Retail Manager
Best for senior and mid-level candidates
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Leadership jobs require a special set of requirements. You must be direct and commanding to get things done, but you must also be empathetic and flexible because you work with diverse personalities. It can be an extremely rewarding career to develop a team of associates who are passionate about their company and their work.
Hiring departments are looking for retail managers who inspire their sales team and turn ideas into reality. They want someone who can establish a store that meets company goals and provides a stable revenue; they need to believe you can accomplish all these things while ensuring customers and employees are happy. Making a cover letter and resume is your first opportunity to showcase your skills and spark the hiring department’s interest.
This guide provides seven proven retail manager resume samples and resume-writing tips that allow you to see what works best in 2024.
Why this resume works
- Your resume is your first impression. That impression should tell the hiring manager you’re organized, clean, and direct.
- Your retail manager resume should be visually attractive and easy to read, subtly and indirectly conveying your positive traits and working style to the hiring personnel.
- Your resume should also demonstrate consistency.
- It doesn’t matter whether you use periods in your bullet points or not, but what does matter is that you remain consistent. Use the same structure for all bullet points.
- This consistency will prevent distraction and demonstrate attention to detail.
- Your work experience should be listed in reverse-chronological order, with your most recent work history at the top.
- Your most recent experience is usually the most relevant and likely best demonstrates your abilities.
Why this resume works
- Retail businesses are constantly looking for growth opportunities. If you can show a track record of supporting expansion both in sales and revenue, then your retail operations manager resume will be in high demand.
- Therefore, mentioning the opening of seven new stores under your leadership that saw a significant increase in revenue would give you an advantage.
Why this resume works
- To lead a countrywide chain of retail stores, you must be very thorough in your leadership skills. The success or failure of the business will stop at your door. On the flip side, recruiters are looking for someone with experience in leading a high-pressure and dynamic sub-sector.
- To prove your mettle for the big challenge, let your retail general manager resume do the talking. Highlight how you drove revenue margins, streamlined staff and supply processes, and initiated cost-cutting measures.
Why this resume works
- The more you can use numbers to quantify your impact in previous jobs, the better.
- Seeing concrete metrics in your resume is more impressive than general statements about decreasing returns or boosting sales.
- Cater your work experience points to show your best side. Show that you’re easy to work with and go above and beyond expectations. Your retail store manager resume will benefit from information about continued personal education or what you’ve done to facilitate customer/employee interaction.
- Employers are looking for someone who demonstrates initiative, so make sure your resume shouts that you’re the person who won’t stop at the bare minimum.
Why this resume works
- The length of your retail assistant manager resume matters. It should not exceed a page or be less than a page.
- Play with the resume’s format, font size, and margins to make the information fit the page exactly.
- One-page resumes are visually pleasing and show you have sufficient work experience even before a hiring department reads the document.
- When you’re light on experience, your resume career objective is a great way to ensure you can fill a full page, showing a little bit of your personality.
- It can have two purposes: to highlight your resume and tell the reader what to expect, and/or it can include your values and desires for a job. Don’t underestimate the power of this little paragraph, and don’t forget to specifically mention the business by name.
Why this resume works
- According to our research, the resume skills section is the second most important on your retail sales manager resume right after work experience. Hiring managers are looking for specific things, and listing your abilities strategically will nab their attention.
- Look at the job description of the position you’re applying for, and notice what skills and abilities are included in the job’s write-up.
- If those listed skills are true to you, see if you can include some in your resume because it will tick some boxes for the hiring personnel!
- Avoid using personal pronouns in your work experience section.
- This makes your resume more concise and professional.
- You don’t have to include all the work experience you’ve ever had.
- It’s better to have fewer previous jobs that are more specific and of higher quality than cramming five to six positions with less description and applicability to the job you’re seeking.
Why this resume works
- Your retail department manager resume should show that you’re decisive and know what you’re doing.
- Begin each work experience bullet point with an action word. This creates a straightforward and commanding tone in your resume, boosting confidence in the employer that you have the skillset needed.
- This assertive language should extend throughout your piece. Fine-tune your resume by deleting filler words. It should be full and meaty without any fluff.
- Using active voice is another way to accomplish this. Active voice generally gets to the point faster and uses more inviting language overall.
Related resume guides
How to Write a Winning Retail Manager Resume
Writing a retail manager cover letter comes next, but it won’t seem nearly as daunting when you follow these steps for your resume.
- Add the retail manager job title you want in your contact header
Whether you’re applying to be a retail sales manager, an assistant retail manager, or a retail department manager, list the specific role beneath your name on your resume. It shows your attention to the specific role as outlined in the company’s job description. Besides that, a company may be hiring for multiple positions, so don’t make the hiring manager scour your resume to figure out what job you want.
- Include a career objective—maybe
If you’re going into retail management for the first time, consider including a tailored career objective near the top of your resume. Customize this to the company you’re applying to after reading the requirements in the job description. Merge who you are as a retail manager (ambitious leader experienced in boosting morale) with how you can meet the needs of the specific company (use bilingual skills to increase foot traffic and sales).
- Talk about your retail manager accomplishments
Discuss achievements instead of job responsibilities in your work experience section. Did you improve the retention of the retail associates working under your leadership? Did you motivate your team to surpass sales goals? Did you adeptly handle concerns to keep customers happy and returning? Take your job description bullet points up a notch by using metrics to demonstrate your impact.
- List relevant skills for the retail manager role you want
Your bilingual skills may have gone unused at your last job, but if the job description says some of their customers speak Spanish, that’s a skill to list on your resume. While a retail assistant manager may assist the manager in leading the sales team, a retail department manager may need to rely on collaboration and problem-solving skills with other department leads. Look to the specific job description for clues when writing your skills section.
