NWACC’s CRA program is geared towards individuals, such as career changers, displaced workers or those wishing to enhance their skill sets for an analyst role within the supplier or retailer community.

In addition, the program offers two additional opportunities for the business community:

Ready-to-Hire Students
First, CRA creates a “Talent Pool” or source of talent for hiring managers seeking to hire ready-to-work qualified candidates with strong competencies in both hard and soft skills. With the CRA program centering around the development of four key competencies: strategic thinking, critical thinking, collaboration, and technical skills, our students are ready-to-hire. 

The program features “Day in the Life Interview Opportunities”. Each semester students are assigned projects that must be completed and presented in an audience of industry leaders from the supplier and retail communities.  As a hiring manager, it’s always nice to go to where the talent is versus waiting on them to come to you.  What better way to judge a potential new hire’s capability than to see them in action: critique their executive presence on stage; understand the logic of their analytical thinking; listen to their conclusions and recommended course of actions; and listen to how well they field questions from the audience. 

During earlier semesters within the program, industry leaders within the community assist in “Mock Interview Rotations”.  Students meet with hiring managers to practice interviewing and to receive feedback on their resume and interviewing skills.  This is a great opportunity for hiring managers to identify talent, early in the program.  NWACC invites companies to participate, contact them for more information.

Small Business Savvy – Sales, Inventory, and Gross Margin
The CRA program also offers a great opportunity for small business owners who want to improve their business acumen and identify ways to improve their operational efficiencies.  Regardless of the nature or size of the business there are three key business fundamentals around which everything operates: sales, inventory, and gross margin. 

If it sounds simple to manage just three components of a business - it’s not.  The difficulty comes into play when trying to manage the balance between sales, inventory, and gross margin and how one impacts the other.  How much inventory is enough, how much inventory is too much, how can profitability be improved – these are all legitimate questions that impact businesses the same, regardless how large, or how small the business.

If you are wanting to enter the supplier or retail community, if you are a hiring manager looking to identify talent for your organization, or if you are a small business owner wanting to improve your business acumen, then NWACC’s Certified Retail Analyst (CRA) program is for you.  For additional information please contact [email protected] or call  (479) 936-5171.