NAJ Education Trust - Testimonial
03 May 2022
The NAJ sat down with Victoria Burchett, a recent JET2 Diploma graduate, to discuss her experience on the course and how the NAJ Education Trust helped her progress her career.
Can you briefly describe your role and what a typical day might look like for you?
I’m a Sales Executive so I do a little bit of everything! Day to day includes putting the stock into the window before we open, and taking it all out again when we close. I take in repairs for customers, advising them exactly what work might need doing to their items and communicating this clearly to our goldsmith. We do valuations in my work place, so I take in items for the customer and explain the basic process of what happens to their items during the valuations and about how the document is made. I check to see whether we’ve had any web sales and find the stock, clean it and get it correctly packaged for the customers and posted out to them. I answer any customer queries that come through to us via email, I advise on remounts or remodels of customer’s items, I contact suppliers if we need tools/stones/mounts/stock and most importantly – I serve our customers!
How has the qualification helped you in your job?
I am much more confident in my knowledge of repairs and valuations now than before I took the Diploma. These are big areas of day to day at my workplace so the fact I can help generate money for the business because of things I’ve learned is fantastic.
Instead of just telling a customer that yes we can replace their missing stone, I can now tell them how many claws/parts of the setting are worn/broken and exactly what we need to do in order to make sure the same thing wouldn’t happen again.
We’re also seeing more enquiries coming in about laboratory grown diamonds, and the module on synthetic/artificial/natural/imitations has really made me be able to help customers make informed choices.
Is there one piece of knowledge from the qualification that you now use/apply on a regular basis?
For the project, I took a much deeper dive into gemstones than the other modules required. I started looking more into the science and gemmology of the stones, for example the Moh’s hardness scale. Because of this, I am now able to regularly advise customers on proper aftercare and cleaning on all their gemstones and let them know if a certain gemstone is more suitable for everyday wear than something else.
As an example, emeralds are very brittle and are not suitable to be worn every day and especially not in an engagement ring. Now, if a customer says they want an emerald engagement ring because they like the colour green, I am able to use the knowledge I obtained to advise them that if they like green, a green sapphire would be a better choice because sapphires are far more durable so are suitable for every day, and they have the kind of lustre that means they sparkle in a nice way too, or if they had a decent budget then a tsavorite or demantoid garnet are also a nice choice. A lot of customers aren’t aware that sapphires come in colours other than blue, or garnets in colours other than reddish/brown, so it’s always nice to help educate people.
What aspect or module of the qualification did you enjoy most?
I adored the Design module. I felt that it really allowed me to show off my creativity, and my writing skills. I can now appreciate on a far grander scale the work that goes into designing and producing a bespoke piece or a collection, and I was lucky enough to be able to build some good contacts in the industry just by reaching out and asking questions. Being able to theoretically design my own jewellery collection and come up with the ideas/branding/pricing/marketing etc really pushed me in a way that isn’t always possible in my job role so it was a refreshing way to think about things.
Would you recommend applying to the Education Trust to others?
Absolutely. I wouldn’t have been able to fully fund the course myself and the support and communication I received from Amanda throughout was brilliant. Working through the JET Diploma has expanded my love of the jewellery industry even further and I am confident that my career path lies here now.
What’s next for you now? Do you have plans for further study and if so, what?
I definitely have plans for further study! I am currently awaiting Gem-A to launch their GemIntro course – a solely online Level 2 qualification in Gemmology. If I do well with that, I would love to go on to study the Gemmology Foundation and Diploma at Gem-A to become a fully qualified gemmologist.
I would also really like to take the JET Management course at some point so that if the time comes for me to be able to step up in my career, I can be ready for it. I would absolutely apply to the Education Trust again for this course if I choose to study it.
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Source: National Association of Jewellers