program. I used to be store manager, area manager in both Melbourne and Sydney, now, I’m the manager of UNIQLO Australia Fast Retailing Management Innovation Center, supporting Store Operations and Management teams by designing and providing tailored training of management skills and transferring operational knowledge to all UNIQLO Australia employees.

Why did you join UNIQLO?

Since graduating and working at my previous job I felt like I needed a career that will constantly challenge me and provide meaning beyond more than a regular 9 to 5. When I joined, UNIQLO was relatively unknown in Australia, I wasn’t entirely sure what I was getting myself in to. Having studied International Business, I saw a huge opportunity to develop my career in an up-and-coming brand that I believe still has huge untapped potential in Australia and around the world.

Describe the culture at UNIQLO

Since working at UNIQLO there has never been a dull day. UNIQLO culture is about putting the customers first and dealing with problems head on based on real places and real situations. As a UMC I was always encouraged to constantly learn for myself and think of the store and the business as if it was my own. This creates a culture of everyone being able to think for themselves and not being restricted to simply the roles that they are given. Through constant communication and teamwork, everyone takes on the responsibility of providing the best products, stores, and shopping experience to our customers.

How will UNIQLO support employees' development?

UNIQLO has many measures to track performance and be completely transparent and upfront about your personal development. Through your evaluation sheet, you can clearly see which points you need to acquire to achieve the next level. Each criteria is also broken up into smaller and more manageable points. Your direct manager will always discuss with you your progress. All learning materials are ready and available to anyone to access – from store sales information to manuals and books on management principles. Team members can always make the most of these resources.

In addition, as UMCs have touchpoints with various business units to learn holistically about the UNIQLO Australia business. In addition to working in the store, UMCs also attend things such as new store openings, local conventions, and company meetings. This allows you to bring back firsthand knowledge to implement into your own store to create your own result.

What tips you would give to graduates who want to apply for UNIQLO Graduate Program?

UNIQLO provides you with multiple opportunities every day to challenge and develop your own career. My biggest career advice is to think about the business as your own and never limit yourself in achieving your desired outcomes. You will need to learn everything from the ground up and there will be many challenges ahead but never lose sight of the bigger picture. To be successful in this role, you need to have a genuine interest in customer service, a strong will and desire to achieve your career and business goals and a positive attitude.

Helen

Inventory Manager at UNIQLO Australia
Bachelor of Science and Master of International Business, Graduated from University of Melbourne

My name is Helen, I graduated from The University of Melbourne where I studied Bachelor of Science and Master of International Business. I joined Uniqlo’s UMC program back in 2016 in Melbourne, and is now working in Uniqlo China E-commerce department in charge of inventory control for W’s innerwear.

Why did you join UNIQLO ?

Before joining the UMC program, I already had worked as part of the opening team when we opened our first Uniqlo store in Australia. Even though I was only working on a part time basis, the people I’ve met (managers, supervisors, team mates) were all extremely hardworking and shared a common goal creating the best store for the customers and expanding our business in Australia. I could see and feel the vision our company had for the future, and the endless opportunities that the company is offering to support me in developing my career and achieve my professional goals, therefore I decided to join Uniqlo as UMC after my graduation.

Describe a specific achievement that stands out as a valuable learning experience. How did it contribute to your growth ?

One of the most valuable experiences for me was during the time when I was store manager at Uniqlo Chadstone in 2019, it was the first time where I had to manage more than 150 staff members with $45M turnover per year. It was the first time I had the opportunity to run business in such a big scale. I was not only in charge of personnel/sales floor management, but also given more chances to connect with SSC to also gather more business opportunities with various department including IMD/MD/IC/MKT. This in turn has also further developed my communication skills. Because of the strong effort contributed from all teams, especially my store team members, Chadstone achieved top6 in the Global U1 GP, and was the first store in AU to be ranked within the top10 stores around the world.

What's the difference between working in-store as a Store manager and in SSC (AU) ? How does working in China compare to UNIQLO Australia ?

When I first transferred to Inventory control department, there were many changes if my work routine that I had adjust to. First of all, stores are the centerpiece of our business, and by working in SSC this means, that my role is to fully support stores and store managers to achieve our business objective. This meant a lot of planning head, as well as identify the issues that the stores are facing and working with store mangers to resolve the issues. Because I had been a store manager myself, it was a little bit difficult initially where I couldn’t do everything hands on, and not be able to see first hand whether the direction given was effective or not. However, as I settled more into my roles I understood the importance of giving clear direction and working together with store managers/area managers as well as other departments to achieve our KPI and optimize the store condition.

I have now worked in FRCN for 3 months, in this short 3 months, I have already learnt so much from the team, working through the biggest sales event (Singles Day) gave me the insight of inventory management during the busiest season of the year in China. Different from AU, due to the incredibly huge volume of sales, the preparation for the sales event starts months before the actual event. We were not only working with EC MD team, logistics team, we also had to communicate with company IC team to balance inventory between the large store network in China. The WH network is also more complicated compared to AU, so how we are not only need to look at how to balance inventory between retail stores and EC, but also the various WH around the country. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to be able gain such experience and hope to bring what I have learnt in FRCN back to AU to continue to expand our EC business.

What tips would you give to graduates who want to apply for the UNIQLO Graduate Program ?

Seize every opportunity that you are given, and don’t be afraid to voice out what you want to achieve professionally. Always be proactive when seeking out advices and ask questions to further develop yourself. There will be obstacles along the journey, but it is important to always seek support from your peers or mentor and you will realize you are not on your own.

Chris

Senior Store Manager at UNIQLO Australia
Bachelor of Commerce (Honours), Graduated from Monash University

My name is Chris and I joined UMC program in March 2019 at the Melbourne EMPORIUM Store. I got promoted to Store Manager of The Docklands store in 2020 and managed there for 6 months before becoming Store Manager of UNIQLO The Glen for 2 years. During that time I got promoted to senior store manager, and was involved in a company wide project to revamp the salesfloor standards and enhance the customer shopping experience. In August 2023, I relocated to Canberra and opened The First UNIQLO store in the ACT.

Why did you join UNIQLO

I joined UNIQLO because I was interested in joining a truly global company. I grew up overseas, so knew first hand how much potential UNIQLO had (still has) in Australia and was keen to join the rapidly expanding business. The UMC program was particularly attractive as it offered a clear and transparent framework to develop into a successful, well-rounded business leader.

What do you enjoy the most as a store manager at UNIQLO?

The most enjoyable aspect of being a UNIQLO store manager is witnessing first hand the positive impact on the community that UNIQLO has wherever it opens a new store. As a store manager, you have total control over your store and are expected to run it as if it were your own. So, the outcome of customer satisfaction is coming directly from your efforts. Similarly, as a top retailer, we attract the top talent, so you get to work/collaborate with like-minded individuals to create truly great results.

Describe a specific achievement that stands out as a valuable learning experience

I had the unique opportunity to open the UNIQLO Canberra store, which was the first venture into the ACT. Opening in a new region, I had complete responsibility in creating a shopfloor that reflected the demands of a new customer base. I was also responsible for recruiting and training a large team of new employees. Through this experience, I was able to gain a more well-rounded understanding of how each department in the Store Support Centre worked through direct involvement with each. Now we are celebrating one year of being open in Canberra (October 2024), and I can reflect back a store that far exceeded profit targets that came as a direct result through our strong teams effort.

What is your future career goal at UNIQLO?

My goal is the make UNIQLO accessible to all Australians to live healthy and happy lives. I truly believe in the power of this company to positively impact everybody's lives by providing functional, affordable, high-quality, fashionable clothing.

Chloe

Store Manager at UNIQLO Australia
Bachelor of Arts, Graduated from University of Queensland

Hello, my name is Chloe Hau, I joined Uniqlo as a casual employee at the Pacific Fair store in Gold Coast, Queensland, May of 2022. At the time, I was in my last year studying a bachelor's degree in arts. During my time as a sales associate at Uniqlo, I had a true passion for the job, and realized I wanted to learn more about this company and business. After graduating university later that same year, I was encouraged to join the Uniqlo Management Candidate (UMC) Program and was lucky enough to be accepted as part of the September 2023 batch. To begin my UMC journey, I was relocated to Melbourne, to work at the Emporium flagship store of Australia. After 6 months of experience, I was assigned to work at Uniqlo Knox store as the Assistant Store Manager, and in another 6 months, I was successfully promoted to become the Store Manager.

Why did you join UNIQLO

I was always interested in working in retail and to learn about the structure of large businesses. During my time as a casual sales associate at Uniqlo, I had a true passion for the job, and realized I wanted to learn more about this company and business. Uniqlo always stood out to me as I knew it to be a fast growing, global brand with a large fan base. I wanted to be a part of such an impactful company, to learn and gain many new experiences.

How was the training in your graduate program structured?

As I joined the UMC program, the FRMIC team created a very organized development structure for us to follow. Firstly, we started off with a 2-week training session, both in head office and in store. In office, we learnt about the company, our values, and a clear outline of the UMC program journey, where we were expected to be in certain points that year.

In store, we were shown and taught the daily store operational tasks and routine. Once we were assigned to our designated stores to begin our journey, we worked closely together with our Store Managers to create detailed training plan and routine for our development. Then organized by FRMIC team, we had monthly training sessions in the head office for 2 days, to take on the next step, not only learning more, but also great opportunity to catch up on our experiences, discuss and share with one another.

Overall, FRMIC team created an organized development plan that enabled us to understand our own journey and what we needed to know for us to grow not only long term, but structuring by days, weeks, and months.

What made you get promoted to store manager within 1 year?

Having experience as a sales associate before I joined the UMC program really helped accelerate my journey to becoming a Store Manager within 1 year.

I was already able to understand and master all basic operational tasks, thus when I began my UMC journey, I was learning many things like working in different scale size stores with new people, and many business leaders with varying management styles.

Having this opportunity to work in different stores furthered my development and growth, providing me with much insight to new perspectives. I always took the opportunity to learn as much as possible from each manager and stayed curious to everything I encountered. I believe I was truly passionate and genuinely enjoyed what I was doing/learning every day, so I was very eager to progress quickly. Each Store Manager and Area Manager I was lucky enough to work with, have been very patient and consistently supported me throughout my journey, teaching me many valuable new skills.

Describe a typical day/week for you as a store manager

A typical day as a store manager, I go through the stores results from the previous day/week to revise important information like top selling items/inventory plan/KPI’s to keep up to date with my stores results and progress. I will conduct a team talk with my team to share our daily/ weekly goals and priorities. We also take this time to gather any feedback/information from team members.

Every day, I walk through the store in detail, noting down any issues or points that need to be fix as a ‘store check’ for the day. Throughout the day, I am on the sales floor helping customers, helping with daily operational tasks, assisting staff, and leading by example to ensure our shop floor is running efficiently and stable. I use this time to educate team members and provide feedback. After peak hours I will have some time to do back of house tasks, such as planning, rostering, meetings etc.

There are many things I enjoy in this job. To narrow down three points, I will say:

Taking on new challenges every day as there are always problems to be solved, which allows me to grow and further develop myself.
Genuinely creating a positive impact for our customers lives and seeing the role we play in their everyday lifestyles.
Being with my team. I really like to teach and show my staff new skills. It’s great to see each staff's development throughout their journey and how we can help them improve, finding their strengths. This is my favorite part about my day-to-day work.