Nordstrom BP Fashion Board for High School Juniors ... for your Senior Year.

[FashionCapital]

Has anyone done this/heard of this? What's it like?

http://content.nordstrom.com/images...n_Board_Application_2008.pdf?origin=srcontent

I think it's only for girls, but it seems pretty awesome. The program is for high school seniors; you apply as a junior.

 

[retraca]

i haven't heard of it before but I want to apply. Do you have to want a career in retail because I want to do design?

 

[BetteT]

I have seen this before. It looks like it's strictly retail .... which makes sense, since it's Nordstroms.

I see it as more of a PR thing for their BP (Formely "Brass Plumb") juniors dept. than a board where you will have voting rights to make policy or direct what they carry or anything like that.

The app asks what you can do for the board ... but they don't say that they want you to do anything except attend meetings, learn, talk about it on the outside and represent BP/Nordstroms. They want members who are leaders in school and who will make them proud ... uh, yeah ... what they really want is for you to be a trend setter to get all your friends and schoolmates to spend money at BP. It's more PR/marketing than anything ... I'm sure. Maybe ... it's about recruiting sales associates, too. ... cream of the crop, so to speak.

However, it sounds like it could be fun and you might learn som interesting stuff about retail. It might even look good on a resume for entry level jobs or college admissions ... so why not?

 

[retraca]

I called the store near me and asked if it was strictly retail and they said it wasn't. Whats B.P. stand for I've been trying to figure it out but I cant.

 

[MissMagAddict]

BP stands for Brass Plum... which is what it used to be called.

I did it & it was great. I learned a lot about the fashion industry... got to help w/fashion shows, etc & ended up working part-time for Nordstrom all through college & then full-time for a couple of years afterward. If you connect with the right people within the company you can find good mentors. IMO you have to be an outgoing person to get the most from it. Remember... Nordstrom is a big company... you have to play by their rules & they have plenty.

 

[FashionCapital]

Wait, so, is this for girls only?

 

[retraca]

Wait, so, is this for girls only?

i think boys can apply, i was looking at pictures and there was a guy

 

[MissMagAddict]

i think boys can apply, i was looking at pictures and there was a guy

Yeah.. I saw that too looking at the flickr group. They really can't discriminate & besides a man... Jeffrey Kalinsky is the Director of Designer Merchandising. So why not go for it FashionCapital

 

[LetThemEatCake]

I used to work for Nordstrom but I had to become a totally different fake person at work, and I didnt like that. So I quit. Now I hope to get a job at Neiman's so I dont have to kiss so much butt.

 

[tangerine]

When I saw the title I thought Nordstrom had merged with British Petroleum.

Given the current global retail situation, it might not be a bad idea.

 

[MissMagAddict]

^

 

[iLoveCouture]

Bette is right. I used to be a manager of this dept when I first started out at Nordstrom. We did have a "board" of girls that would come in and we would conduct seminars on the upcoming trends, retail as a whole and also recruit future employees. Its a good learning experience for those interested in the retail side of the industry.

 

[IWantToBeChloe]

I did this back in 2001, but felt like I could've easily taught the class so I stopped going. I remember once they had somebody from the cosmetic section try to teach/sell us Prescriptives mascara and other stuff. Another time we had to approve/not approve different tops they were considering buying (like it even made a difference). We got 20% off BP clothes on meeting days. It was one of 2 things I had on my resume in high school and we got to have our photos up in the BP dressing rooms, so I guess it wasn't all bad.

 

[Juliet.J]

When I worked in BP they had that program and I know the girls use to help sale on the sales floor and they use to have meetings quite frequently. But I didnt know they helped out in fashion shows.

 

[retraca]

I applied and I got in =] Our first meeting is on Thursday