WNCC rolls out retail-training program

Managers seeking new ways to boost retail employees up the ladder of success have a helper at the Western Nevada Community College a Retail Management Certificate of Achievement program.

The college was approached last summer by the Western Association of Food Chains, says Douglas Benoit,WNCC dean of instruction.

The association said they needed an educational program for their members.

It's a program that Benoit,who came to Carson City's WNCC in May, knew from his days at division dean of instruction at Washington's Clover Park Technical College.

"We had a large retail management program in Washington," says Benoit.

The program that WNCC is initiating is smaller, and it's a fairly new idea" he says, but it's not brand new to the area.

Truckee Meadows Community College offers a similar program.

The retail certificate program is generic enough too, he says, so that retailers outside of the food retail business will benefit.

He sees clothing, home improvement, and department stores all as potential beneficiaries of a program that teaches retail skills.

And those skills are? Things like basic computer skills, accounting, problem solving, leadership,working with employees, and communication skills.

Wouldn't all retail employers like their staffs to have such skills? Benoit thinks so, but also is maintaining a wait-and-see attitude.

The program's classes start in January and will be available at WNCC's Carson City campus, as well as at its extensions in Fallon and Douglas.

The class listings are scheduled to be up on the college Web site (www.wncc.edu) beginning this week.

The certificate program is a 30-unit stretch, which can be completed as part of a 63-unit associate degree program or on its own."I use the Lego approach"when setting up programs building blocks, says Benoit.

Students can take the program as one separate block, or combine it with others.

To set up the certificate program, Benoit met with members of the Western Association of Food Chains and owners of grocery stores in the Carson City area.

"They were very supportive and interested," says Benoit.

He's hoping to find similar interest in the rest of the retail business community.