Health and beauty

The world is becoming a beautiful place, thanks partly to the power of A-list stars and glossy magazines. Their glamour has helped make beauty products a luxury that an increasing number of consumers can't leave on the shelves.

While career progression is similar to most retail sectors, you start as a sales assistant and progress to department or store manager, area manager and upwards. The breadth of health and beauty jobs will spoil you for choice. They include beauty therapist, beauty administration assistant, sales and marketing manager and category manager.

Vocational qualifications often help, especially while you are building the foundations of your career. As a beauty therapist, for instance, you will have had to get NVQs or SVQs in beauty therapy under your belt.

Certainly, in this sector it pays to amass years of product knowledge and market understanding. To reach the heady heights of operations manager, for instance, you will probably have notched up five years or more as a retail area manager in health and beauty.

The great thing is that you won't get bored. Health and beauty is no longer confined to cosmetics and fragrance. Increasingly, retailers, particularly in department stores, are offering spa type services such as nail bars, massage, aromatherapy and even advanced techniques, such as electrology to remove thread veins and warts.

As a result, your skills are thrillingly transportable; indeed, the possibilities are endless. You could, for instance, move into management and run your own salon, work on a luxury cruise ship, pamper first-class airline passengers while jetting round the world; work in a health farm or spa, join a leisure centre and even teach … but the retail industry will keep you busy in the meantime.