Our Vision.
To lift the standard of retail in Aotearoa New Zealand by creating confident, capable workplaces where people thrive, customers are respected, and retail is recognised as a skilled, valued career pathway.
We envision a retail industry where employers are equipped to lead well, and job-ready candidates enter the workforce prepared, supported, and proud of the work they do.
Our Founders.
Kerry Lila – Founder
With over 30 years in retail, Kerry’s career journey took her from Christmas casual to General Manager of one of New Zealand’s leading retailers, Hallensteins overseeing operations across Australia and New Zealand. She has extensive experience in national retail management, leadership development, operational strategy, and project delivery — all focused on building high-performing, customer-centric teams.
Kerry has led multi-level leadership teams, coached regional and store managers, and implemented scalable systems that drive operational excellence, profit growth, and exceptional customer experiences. Her work spans every facet of retail operations — from stock and logistics to cost control, compliance, and people development.
Beyond corporate retail, Kerry has worked with small businesses through TimeTo Limited, delivering marketing, branding, and strategy solutions that enhance customer experience and digital capability. Across all roles, her approach remains the same: people first, capability-led, and practical.
Kerry founded My Retail Career to give back to the industry that has given her so much — helping retailers build strong teams and supporting candidates to develop real skills, confidence, and careers they can be proud of.
Layne Burgess – Founder
Layne is a commercially credible HR strategist with deep experience operating inside complex, multi-site, customer-facing environments.
She began her HR career within a large New Zealand-founded retailer during a period of rapid growth, where the business doubled in size and transitioned through acquisition and rebrand to an Australian parent brand. Working across head office and store networks, she supported workforce design, large-scale recruitment, store openings and closures, and the people implications of structural change in high-volume environments.
Her experience spans work forces of over 1,000 employees, including environments exceeding 4,500 staff. She has led high-volume recruitment campaigns under compressed timeframes, developed scalable capability frameworks, and aligned workforce planning with commercial metrics such as labour-to-sales ratios, FTE modelling, turnover and engagement data.
Beyond retail, Layne has worked across aviation, health, professional services, and other service-led industries. This cross-industry exposure strengthens her ability to design workforce strategies that balance operational performance, regulatory risk, and customer experience. She understands that in customer-facing environments, leadership capability, staffing structure, and service standards are inseparable from commercial outcomes.
Layne is known for her ability to operate between executive strategy and frontline reality. She translates commercial direction into practical workforce systems, leadership clarity, and sustainable structures that support growth, restructuring, and operational change.
Together, Kerry and Layne are committed to raising standards across the retail industry. They believe that retail can be a rewarding career, not just a stop-gap, when people are supported, trained, and equipped to succeed. Through My Retail Career, they combine practical retail experience and people strategy expertise to help retailers build strong teams and create meaningful career pathways for candidates.
Our Values.
1. People First
Retail works best when people are supported, respected, and set up to succeed.
We believe great customer experiences start with engaged employees and strong leadership.
2. Capability Over Compliance
We go beyond box-ticking.
Our focus is on building real skills, confidence, and capability — for both retailers and candidates — so good practice becomes everyday practice.
3. Retail-Ready, Real-World
Everything we do is practical, relevant, and grounded in real retail environments.
From retail-ready competency training to HR frameworks, we prepare people for what actually happens on the shop floor.
4. Shared Responsibility
Great retail is a partnership.
We support employers to be the best leaders and workplaces they can be, and we support candidates to take ownership of their growth, attitude, and professionalism.
5. Raising the Bar
We are committed to lifting standards across the industry.
That means better training, better leadership, clearer expectations, and stronger pathways into retail employment.
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