Industry guide
Resumes for retail and customer service roles
Store managers want reliability, availability and evidence you can handle a busy floor without supervision.
What employers in this field look for first
- Availability across the trading week, including late-night and weekends
- Store size and format: supermarket, specialty, department, service station
- Cash handling, register and end-of-day reconciliation experience
- Stock, merchandising, online order picking and inventory counts
- How you have handled complaints and difficult customers
Put these near the top of your resume
- Availability stated clearly at the top
- Point of sale and stock systems you have used
- Any key-holder, opening or closing responsibility
- RSA or tobacco training if the store sells restricted goods
- Study commitments, so rosters can be planned around them
Only list tickets, licences and checks you actually hold, with their real expiry dates. An expired ticket listed as current is the fastest way to lose an employer's trust.
Wording that works
Describe the busiest version of your job, not the average one: "sole operator on Sunday trade, 300 transactions per shift".
Customer service is easier to believe when it is specific. Say what the problem usually was and what you did about it.
First job? Volunteer work, school responsibilities and team sport all show reliability. They are worth listing honestly.