My Honest Experience Working at @decathlon_india (as a "Sports Leader") and Why I Quit

Indian Skate Noob

10 Dec 202114:17

Summary

TLDRThe video shares the creator's personal experience working as a part-time sports leader for three months. While it's not about typical topics like skating or cricket, the creator discusses the challenges of working in retail, the impact of customer interaction, and the demanding nature of both part-time and full-time roles. They emphasize how this experience helped improve their communication and convincing skills. The video also touches on the creator's YouTube journey, their goals for future growth, and encourages viewers to subscribe for more content, aiming to turn YouTube into a full-time job.

Takeaways

🛼 The video is different from the usual content, as it's not about skating or cricket but rather the creator's personal experience at a sports leader store.
💼 The creator worked in a customer service position, where their main role involved organizing products and maintaining the store's presentation.
🏢 The job was more challenging than it appeared from the outside, with tasks involving both physical work and customer interaction.
🕒 Despite being a part-time job, the creator often worked full-time hours, including long shifts and last-minute changes.
⏳ There was no fixed schedule, which led to issues in managing personal time and planning ahead.
🗣️ The experience helped the creator overcome their fear of customer interaction and improve their communication skills.
📉 The creator felt that the job offered little room for growth or long-term opportunities, which influenced their decision to leave.
🤝 The creator has gained respect for full-time employees working under challenging conditions, as they often had no other option due to financial dependencies.
📺 The creator plans to continue making YouTube videos and sees it as a potential future career, even though current earnings are minimal.
💡 The overall message is that no job is small, and it's important to take pride in one's work, even if it's different from one's initial expectations.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the video?
-The video focuses on the speaker's personal experience working at a sports store for three months, particularly discussing part-time and full-time roles and sharing both positive and negative aspects of the job.
Why does the speaker say this video is different from their usual content?
-The speaker explains that this video is different because it doesn’t cover typical topics like skating or cricket, but instead focuses on their work experience in a retail sports environment.
What kind of job did the speaker do at the store?
-The speaker worked as a Sports Leader in the store, handling customer interaction and product management. While it wasn’t a traditional sales role, there was some competitive pressure in customer interactions.
What were some of the challenges the speaker faced in this job?
-The speaker faced various challenges, such as long working hours (sometimes up to 13 hours), lack of proper scheduling, extra responsibilities without additional pay, and the difficulty of maintaining a personal life outside of work.
What did the speaker learn from their experience in the store?
-The speaker gained confidence in interacting with customers, improved their communication and convincing skills, and learned the importance of doing any job with pride, even if it’s something they hadn’t considered doing before.
What was the speaker’s perspective on overtime and extra work?
-The speaker highlights that part-time employees receive overtime pay for extra hours, while full-time employees do not, despite often working longer shifts. This is presented as an unfair aspect of the job.
How did the speaker feel about full-time employees at the store?
-The speaker expresses deep respect for full-time employees who manage long hours and difficult working conditions, noting that many are unable to leave due to financial dependence on the job.
Why did the speaker decide to leave the job after three months?
-The speaker decided to leave because they didn’t see a long-term future in the role, especially after experiencing an increase in pressure and feeling that the demanding hours and unstable schedule weren’t sustainable.
What is the speaker’s approach to their YouTube channel?
-The speaker is committed to growing their YouTube channel, despite it currently generating only a small income. They plan to consistently post videos and hope that the channel will eventually become a full-time job.
What message does the speaker give at the end of the video?
-The speaker encourages viewers to support their YouTube channel by subscribing and emphasizes their dedication to producing content. They also reflect on their work experience and thank viewers for listening to their story.

Outlines

00:00

🛒 First Job Experience: Balancing Challenges and Customer Interactions

The speaker shares a candid account of their experience working in a part-time or full-time sports leadership position. They reflect on the contrasting aspects of the job, highlighting moments where customer interaction played a key role, though it wasn’t sales-driven. They explain how the reality inside the job differs from outside perceptions. The focus is on managing customer needs, maintaining store order, and the personal satisfaction or frustration that can come from such tasks. The speaker also emphasizes how this position doesn't involve traditional sales tactics but still affects customer behavior.

05:00

⏳ Time Management and Full-Time Work Struggles

The speaker discusses the significant time commitment that comes with the job, especially during peak seasons like winter. They detail how shifts can extend beyond the expected hours, with days stretching up to 11 hours. There are frequent issues with mismanaged deliveries, forcing employees to work long hours without proper compensation or structure. The lack of a clear schedule or work-life balance leads to frustration, especially when plans are disrupted last minute. The speaker expresses sympathy for full-time employees who sacrifice personal life due to such unpredictable work demands.

10:01

📊 The Hidden Realities of Working Full-Time and the Mental Toll

In this paragraph, the speaker delves into the psychological challenges faced by full-time employees. They highlight how workers give their all without additional financial incentives, even when working overtime. The speaker respects those who manage to maintain their responsibilities while sacrificing personal time. They also explain the tough decisions many employees must make, given their financial dependency on the job, and how this situation prevents them from leaving despite the harsh working conditions.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Social Skills Growth Through Customer Interactions

Here, the speaker reflects on the personal growth they’ve experienced through their job, especially in terms of communication and customer interaction skills. Initially embarrassed by the idea of working in a sales-like environment despite their educational background, they soon realize how the experience has improved their social skills. They explain that their fear of interacting with customers has diminished, and they now value the learning they gained from the role, especially in terms of convincing and negotiation techniques.

💼 Part-Time Work as a Learning Opportunity for Students

This section discusses the benefits of part-time work, especially for students who need to balance studies with employment. The speaker acknowledges that while the job may not be glamorous, it provides valuable experience and income. They emphasize that for those without personal or social commitments, such jobs can be a good entry point into the workforce. Despite the long hours and demanding nature of the job, it helps develop essential skills like time management and responsibility, albeit at the expense of a personal life.

🚀 Career Reflections and Future Plans: From Short-Term Jobs to Long-Term Goals

In this final section, the speaker reflects on their future and the limitations they’ve encountered in their current role. While initially considering full-time work, they eventually decide against it due to increasing pressures and lack of long-term benefits. They express their aspirations to pursue a more sustainable career path, potentially transitioning to YouTube or another passion project. The speaker discusses their goals to maintain content consistency on YouTube while also considering other side projects. They remain hopeful that with time, their content creation journey may become more financially viable, but until then, they continue juggling various job roles.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Skating

Skating refers to one of the main activities discussed on the YouTube channel, though in this particular video, the narrator states they are not talking about it. The mention of skating sets the context that the channel generally covers sports or hobbies, hinting at the type of audience the video is directed towards.

💡Part-time vs. Full-time

This refers to the narrator's comparison between working part-time and full-time in the context of his job experience at a sports retail store. The key difference is highlighted through the flexibility of part-time work versus the demanding and often unplanned nature of full-time work, especially during peak seasons.

💡Customer interaction

Customer interaction involves engaging with customers to provide assistance or help them make purchasing decisions. In the video, the narrator shares that overcoming the fear of interacting with customers was a significant part of his learning experience, improving his social and communication skills.

💡Sports leader

Sports leader refers to the narrator's position at the store. It is a leadership role but involves a lot of physical and routine tasks such as product management, store organization, and customer service. This position is central to his reflection on the difference between the expectations of the role and the reality.

💡Overtime

Overtime refers to the extra working hours beyond the regular shifts. The narrator emphasizes the frequent need for overtime work, especially during high-demand periods like peak seasons, where shifts often extend beyond the standard 8-9 hours, causing fatigue and disrupting personal plans.

💡Delivery management

Delivery management is the process of handling and organizing incoming stock and deliveries in the store. The narrator mentions that managing deliveries is often inefficient, leading to long working hours. This adds to the stress of the job, as unpredictable delivery timings create additional workload.

💡Convincing skills

Convincing skills refer to the narrator's ability to persuade customers during interactions, a crucial aspect of his role in retail. He describes how working in this environment helped him enhance these skills, though he stresses that the job doesn’t explicitly require pressuring customers to buy, but it does influence their decisions.

💡Job expectations

Job expectations refer to the narrator’s initial perception of his role compared to the reality of the tasks involved. While he thought the position might be glamorous or more aligned with leadership, he found it more operational, requiring a lot of routine tasks like restocking and maintaining the store, rather than strategic leadership.

💡Work-life balance

Work-life balance highlights the struggle of managing personal time and professional responsibilities. The narrator discusses how full-time employees, especially during peak seasons, often face long hours that interfere with personal plans, leaving little time for relaxation or social life.

💡YouTube channel

The YouTube channel represents the narrator’s secondary pursuit outside his job. He talks about his efforts to grow his channel, which includes content on various topics like skating and cricket. Despite minimal financial returns, the channel remains a passion project, with hopes that it will eventually grow.

Highlights

The video is different from usual content, as it doesn't focus on skateboarding or cricket but rather shares the speaker's personal experience.

The speaker describes their experience working as a part-time or full-time sports leader, highlighting the challenges and opportunities faced.

One key challenge mentioned is dealing with customer interactions, which sometimes creates a competitive environment.

The speaker reflects on how Indian work culture differs from other places, noting that compromises and desperation are more common in India.

Working long hours is a recurring issue, with shifts sometimes extending beyond 12 hours without proper compensation for overtime.

The speaker shares their evolving perspective on interacting with customers, noting that they have overcome the embarrassment they once felt in this role.

There is an emphasis on the lack of proper scheduling and communication, where staff often learn about their shifts or days off at the last minute.

The speaker discusses how working in retail taught them valuable communication and convincing skills despite initial discomfort.

Over time, the speaker gained respect for those who work long hours in retail and recognized the necessity for many people to take on these jobs.

The video touches on the importance of finding pride in one's work, regardless of societal perceptions of the job's status.

Although the speaker appreciates the learning experience, they feel that long-term growth and fulfillment in retail is limited.

The speaker expresses frustration about the imbalance between work and personal life, especially in the context of inconsistent scheduling.

They mention that retail can be a good part-time job for students or those without other responsibilities, but it is tough for those seeking a balanced lifestyle.

The speaker talks about their ambition to pursue YouTube consistently and use it as a potential long-term career path, if the channel grows.

The video concludes with a request for viewers to support the channel through likes and subscriptions, with the speaker optimistic about the channel's future.