Buying/Planning
Executive Development Program and Internship

The Buying/Planning Executive Development Program prepares you for your first position as an Assistant Buyer and will allow you to develop, analyze, strategize, and promote a buying department within Bloomingdale's. This program teaches you about selecting, buying, and assorting merchandise to capture emerging trends. Working directly with buyers, planners, store executives, vendors and advertising, you will learn how to execute a specific business strategy and be responsible for a multi-million dollar business. Formal training classes are coupled with hands-on experience working in our merchant offices. In addition to classroom learning and office exposure, you will shadow in stores to better understand the needs of our customers and the merchant/store relationship. Success in your first position as an Assistant Buyer leads to future positions in buying.

Program Structure:

• Learn to develop and implement a business plan for a multi-million dollar buying department
• Consistently analyze and react to business trends by strategically selecting appropriate merchandise
• Strategize with the advertising department to develop a plan to promote your product
• Communicate with vendors about sales analysis, price negotiation, and sell-through markdown issues
• Partner with the product planning and distribution department to monitor stock levels, analyze sell-through, and make recommendations for future product buys

Skills and Qualification Summary:

Students from all majors that have a desire to interact in a dynamic, fast-paced, competitive environment are poised for success in our Internship. Students with a 3.2 GPA or higher with strong business and analytical skills, extracurricular activities, leadership skills and workforce experience are encouraged to apply.

• Demonstrate solid academic achievement through use of analytical and quantitative thought processing
• Exhibit strong communication, interpersonal and time management skills
• Ability to prioritize projects and multiple tasks to achieve productivity and business goals
• Demonstrate a strong business acumen and professional business ethics
• Promote teamwork environment through demonstrated ability to solve problems and manage complex relationships
• Ability to utilize Microsoft Office with proficiency in MS Word and MS Excel (Excel proficiency is critical)

Students from all majors that have a desire to interact in a dynamic, fast-paced, competitive environment are poised for success in our Internship. Students with a 3.2 GPA or higher with strong business and analytical skills, extracurricular activities, leadership skills and workforce experience are encouraged to apply.

Macy's, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to a diverse and inclusive work environment.

So you're aiming to become a buying executive? Your training program consists of a combination of soft and hard skill classes – plus additional classes at intermediate and advanced levels as you progress through the career path. Courses you will complete and their learning objectives include:

• Business Screens Orientation. This multimedia computer-based program answers the most common business questions you'll encounter immediately on the job. The content focuses on terminology and business screens used to gain this information.
• Getting Started Workshop. Once you understand the business screens used to access performance information, you will complete a workbook on your business to prepare for this workshop. In the workshop, you'll discuss the business impact of performance numbers.
• Introduction to Forecasting. A forecast is an estimate of a future business trend, based on current trends and the financial plan. Through this web-based training program, you will learn the basics of online forecasting.
• Formulating Peak Performance. This multimedia computer-based program teaches the basic math formulas used in a retail environment. You'll also learn the relationship of sales, stock, markdowns and receipts.
• Merchandise Logistics and Tracking. Learn how to monitor and manage the movement of merchandise – from the vendor to the distribution center to the sales floor – through this multimedia computer-based program.
• Meet and Interact with Senior Management across the company in Brand Workshops
• Assist a Buying team by helping run their multi-million dollar business during training
• Presentation Skills to learn how to negotiate and interact best with your buying team and senior management
• Teambuilding Experiences to get to know your fellow trainees outside of the classroom

This 8 week paid Internship, located in New York City at the home of our flagship, is designed to provide an overview of the Buying function and why specific merchandise is bought and distributed for a nationwide, full-line department store. Through this Internship, you will gain experience in financial analysis, advertising, professional development, and communication skills that will provide the framework for a successful career in corporate retail. Our Internship provides you with a unique opportunity to apply classroom training to address opportunities and challenges faced in our corporate offices.

Program Structure:

• Experiential learning environment
• Learning objectives are coordinated with projects and supervisory feedback to enhance your understanding of business responsibilities
• Classroom instruction is combined with hands-on experiences to augment learning
• Interaction with our content experts to gain greater insight into the multitude of career opportunities.
• Increased understanding of the importance of coordination between functional areas to deliver the best business results
• Completion of a group project presented to our CEO and other senior management to assist in understanding real world applications of the analysis you will conduct
• Completion of a an individual project presented to Human Resources and Merchant Executives to assist in understanding real world applications of the analysis you will conduct
• Meet and Interact with Senior Management across the company in Brand Workshops
• Gain immediate responsibility for a part of the business with individual department projects

Skills and Qualifications:

• Solid academic achievement and ability to demonstrate strong analytical skills
• Well developed communication, interpersonal and time management skills
• Organized approach to prioritizing projects and ability to multi-task
• Strong business acumen and value on professional business ethics
• Ability to succeed in a team environment
• Proficiency in MS Word and MS Excel

Students from all majors that have a desire to interact in a dynamic, fast-paced, competitive environment are poised for success in our Internship. Students with a 3.2 GPA or higher with strong business and analytical skills, extracurricular activities, leadership skills and workforce experience are encouraged to apply.

Macy's, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to a diverse and inclusive work environment.