Retail Resume Examples, Skills & Job Description (2024)

Retail is one of the first industries that many people enter. How can you make sure your resume for a retail job stands out among others in the application process?

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By Donna 3 minute read

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Retail Resume Example

If you’re interested in applying for a retail job, it’s important to know how to present your skills. Whether you’re an entry-level worker or you have plenty of retail experience and want to manage a chain of retail stores, it’s important that you can show recruiters who you are and why they should hire you. Here’s how to make it more likely that you’ll get that callback for a job interview.

Retail Resume Example

Jobs That Can Use Retail Resumes

The retail industry includes a variety of job titles. Here are a few career paths that might use a retail resume example:

  • Retail sales associate
  • Retail manager
  • Salesperson
  • Merchandising
  • Store manager
  • Inventory management
  • Sales manager

The most important element to remember is that all these job descriptions have a lot of commonality. When you’re writing your professional resume, you’ll use many of the same resume writing tips for entry-level positions as you will for manager-level positions. It’s up to you to showcase your skills in a way that will keep a hiring manager reading.

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Elements of Retail Resumes To Keep In Mind

The following sections will be included on your perfect resume:

1

Contact information

The first part of any retail resume will always be the header with your contact information. Resume headers include your full name, phone number, and professional profile links, like LinkedIn. This section is typically part of the header design, so pay attention when choosing between resume templates at the beginning of your resume writing process.

2

Resume summary or objective

This section goes at the very top of your resume and is essentially a 2-3 sentence summary of your resume as a whole. A resume summary simply summarizes your education, skills, and experience, while a resume objective includes the goals you’re hoping to achieve in your career.

3

Skills

Retail skills are a huge part of writing a great retail resume. Here are a few bullet points that you can include in a skills section to craft a better resume.

  • Product knowledge
  • Customer service skills
  • Teamwork
  • Customer satisfaction
  • Interpersonal skills
  • Problem-solving
  • Written and verbal communication
  • Meeting sales goals
  • POS system operation
  • General technical skills for retail work
You should include both soft skills and hard skills in your resume. Note that you can see both types of skills in this specific list of retail skills. The best resume will blend soft skills, which help you provide excellent customer service, with hard skills, which allow you to do the duties of your job. That’s what makes a great retail resume.

4

Work experience

Next is your work experience section. When going through your job application, you want to include up to about 10 years of experience unless the job ad specifically asks for more. Remember that this typically refers to relevant experience, which means experience that taught you how to be a retail worker. If you don’t have any retail-specific experience, include any experience you can tie to the retail sector, then use each job description to discuss how your work experience will play into your retail worker job. Remember to list your previous jobs in reverse-chronological order, with the most recent at the top.

5

Education

An education section can be helpful especially for more high-level jobs. Most retail workers only need a high school diploma, but when you start getting up to sales managers and regional managers, you might want to include other pieces of education. Include all college experience in this section, even if it doesn’t seem “relevant.” Some higher-level retail certifications may include a certificate in retail management or a sales management certificate.

6

Achievements and awards (optional)

Lastly, if you have any achievements or awards, you can include them in this optional section. This may include an especially big accomplishment like an Employee of the Year award or smaller awards like Employee of the Month. For smaller awards, try to choose awards that you won more than once.

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Retail Resume Samples

Are you looking for retail resume samples that can act as a writing guide for your own resume? Look no further than ResumeHelp. You can find plenty of retail resume examples to help you get started. Plus, these resumes can help you decide on a resume format, learn how to talk about your skills, and write a resume objective or resume summary to give a quick overview of your resume to a hiring manager.

Tips for Creating Your Retail Resume

Here are a few tips you can use to create a better retail resume:

  • If you’re applying for a higher-level job, include more certifications and accomplishments. Entry-level jobs typically don’t need as many of these.
  • Make your resume applicant tracking system (ATS)-friendly. Retail jobs often get hundreds of applications to every job opening, so knowing how to use keywords to get your resume through an ATS can help you aim for the top.
  • Learn how to write about your job opportunities. Resume action verbs can help you turn your adjectives into verbs, showcasing how you built skills rather than just asserting those skills blindly.
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FAQ: Retail Resume Example

Have questions? We’re here to help.

Yes. Even if you’re writing an entry-level resume, a cover letter is still a great option. The cover letter can help you discuss more about your history, show off your skills, and actively ask for a job interview. If you’re not extremely comfortable writing a cover letter from scratch, just use the ResumeHelp cover letter builder.

Yes. Retail jobs are often one of the first jobs you choose, and many retail jobs don’t require any experience at all. If you’re writing a retail job without experience, highlight any non-professional experience you have, like extracurricular activities, volunteer experience, and part-time jobs, that feature abilities that are useful for retail work. Even when experience isn’t required, highlighting your own experience is a great way to get ahead of other job seekers.

Yes. By personalizing your retail resume to every job posting, you’re more likely to catch a hiring manager’s eye. Even though this can make your job search take a little longer for every application, you’ll be more likely to hear back from someone quickly.

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Donna Profile
WRITTEN BY Donna

Donna is a career expert with extensive experience in the fields of Marketing, Publishing, Direct Mail and Communications. She’s witnessed firsthand the importance of a powerful resume and cover letter to a job search, so she takes great pride in helping change the lives of job seekers by sharing expert career advice and tips to help land the perfect job.

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