Careers in Floristry
Being a florist can be a very exciting and challenging career. If you are considering a career in floristry, you should enjoy being creative, working with flowers and be willing to learn all aspects of the floristry profession. You should also be out-going and have a helpful attitude as you will be dealing with the public and responsible for providing good customer service.
- Floristry Assistant
- Florist
- Senior Florist
- Florist Designer
Florist
Florists prepare floral arrangements such as bouquets, sprays, wreaths or vases of flowers. They also organise the storage, sale and delivery of floral arrangements.
Working in floristry requires a combination of creative and design skills, knowledge of flowers and plants, customer service skills and general retailing skills.
Florists may perform the following tasks:
- Design and prepare floral arrangements for general sale, or to meet specific client requirements
- Prepare and maintain flowers and greenery for arrangements, including trimming materials and strengthening stems with wire
- Pack, wrap and organise delivery of flowers
- Assist customers with their selection or order
- Process sales
- Arrange fresh and dried flowers, greenery, decorations and a range of other materials into arrangements
- Participate in management and administration, such as determining costs of floral arrangements.
Floristry Assistant
Floristry assistants work in floristry businesses as sales assistants.
They perform general duties such as:
- Construction of basic floral arrangements
- Stock control
- Serving customers and processing sales and orders
- Help with housekeeping, such as cleaning and changing flower water and displays
- Care for floristry supplies and materials.
The focus of the role is on customer service and preparing materials, and does not generally involve making arrangements.
Senior Florist
Senior florists are experienced florists with a high level of customer service skills who have additional responsibilities in the running of the business.
Senior florists have developed a high level of design and technical skills in the construction of floral products and arrangements.
Senior florists may specialise in a particular area, such as weddings, funerals or statement arrangements, and have a role in co-ordinating floral products for a special occasion.
Senior florists may also take a lead role on coordinating the day to day operation and business activities of the organisation.
Senior florists may perform the following tasks:
- Design and prepare floral arrangements for general sale
- Design and prepare floral arrangements to meet specific client requirements
- Design, prepare and organise delivery of arrangements for weddings, funerals, events and corporate orders
- Arrange fresh and dried flowers, greenery, decorations and a range of other materials into arrangements
- Control stock- this involves price setting and discounting stock where necessary
- Recruit, train, roster and supervise staff
- Manage employee relations and provide a safe working environment
- Set and maintain service standards and resolve customer complaints
- Keep and analyse records of sales figures and all financial transactions
- Develop and monitor a business plan and a budget for sales and expenditure
- Market and promote the business
- Select and purchase flowers and other floristry stock
- Determine costs of floral arrangements.
What are the career opportunities?
Florists mainly work for small retail outlets. Many florists are self-employed. There is always the possibility of establishing your own business, or being employed within a specialised design business. Anyone interested in starting up their own business will need to have strong business skills in order to be successful.
Download The Job I Love, our careers guide to the service industries
What training do you need?
The standard requirement to work as a florist is the Certificate III in Floristry.
There are also other nationally recognised qualifications available within the industry:
Certificate II in Floristry is designed for those wishing to develop the skills and knowledge to work as a sales assistant and produce simple displays in a florist shop or studio.
Certificate III in Floristry is considered the basic requirement to be a qualified florist. This qualification is aimed at more experienced employees in the floristry industry, whose work requires extensive product knowledge and specialist skill application.
Certificate IV in Floristry has been designed to develop the floristry design and first line supervisory skills of those experiencedn in working in the floristry industry.
Diploma of Floristry Design has been developed to further develop highly specialised creative, design and construction skills, as well as essential business and marketing skills.
