Working at a corporate headquarters is different from working in a restaurant location. If you are thinking of switching from an office and conference room job to being a store manager or general manager, moving back to the store level could be a pleasant change if you enjoyed working in a restaurant in the past.

          “It allows them to get in touch with why they joined the industry in the first place,” says Susan Steinbrecher, president and chief executive of Steinbrecher and Associates in Dallas. “Probably all of them started somewhere in a store, and worked their way up to the corporate level.”

          Working for a restaurant could get you back to what you once liked to do.

          “My guess was what appealed to them was the connection with employees, the connection with customers, the thrill of the operation,” Steinbrecher says. “That stuff goes away when you get to the corporate level.”

          There are still some challenges though.

          If you do not have that store experience, be aware that there are some things about working in a restaurant that are different from your corporate past. Consider applying for a store manager job only if you are ready for a big change in day-to-day tasks.

          “The store environment is completely different from a corporate environment,” says Gregg Ward, author of “Diversity, Harassment, Leadership, Teamwork, Change.” “It’s retailing, and you will need to be a people person. Being a manager or GM is all about effectively working the store’s system and literally getting your hands dirty.”

          Ward, who is also president of Orlando-Ward & Associates, Inc. in San Diego, says you will have to manage younger and less experienced workers. You might also have to take a pay cut and deal with irate customers and the messes they leave behind on the floor and tables.

          However, this might be an environment you like. The plusses, he says, include “being the boss, the rush you get when you know you and your crew did a great job when the place was crazy busy, meeting new people every day, and the camaraderie that develops between employees when they’ve worked together in a tough and fast-paced environment.”

          His advice: “Be very, very clear about what you’re getting into — and that’s retailing — when you apply.”

          Whether it’s due to a layoff or simply your desire to make a change, your potential employer will want to know why you would want to move from making PowerPoint presentations to working the register when someone doesn’t show up for their shift. You don’t want the interviewer to think you are settling for a temp job while you look for another corporate job.

                   “Look at this as an opportunity to re-evaluate what do you want for yourself, what appealed to you, and how can you go back to that while at the same time bringing a completely different level of experience to the table and being a mentor to those around you,” Steinbrecher says. “If they walk into the interview after they have done this level of thinking, they’ll say, ‘You know, I do have a lot to offer.’”

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