Retail Jewelry Department

Working in a jewelry department means that a lot of trust has been placed on you by your immediate supervisors.

While there are safeguards in place to help prevent employees from stealing, including inventory systems and cameras, it is still hard to stop every theft, and employers have to trust the people that they give access to their most valuable and most easily portable merchandise. Because of the trust required for this kind of position, it is rare that someone new to a department store will start out working in the jewelry department. Instead, they are likely to promote someone from a different department to work in the jewelry area when an employee from that department leaves the store.

If you are promoted to work in the jewelry department, your job will consist mostly of keeping the counters and display cases clean and free of smudges and fingerprints and arranging jewelry within the cases. Other duties include keeping the costume jewelry neat and stocked outside of your counter area as well as on top of the counters depending on the methods of display.
You may also be required to clean up nearby departments, like the accessories department.

The jewelry clerk is also responsible for keeping customers happy by showing them the jewelry that they want to see from the cases. You will be the person or one of the people in charge of the keys and should keep close track of them, as you are responsible for the jewelry case.

Working in the jewelry department means being helpful and polite no matter how many different times a client wants to try different pieces from the case, and also requires you to be somewhat knowledgeable about the stones in the pieces and the selection that your store offers. Because jewelry is a big-ticket item, you may get a commission in some cases, in addition to a regular salary. Find out your store’s specific policy before moving to the jewelry department.