If you’ve dipped your toe in the retail world and found that it might be the best long-term choice for you, congratulations! Once you put in your time as an associate and start to rise through the ranks, it can be a great career path. (And if you have the patience and steely personality to deal with whatever the public throws your way, you’re extra equipped.) But once you’ve made the decision to continue along the retail advancement path, it’s important to put together the best possible application package—including your resume.
Let’s look at three different retail management candidate resumes, starting with Joe, who’s seeking an assistant management position to start rising through the ranks.
Joe Chung
1212 Elm Street
Hartford, CT 87878
(111) 555-6666
Experienced retail associate looking to bring increasing leadership and strong customer service focus to an assistant manager position at Big Box Store.
Key Skills
- Team leadership and motivation
- Customer service
- Creative marketing and merchandising
- Managing POS software
- Using innovative inventory and merchandise tracking methods to reduce loss and increase accuracy
- Training and encouraging team members
Work Experience
Senior Sales Associate June 2014 – present
Big Sports Inc. Hartford, CT
Co-managed a staff of 15 associates at a large sporting goods store.
- Coached and motivated team members to maximize performance to meet sales goals set by senior management.
- Excelled in sales and customer service role, most recently meeting 110% of 2016’s in-store sales goal.
- Interacted with customers on a daily basis with highly positive feedback.
- Recruited and interviewed new employees for the store.
- Coordinated weekly merchandise floor moves to advertise new promotions and products.
- Singled out as “employee of the month” three times from 2014 – present.
- Promoted from entry-level position with increasing levels of responsibility.
Retail Sales Associate February 2012 – June 2014
Bullseye Stores East Hartford, CT
Provided top-notch customer services as a retail associate at a large sporting goods store.
- Provided enthusiastic, courteous service to all customers.
- Conducted cash and credit transactions to complete customer purchases, and balanced drawer at the end of each shift.
- Worked with customers to improve their shopping experience, including making educated product recommendations.
- Assisted in stocking, inventory, merchandising design, and implementation.
Customer Service Representative January 2011 – February 2012
Crane and Sons Hardware Hartford, CT
Served as customer service ambassador for a small hardware store chain.
- Helped customers troubleshoot product queries or service requests, specializing in complex customer issues.
- Served as an escalation point for customer feedback and complaints.
- Managed customer inquiries via phone, instant messaging platform, and social media.
- Worked to develop and maintain the company brand with customers, as well as build customer loyalty.
Education
Grover Cleveland College, Hartford, CT
Associate’s degree in Business Administration, 2016
download this resume in ms word
As someone who has retail experience but wants to move up, Joe’s resume needs to walk a fine line between experience and skills. To that end, he puts his top managerial skills up top, and follows them with his experience. He only has a few years of retail under his belt, but he makes sure to showcase how his skills and responsibilities have grown and developed in his time as a sales associate. Again, he wants to emphasize that he’s ready for more, so instead of including a laundry list of his tasks as an associate, he lists points that emphasize the skills he listed in the first section of the resume.
Next up is Annie, who is already a store manager, and wants to move to a job at the corporate level.
Annie Frankenstein
2009 Bergen Street
Chicago, IL 12121
111-222-3333
Top-performing retail sales manager with more than ten years of experience, known for excellent customer service and teamwork, seeking to leverage experience and leadership skills into a talent development and retention role with Fab Beauty, Inc.
KEY SKILLS
- Proven track record of mobilizing team members to increase sales
- Commitment to store branding and messaging
- Designing and implementing team-building exercises to maximize employee retention and satisfaction
- Focusing on how to best meet customer needs, and working with team members to provide a high-quality customer experience
- Creative merchandising
- Bilingual customer service (English and Spanish)
- Loss prevention expertise
- Excellent communication skills
RETAIL EXPERIENCE
Chloe Vanderhoot, Chicago, IL
National designer retail clothing store
Store Manager, April 2013 – present
- Hire, train, and motivate team members who consistently meet and exceed sales goals set by senior management.
- Increased in-store sales an average of 8% per quarter in one year by redesigning displays, improving signage, and enhancing customer service.
- Implemented a security program that decreased store losses by more than 10% over the past three years.
- Design and implement in-store displays to maximize customer traffic and retention.
- Accurately and efficiently manage store inventory processes.
- Perform store opening and closing procedures.
Retail Sales Associate, June 2008 – April 2013
- Provided proactive, courteous customer service.
- Conducted cash and credit transactions to complete customer purchases, and balanced drawer at the end of each shift.
- Processed returns and handled customer feedback.
- Assisted in stocking, inventory, display design and implementation, and store opening/closing processes.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS/AWARDS
- Consistently received “excellent” ratings on annual performance reviews and customer surveys.
- Won Chloe Vanderhoot’s Associate of the Month award (March 2013)
EDUCATION
Memorial High School, Evanston, IL: High School Diploma
TECHNOLOGY SKILLS
- MS Word and Excel
- POS software
- Graphic design programs (InDesign, Adobe Illustrator)
download this resume in ms word
Annie wants to convey a very particular message with her resume—specifically, that she is committed to developing and keeping team members, while increasing productivity and keeping corporate goals in mind. Because she’s seeking a job where she’d be out of the store and working with team members, that’s where she puts her focus—rather than all the minutiae of managing a retail store. Her skills are featured prominently to show where her priorities are before going into her work experience. She may have older jobs that are not relevant to her current employment priorities, so she makes sure to label her “experience” section as retail-specific. This tells the reader there may be other jobs in her history, which can explain in an interview. Another option would be to include an “Other Work Experience” section at the end and briefly listing previous jobs. However, because Annie is tailoring her resume for a specific job opening, she wants to include only the most relevant information.
Last but not least, we have Lee, a retail associate who wants to become a buyer for her store.
Lee Smith
14 Bay Park Drive
New Paltz, NY, 90909
(222)222-2222
SAVVY TREND-SPOTTER, MANAGER, AND BRAND BUILDER
SUMMARY
- Track record of increasing sales of particular products
- Ability to work with customers and data to determine which products will sell
- Strong eye for detail and quality to provide customers with the best products and experiences
- Experienced retail professional focused on customer outcomes and company goals
WORK EXPERIENCE
Home Experts
Store Manager
8/2010 – present
Manage daily operations for the Westchester County location of the national home goods department store, responsible for more than $13 million in annual revenue.
- Creatively design store displays to maximize visibility and customer interaction, particularly for holidays and special in-store sales.
- Manage merchandise selections for store weekly promotions.
- Make decisions about inventory and merchandising, to align with larger sales goals set by corporate HQ.
- Hire, train, and develop talent at every level in the store.
- Field customer service issues, and work with both customers and team members to resolve.
- Manage complex inventory with great accuracy and an unfailing attention to detail.
Bed, Bath, & Whatever
Retail Merchandising Associate
2/2007 – 7/2010
- Contributed to team sales by placing merchandise for maximum visual impact.
- Worked with managers to determine and meet sales goals.
- Continuously maintained and revamped merchandise placement.
- Maintained cleanliness and organization of my sales areas.
- Managed unloading and placement of merchandise, with attention to displays and best practices.
- Monitored sale and price promotions.
- Performed detailed inventory.
SKILLS
- Superior organizational skills
- Budget forecasting and implementation
- Strong customer focus
- Inventory management
- Intuitive people skills
EDUCATION
Brody College
Bachelor’s Degree, Retail Merchandising (in process; expected completion Summer 2018)
College of New York
Associate’s Degree, Fashion Merchandising
download this resume in ms word
Lee creates a narrative for her resume by using a bold, to-the-point headline, followed by a resume summary. This lets her show the points about her career that she most wants the reader to understand, followed up by experience bullet points that support them. In her resume, there are two main themes: her ability to manage products and use her skills and merchandising experience to increase sales and match what customers want. There are no irrelevant jobs included in her resume, and every section of it supports her goal of moving into a management-level buyer position.
