Sample Retail Resume and Writing Tips

When companies make their hiring decisions for retail management jobs, they are looking for candidates who have gained a fair amount of experience in retail sales settings. In particular, they seek people who have proven themselves to be proactive leaders and organizers even in entry-level positions.

What to Include in Your Resume

Your resume should demonstrate how you went the extra mile as a sales associate to increase store productivity and contribute to improved customer satisfaction levels. Maybe you introduced a new process to management, contributed to a team-building initiative, or motivated others to achieve and surpass sales targets. All of these achievements should be highlighted on your resume to help you stand out from your competition.

In addition to describing your work experience and showcasing your contributions, your resume also should incorporate the same keyword phrases that are used in the job ad for the position you’re applying for. Many employers now advertise their retail management roles online, utilizing applicant tracking systems that are programmed to rank candidate resumes based upon the number of keywords they incorporate. These keywords generally describe the job skills an ideal candidate should possess.

Typical keywords for both retail and retail management jobs include: “leadership,” “attention to detail,” “customer service,” “organization,” “visual merchandising,” “window displays,” “time management,” “trend awareness,” “loss prevention,” “product knowledge,” “payroll administration,” “purchasing,” “communication skills,” “Point of Sale (POS) Systems,” and “team building.”

The best place to provide these keywords is in a qualifications summary, positioned after your contact information and before your experiences are listed. For management-level jobs, it can be quite effective to highlight keywords in a core competencies table.

Retail Resume Example

Consider this sample chronological resume for someone seeking a retail management position. This is the most common resume format, in which job experiences are provided in chronological order, beginning with the most recent position. Note that the description of the job seeker’s current employment is couched in the present tense; all earlier descriptions, though, are written using the past tense.

Download the retail resume template (compatible with Google Docs and Word Online) or see below for more examples.